CSA Quality Assurance Programs 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: What is the purpose of a Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) in QA?
- To track defect resolution timelines
- To map requirements to corresponding test cases ensuring full coverage (Correct answer)
- To document system architecture dependencies
- To schedule test execution cycles
Correct answer: To map requirements to corresponding test cases ensuring full coverage
An RTM maps each business or system requirement to one or more test cases, ensuring every requirement is tested and no coverage gaps exist.
Question 2: Which testing level focuses on verifying individual components or modules in isolation?
- System testing
- Integration testing
- Unit testing (Correct answer)
- Acceptance testing
Correct answer: Unit testing
Unit testing verifies the smallest testable parts of an application (functions, methods, classes) in isolation from other components.
Question 3: A QA process improvement model that defines five maturity levels for software processes is:
- ISO 9001
- Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI) (Correct answer)
- Six Sigma DMAIC
- ITIL Service Lifecycle
Correct answer: Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI)
CMMI defines five process maturity levels—Initial, Managed, Defined, Quantitatively Managed, and Optimizing—to guide process improvement.
Question 4: When a defect is found in production that was not caught during QA, the post-mortem analysis should primarily focus on:
- Penalizing the tester who missed the defect
- Identifying process gaps that allowed the defect to escape (Correct answer)
- Removing the defect from the defect tracking system
- Increasing test case counts without process review
Correct answer: Identifying process gaps that allowed the defect to escape
Post-mortem analysis aims to identify systemic process weaknesses that permitted defect escape, enabling improvements to prevent recurrence.
Question 5: Equivalence partitioning is a black-box testing technique that:
- Tests every possible input combination
- Divides input data into valid and invalid partitions to reduce test cases (Correct answer)
- Focuses on code paths and branch coverage
- Simulates peak user load conditions
Correct answer: Divides input data into valid and invalid partitions to reduce test cases
Equivalence partitioning groups inputs into partitions where all values in a partition are expected to be treated the same, reducing the number of test cases while maintaining coverage.
Question 6: In agile QA, a 'Definition of Done' (DoD) primarily serves to:
- Replace all traditional test documentation
- Establish agreed-upon criteria that a user story must meet before it is considered complete (Correct answer)
- Limit the number of defects allowed per sprint
- Define the sprint backlog prioritization order
Correct answer: Establish agreed-upon criteria that a user story must meet before it is considered complete
The Definition of Done is a shared checklist of quality criteria—such as code review, testing, and documentation—that must be satisfied before a story is accepted.
Question 7: Which technique tests the behavior of a system at the exact boundary values of input ranges?
- Equivalence partitioning
- Boundary value analysis (Correct answer)
- Decision table testing
- State transition testing
Correct answer: Boundary value analysis
Boundary value analysis tests at the edges of input ranges (minimum, maximum, just inside, and just outside) where defects are most likely to occur.
CSA Quality Assurance Programs 3
What is the purpose of a Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) in QA?