ISTQB Defect Management Process 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which of the following scenarios best illustrates a high-priority, low-severity defect?
- A crash that occurs when processing all customer orders
- A misspelled company name on the homepage that causes no functional impact but is publicly visible (Correct answer)
- An off-by-one error in a rarely used internal calculation
- A login failure that blocks all users from accessing the system
Correct answer: A misspelled company name on the homepage that causes no functional impact but is publicly visible
A misspelling on the homepage has low technical severity but high priority because it is publicly visible and reflects poorly on the organization.
Question 2: According to ISTQB, who should have the authority to close a defect report after a fix has been applied?
- The developer who implemented the fix
- The tester who originally reported the defect or a designated verifier (Correct answer)
- The project manager
- The configuration manager
Correct answer: The tester who originally reported the defect or a designated verifier
The tester or a designated verifier confirms the fix resolves the issue before closing the defect, maintaining independence between fixing and verification.
Question 3: A defect report states: 'The system sometimes crashes.' Why is this description inadequate?
- It does not include the defect ID
- It lacks specific, repeatable steps to reproduce the crash and conditions under which it occurs (Correct answer)
- It does not propose a fix
- It was not approved by the test manager
Correct answer: It lacks specific, repeatable steps to reproduce the crash and conditions under which it occurs
Vague defect reports that lack reproducible steps prevent developers from investigating and fixing the issue efficiently.
Question 4: What is the purpose of performing 'root cause analysis' on defects at the end of a project?
- To assign blame to the team members who introduced the defects
- To identify systemic process or skill weaknesses that can be corrected to prevent similar defects in the future (Correct answer)
- To calculate the total cost of defect repairs for budget reporting
- To verify that all defects have been closed before the final release
Correct answer: To identify systemic process or skill weaknesses that can be corrected to prevent similar defects in the future
Root cause analysis identifies underlying process or knowledge gaps so that the team can improve practices and prevent recurrence in future projects.
Question 5: Which defect lifecycle status indicates that a defect has been verified as fixed and no further action is needed?
- Resolved
- Deferred
- Closed (Correct answer)
- Verified
Correct answer: Closed
The 'closed' status is the terminal state indicating the defect is confirmed fixed, verified, and requires no further action.
Question 6: In a defect report, the 'test environment' field should include:
- Only the operating system version
- Hardware, OS, browser/app version, database version, and any other configuration relevant to reproduction (Correct answer)
- The tester's workstation name only
- The production environment specifications
Correct answer: Hardware, OS, browser/app version, database version, and any other configuration relevant to reproduction
Full environment details allow developers to reproduce the defect in matching conditions, especially important for environment-specific issues.
Question 7: A project tracks 'defect removal efficiency' (DRE). What does a DRE of 85% indicate?
- 85% of developers fixed their assigned defects on time
- 85% of defects present before release were detected and removed before the product reached end users (Correct answer)
- 85% of test cases are linked to at least one defect
- 85% of defects were found by automated testing
Correct answer: 85% of defects present before release were detected and removed before the product reached end users
DRE measures the percentage of total defects that were found and removed during the development and testing phases before reaching production.
ISTQB Defect Management Process 5
Which of the following scenarios best illustrates a high-priority, low-severity defect?