ISTQB Experience-Based Testing Techniques 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A tester with no prior knowledge of the system under test is asked to perform exploratory testing. What is the LIKELY outcome compared to an experienced tester?
- The inexperienced tester will find more defects due to fresh perspective
- The inexperienced tester may find some defects but will likely miss domain-specific issues (Correct answer)
- Both testers will find exactly the same defects
- The inexperienced tester cannot perform exploratory testing at all
Correct answer: The inexperienced tester may find some defects but will likely miss domain-specific issues
While a fresh perspective can surface some issues, domain experience significantly improves defect detection in exploratory testing.
Question 2: Which of the following BEST describes 'freestyle exploratory testing'?
- Testing guided by a detailed test charter
- Unstructured exploration with no predefined mission or scope (Correct answer)
- Testing using automated scripts with random inputs
- Testing focused only on previously reported defects
Correct answer: Unstructured exploration with no predefined mission or scope
Freestyle exploratory testing has no charter or mission, leaving the tester completely free to explore — the least structured form.
Question 3: When using checklist-based testing, how should a tester handle items on the checklist that are not applicable to the current feature?
- Mark them as passed automatically
- Skip them and note they are not applicable (Correct answer)
- Remove them permanently from the checklist
- Fail them to trigger investigation
Correct answer: Skip them and note they are not applicable
Non-applicable checklist items should be skipped and documented as N/A to maintain an accurate record.
Question 4: Error guessing is MOST effective when:
- The tester has no prior knowledge of the application domain
- The tester has experience with similar systems and typical failure modes (Correct answer)
- The tester follows a strict scripted test plan
- The tester focuses only on performance defects
Correct answer: The tester has experience with similar systems and typical failure modes
Error guessing's predictive power depends on the tester's accumulated experience with similar systems and known defect patterns.
Question 5: A team decides to use exploratory testing to evaluate usability of a new mobile app. Which aspect of exploratory testing makes it suitable for this goal?
- It generates formal usability metrics automatically
- It allows testers to freely interact with the app and notice issues organically as a real user would (Correct answer)
- It requires predefined usability criteria for every interaction
- It can only evaluate functional correctness, not usability
Correct answer: It allows testers to freely interact with the app and notice issues organically as a real user would
Exploratory testing's organic, user-like interaction naturally surfaces usability issues that formal scripts might not anticipate.
Question 6: Which of the following is a key input to designing error guessing tests?
- A complete set of automated regression tests
- Historical defect data from similar systems or prior releases (Correct answer)
- A formal equivalence partition specification
- A performance baseline report
Correct answer: Historical defect data from similar systems or prior releases
Historical defect data reveals patterns of past failures, which the tester uses to predict where defects are likely to recur.
Question 7: In ISTQB, which of the following statements about experience-based techniques is TRUE?
- They always achieve higher coverage than specification-based techniques
- They depend on the skill, intuition, and experience of the tester to be effective (Correct answer)
- They must be used exclusively without other testing techniques
- They are not recognized as formal testing techniques in ISTQB
Correct answer: They depend on the skill, intuition, and experience of the tester to be effective
ISTQB recognizes experience-based techniques as valid but explicitly notes their effectiveness depends on tester skill and intuition.
ISTQB Experience-Based Testing Techniques 5
A tester with no prior knowledge of the system under test is asked to perform exploratory testing.
What is the LIKELY outcome compared to an experienced tester?