CAST Agile and Iterative Testing 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the main purpose of 'exploratory testing' within an Agile sprint?
- To replace scripted test cases entirely
- To simultaneously learn about the system, design tests, and execute them without rigid scripts (Correct answer)
- To document all discovered defects for the next sprint
- To validate performance benchmarks
Correct answer: To simultaneously learn about the system, design tests, and execute them without rigid scripts
Exploratory testing combines learning, test design, and execution simultaneously, making it highly effective for discovering unexpected issues quickly in sprints.
Question 2: Which of the following best describes an Agile 'acceptance test'?
- A formal UAT document signed by the customer
- A test that verifies a user story meets its agreed acceptance criteria (Correct answer)
- A performance benchmark agreed upon at release
- A regression test suite run at the end of a sprint
Correct answer: A test that verifies a user story meets its agreed acceptance criteria
Acceptance tests validate that a user story satisfies the conditions defined in its acceptance criteria, confirming the feature works as the product owner intended.
Question 3: What is Acceptance Test-Driven Development (ATDD)?
- A practice where the QA team writes unit tests before developers
- A collaboration technique where acceptance tests are defined before development begins to drive shared understanding (Correct answer)
- An automated framework for running acceptance tests in CI
- A method for prioritizing the test backlog
Correct answer: A collaboration technique where acceptance tests are defined before development begins to drive shared understanding
ATDD involves developers, testers, and business stakeholders collaboratively defining acceptance tests before coding begins, aligning the team on expected behavior.
Question 4: In Agile, how is test documentation typically handled compared to traditional projects?
- More comprehensive test plans and detailed test cases are required
- Documentation is eliminated entirely
- Lightweight, just-enough documentation is preferred over exhaustive test plans (Correct answer)
- Documentation is produced only after the final release
Correct answer: Lightweight, just-enough documentation is preferred over exhaustive test plans
Agile values working software over comprehensive documentation, so testers focus on lightweight, targeted documentation that delivers value rather than extensive formal records.
Question 5: What is the 'test pyramid' concept used in Agile testing?
- A prioritization model ranking defects by severity
- A model suggesting more unit tests at the base, fewer integration tests in the middle, and fewer UI/end-to-end tests at the top (Correct answer)
- A reporting format for sprint test results
- A risk model placing high-risk features at the top
Correct answer: A model suggesting more unit tests at the base, fewer integration tests in the middle, and fewer UI/end-to-end tests at the top
The test pyramid guides teams to invest most heavily in fast, cheap unit tests, moderately in integration tests, and sparingly in slow, expensive UI tests.
Question 6: Which term describes re-running previously passed tests after a code change to ensure nothing was broken?
- Smoke testing
- Regression testing (Correct answer)
- Sanity testing
- Exploratory testing
Correct answer: Regression testing
Regression testing re-executes existing tests to confirm that recent changes have not adversely affected previously working functionality.
Question 7: In an Agile team using Kanban, what is the key metric testers monitor to identify bottlenecks in the testing process?
- Sprint velocity
- Defect escape rate
- Work In Progress (WIP) limits and cycle time (Correct answer)
- Test case pass percentage
Correct answer: Work In Progress (WIP) limits and cycle time
Kanban teams use WIP limits and cycle time to identify bottlenecks; if items pile up in the test column, it signals a capacity or process issue.
CAST Agile and Iterative Testing 2
What is the main purpose of 'exploratory testing' within an Agile sprint?