CPSA Cheat Sheet 2026

The 30 highest-yield CPSA facts, distilled from real exam questions. Print it, save it as a PDF, or study it here — free, no sign-up.

1. Which factor most often leads to poor architectural decisions being made? → Incomplete understanding of quality attribute requirements and stakeholder priorities
2. Which integration style uses a central hub to route messages between multiple systems? → Message broker / hub-and-spoke integration
3. Which stakeholder concern is most critical to capture before making a major architectural decision? → Conflicting quality attribute priorities among different stakeholder groups
4. Which protocol commonly uses Port 21 for its default communication? → FTP
5. What is the primary purpose of an Architecture Decision Record (ADR)? → To document the context, decision, and consequences of a significant architectural choice
6. Which of the following is a primary characteristic and a key advantage of the Microservices architectural style? → Services can be developed, deployed, and scaled independently of each other.
7. Private Internet Protocol Addressing Automatically → APIPA
8. Which of the following is LEAST likely to be considered a cross-cutting concept in software architecture? → User account creation logic.
9. An architect is told the new system must be 'fast and reliable'. Why is this statement insufficient as a quality goal for guiding architectural design? → It is subjective and lacks quantifiable metrics.
10. When gathering evidence, you should start with the most volatile and work your way down. → RFC 3227 - 1
11. Architectural goals are primarily derived from which source? → Stakeholder concerns and quality requirements.
12. According to the iSAQB curriculum, what is the primary purpose of defining and documenting cross-cutting concepts? → To ensure the conceptual integrity and consistency of the architecture.
13. Which of the following is the BEST example of an architectural constraint? → The development team must use the Java programming language.
14. Which strategy is BEST for systematically reducing technical debt without disrupting ongoing feature development? → Allocate a fixed percentage of each sprint or iteration to debt reduction activities
15. In iSAQB CPSA, what is meant by 'technical debt' in architectural decision making? → The implied cost of future rework caused by choosing a quick, suboptimal solution now
16. What does the acronym GWS typically refer to in the context of web servers? → Google Web Server
17. Which of the following scenarios best describes tight coupling between two building blocks? → Building block A directly modifies a data structure that is internal to building block B.
18. Which of the following best describes an 'architecturally significant requirement' (ASR)? → A requirement that has a major impact on the system's architecture
19. Which technique is most appropriate for comparing multiple architectural options during decision making? → Trade-off analysis using weighted criteria
20. Which pattern addresses the problem of cascading failures when one service in an integration chain becomes slow or unavailable? → Circuit Breaker pattern
21. When using a decision log, what is the recommended status lifecycle for an ADR? → Proposed → Accepted → Deprecated/Superseded
22. What is the significance of 'context' in an Architecture Decision Record? → It describes the situation, forces, and constraints that led to the need for a decision
23. SOAP stands for "Simple Object Access Protocol". Is it True or False? → True
24. In the context of HSQLDB, what port number is typically used for the server mode? → Port 9001
25. This series includes a variety of unique standards and publications that ISO has set aside exclusively for information security. → ISO 27000 Series
26. What is architecture erosion? → The gradual divergence between the intended architecture and the implemented system
27. Data stored on a computer or other storage medium that may later be cited in court should not be altered by law enforcement authorities or their agents. → ACPO Guidelines - Principle 1
28. During an ATAM evaluation, which of the following groups are considered the essential participants required for the process to be effective? → The evaluation team, project decision-makers, and architecture stakeholders.
29. How does risk-driven architecture relate to architectural decision making? → It prioritizes architectural decisions that address the highest-priority risks first
30. The steps performed from the moment an event is reported all the way up to its full rehabilitation, as well as post-incident evaluations. → What is Incident Response?