ISTQB Test Management and Planning 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: According to ISTQB, which of the following is an example of a 'project risk' (as opposed to a product risk)?
- A critical module may contain undetected security vulnerabilities
- Key test personnel may leave the project mid-cycle (Correct answer)
- The payment processing feature may calculate totals incorrectly
- The user interface may not meet accessibility standards
Correct answer: Key test personnel may leave the project mid-cycle
Project risks threaten the test project's success, such as personnel turnover, while product risks relate to the software quality.
Question 2: A software release must be made despite not all planned tests being executed. The test manager should:
- Refuse to approve the release under any circumstances
- Document the untested risks and communicate them to stakeholders for an informed release decision (Correct answer)
- Run only automated tests and ignore manual test results
- Secretly mark untested items as passed to meet the deadline
Correct answer: Document the untested risks and communicate them to stakeholders for an informed release decision
The test manager should document residual risks from incomplete testing and communicate them so stakeholders can make an informed go/no-go decision.
Question 3: When applying the 'Pareto principle' to defect management, what does it suggest?
- 80% of test effort should be spent on 20% of the features
- Approximately 80% of defects are found in approximately 20% of the modules (Correct answer)
- 20% of testers find 80% of all defects
- Test planning should take 80% of the total project time
Correct answer: Approximately 80% of defects are found in approximately 20% of the modules
The Pareto principle suggests that ~80% of defects tend to cluster in ~20% of the software modules.
Question 4: Which statement about test automation in the context of test management is MOST accurate?
- Automating all test cases always reduces total testing cost
- Test automation requires initial investment but can reduce regression testing effort over time (Correct answer)
- Manual testing should be replaced entirely by automation as soon as possible
- Test automation eliminates the need for test planning
Correct answer: Test automation requires initial investment but can reduce regression testing effort over time
Automation has upfront costs in tooling and scripting but provides long-term savings, particularly for regression testing.
Question 5: What is the MAIN purpose of a 'test summary report' issued at the end of a test phase?
- To list every test case that will be executed in the next phase
- To communicate the overall results, coverage achieved, and quality assessment to stakeholders (Correct answer)
- To provide step-by-step instructions for retesting failed test cases
- To assign defect fixes to specific developers
Correct answer: To communicate the overall results, coverage achieved, and quality assessment to stakeholders
The test summary report communicates overall test results, coverage, defect status, and a quality assessment to stakeholders.
Question 6: A test manager notices that defect density is highest in modules developed by a specific team. The BEST response is to:
- Replace the entire development team immediately
- Increase testing coverage in those modules and investigate the root cause of the higher defect rate (Correct answer)
- Reduce testing in those modules since all defects are already being found
- Ignore the data since defects are expected in all modules
Correct answer: Increase testing coverage in those modules and investigate the root cause of the higher defect rate
High defect density in specific modules warrants increased testing focus and root-cause investigation to address underlying issues.
Question 7: Which of the following BEST describes 'traceability' in test management?
- The ability to track defects back to the tester who found them
- The ability to link test cases to requirements, ensuring test coverage can be demonstrated (Correct answer)
- The ability to determine how long each test case takes to execute
- The process of tracking software versions through source control
Correct answer: The ability to link test cases to requirements, ensuring test coverage can be demonstrated
Traceability means linking test cases to requirements so that coverage can be measured and verified.
ISTQB Test Management and Planning 4
According to ISTQB, which of the following is an example of a 'project risk' (as opposed to a product risk)?