CPSA Study Guide 2026
Everything you need to pass the CPSA exam in one place: the exam format, every topic to study, real practice questions with explanations, flashcards, and full-length practice tests. Free, no sign-up needed.
📋 CPSA Exam Format at a Glance
📚 CPSA Topics to Study (21)
✍️ Sample CPSA Questions & Answers
1. When designing the building block view of a software system, which of the following is the primary goal of striving for high cohesion within individual building blocks?
High cohesion is a software design principle that states that all elements within a module or building block should be strongly related and focused on a single, well-defined task. This enhances readability, maintainability, and reusability.
2. The case officer, who is in charge of the inquiry, is ultimately responsible for making sure that the law and these principles are followed.
ACPO Guidelines Principle 4 states that 'The person in charge of the investigation (the case officer) has overall responsibility for ensuring that the law and these principles are adhered to.' This principle assigns ultimate accountability to the case officer for the proper conduct of a digital forensics investigation, ensuring compliance with legal requirements and forensic best practices.
3. What does the acronym GWS typically refer to in the context of web servers?
GWS stands for Google Web Server, which is proprietary web server software developed by Google. It is used to host Google's own websites and services. While not publicly available for general use, GWS is a significant player in the web server landscape, handling a vast amount of internet traffic for Google's ecosystem.
4. Why is reversibility an important consideration when making architectural decisions?
High-reversibility decisions can be changed cheaply, so irreversible ones warrant more analysis and stakeholder alignment before commitment.
5. What is 'decision paralysis' in the context of software architecture?
Decision paralysis occurs when architects over-analyze options without converging on a choice, often delaying projects and increasing costs.
6. What is architecture erosion?
Architecture erosion occurs when the actual implemented system drifts away from the originally designed and documented architecture.