Software Testing Case Studies & Practical Application 3 ā Questions and Answers
Question 1: A healthcare system must process patient records within 2 seconds under a load of 500 concurrent users. Which test type directly validates this requirement?
- Smoke testing
- Performance load testing (Correct answer)
- Sanity testing
- Mutation testing
Correct answer: Performance load testing
Load testing validates system behavior under expected concurrency levels and measures response times against defined performance targets.
Question 2: After a critical production defect is fixed, the team runs only the tests directly related to the fix to save time. What risk does this approach carry?
- It may cause the build pipeline to slow down
- The fix may have introduced regressions in unrelated areas (Correct answer)
- Code coverage metrics will be inaccurate
- Unit tests will become redundant
Correct answer: The fix may have introduced regressions in unrelated areas
Running only fix-related tests risks missing regressionsāunintended side effects of the change that break previously working functionality.
Question 3: A SaaS company's API starts returning incorrect totals only when more than 1,000 line items are included in an order. Which technique would most directly identify this defect during testing?
- Equivalence partitioning
- Boundary value analysis (Correct answer)
- Decision table testing
- Use case testing
Correct answer: Boundary value analysis
Boundary value analysis focuses on values at the edges of input rangesālike exactly 1,000 and 1,001 itemsāwhere many defects cluster.
Question 4: A tester finds that a login form accepts a blank username. The correct behavior should be to show a validation error. This defect is best classified as:
- Performance defect
- Functional defect (Correct answer)
- Usability defect
- Security vulnerability only
Correct answer: Functional defect
A functional defect is a deviation from the specified functional behavior, such as failing to enforce required field validation on login.
Question 5: A new tester is asked to explore a payment module without any scripts or predefined steps. This approach is best described as:
- Regression testing
- Scripted testing
- Exploratory testing (Correct answer)
- Acceptance testing
Correct answer: Exploratory testing
Exploratory testing is simultaneous learning, test design, and execution without predefined scripts, relying on the tester's skill and domain knowledge.
Question 6: A team wants to verify that a newly deployed microservice does not break any existing API contracts with downstream consumers. Which test type is most appropriate?
- Contract testing (Correct answer)
- End-to-end testing
- System integration testing
- Alpha testing
Correct answer: Contract testing
Contract testing verifies that a service's API adheres to agreed-upon contracts with its consumers, preventing breaking changes between teams.
Question 7: During a sprint retrospective, the team notes that many defects are found late in the cycle. Which shift in strategy would most likely reduce this cost?
- Increase the number of testers in the final sprint week
- Adopt shift-left testing by involving testers earlier in requirements and design (Correct answer)
- Focus all testing effort on the most complex modules
- Delay releases until all test cases are executed
Correct answer: Adopt shift-left testing by involving testers earlier in requirements and design
Shift-left testing involves testers from the beginning of the SDLC, catching defects earlier when they are less expensive to fix.
Software Testing Case Studies & Practical Application 3
A healthcare system must process patient records within 2 seconds under a load of 500 concurrent users.
Which test type directly validates this requirement?