ISTQB Agile Tester

Which of the following statements is FALSE with respect to exploratory testing?

• Exploratory testing encompasses concurrent learning, test design, and execution.

• Exploratory testing eliminates the need for testers to prepare test ideas prior to test execution.

• Best results are achieved when exploratory testing is combined with other test strategies.

• Exploratory testers need to have a solid understanding of the system under test.

Answer explanation

Test charters are created prior to execution which include test objectives and test ideas.

Which of the following is one of the purposes of an Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) tool on an agile project?

• An ALM tool allows teams to build up a knowledge base on tools and techniques for development and testing activities

• An ALM tool provides quick response about the build quality and details about code changes

• An ALM tool provides visibility into the current state of the application, especially with distributed teams

• An ALM tool generates and loads large volumes and combinations of data to use for testing

Answer explanation

This is one of many purposes of an ALM tool, but using the tool allows more collaboration with distributed teams than physical task boards.

Your manager would like to introduce exploratory testing to your agile team.He has received the following suggestions on how to proceed from previous colleagues:

i. User stories are assigned to testers who are completely new to the user story. There is allotted 120 minutes allocated to complete exploratory testing on the user story. Testers do not need to document tests, or test results, but do need to log defects if any are encountered. ii. User stories are assigned to testers who have already completed risk based testing on the same areas. There is allotted 120 minutes allocated to complete exploratory testing for this user story. The team expects at the end of the 120 minutes to have a list of test ideas, including data and actors, results and issues encountered, and list of defects to be logged in the defect management tool. iii. A user story is assigned to business representative. The business representative is told to use the system like the customer would on a day-to-day basis. If issues are encountered, the business representative is told to inform the tester, so that they can prioritize and log the defect. iv. A user story is assigned to a tester for exploratory testing. Tester is told to learn the functionality of the user story, to make sure the functionality is correct and to include negative testing. There is no set deadline for this exploratory testing to be complete; it depends on what is found by the tester. Documentation is not necessary, but defects need to be logged in defect tracking tool. Your manager presents you with his conclusions about how best to introduce exploratory testing to an agile team. Which one of your manager’s conclusions is correct?

• i

• ii

• iii

• iv

Answer explanation

Scenario ii IS the best way because: In this case, the testers have knowledge of the user story already, which will help them come up with test conditions and ideas. The team is using timeboxed exploratory test sessions. The team is expected to document test conditions, data, and user information, and to log results of the test. Issues are logged in a defect tracking tool just like any other test technique.

Given the following user story: “An online application charges customers to ship purchased items, based on the following criteria: • Standard shipping costs for under 6 items • Shipping is $5 for 6-10 items. • Shipping is free for more than 10 items. Which of the following is the best black box test design technique for the user story?

• State Transition testing: Test the following states – browsing, logged in, selecting, purchasing, confirming, and exiting.

• Decision tables: Test the following conditions – User logged in; At least 1 item in cart; Purchase confirmed; Funding approved; with the resulting action of – Ship Item.

• Boundary Value Analysis: Test the following inputs – 0,5,6,10,11,max

• Use Case Testing: Actor=customer; Prerequisites=customer logs in, selects and purchases items; Postconditions= items are shipped.

Answer explanation

BVA is the best option when testing shipping costs.

Given the following User Story: “As a bank teller, I would like to be able to view all of my customer’s bank transactions on the screen, so I can answer his/her questions”. Which of the following can be considered as relevant acceptance test cases? i. Login as a bank teller, get the customer’s account balance for all open accounts. ii. Login as a bank teller, enter a customer account ID, get his transactions history on the screen. iii. Login as a bank teller, request customer account ID by using name abbreviations, and get his transaction history on the screen iv. Login as a bank teller, enter a customer IBAN (international bank account number), get his transaction history on the screen v. Login as a Bank Teller, enter a customer Account ID, get the Transactions history in less than 3 seconds on screen.

• i, ii, iv

• i, iii, iv

• ii, iv, v

• ii, iii, iv

Answer explanation

ii. Correct – This test is specific to a bank teller role and results in viewing customer’s bank transactions. iii. Correct – This test is specific to a bank teller role and results in viewing customer’s bank transactions. iv. Correct – This test is specific to a bank teller role and results in viewing customer’s bank transactions.

Which TWO of the following are examples of testable acceptance criteria for test related activities? Select TWO options. A. Structure based testing: White box testing in addition to black box testing is used. B. System testing: At least 80% of functional regression tests are automated. C. Security testing: A threat risk analysis scan is completed with no faults identified. D. Performance testing: The application is responding in a reasonable amount of time with 5000 users. E. Compatibility testing: The application is working on all major browsers.

• A and B

• B and C

• C and D

• D and E

Answer explanation

They are testable.

Which alternative is the BEST description of when to stop testing (release criteria) in an agile project?

• All test cases have been executed.

• The probability of remaining faults has been reduced to a level that can be accepted by the customer.

• The achieved test coverage is considered enough. The coverage limit is justified by the complexity of the included functionality, its implementation, and the risks involved.

• The iteration/sprint is finished

Answer explanation

The obtained test coverage with supporting information makes it the best choice, even if more information would be needed. This includes information about found defects, their severity of occurrence, and taxonomy (how many serious problems in each area). This information gives a more complete basis for a release decision. You would also need information regarding the evaluated characteristics and how they affect the total picture regarding the completion of the system, and the related testing.

An agile team is assigned to a project to update an existing medical device to newer technologies. Since the last release of the existing medical device, a new version of the medical device standard has been released. User access to the device is changing and will be documented in user stories. Based on this information, and in addition to the user stories, which of the following would best provide relevant information to support your testing activities?

i. Updated version of standards document for medical system.

ii. Existing defects or typical defect areas in existing system.

iii. Obsolete user access test cases and results for existing application.

iv. Performance metrics for existing application.

v. Defects logged during other similar conversion projects for medical devices.

• i, ii, iii, iv

• ii, iv, v

• i, ii, v

• All of the above

Given the following user story: “As the president, any data I upload should not be viewable by any other user of the system”. During the first poker planning session, the following story points were given based on risk, effort, complexity, and proper extent of testing: Customers: 5, Developers: 5, Testers: 20

What is the best outcome following this planning session?

• Because the customer’s and developer’s size estimates match, the team can be confident that this estimate is good and should move onto the next user story.

• The team should hold a conversation to understand why the testers felt this user story was significantly more work. Another round of the planning poker session should occur following that discussion.

• Because the customer owns the system in the end, the customers’ estimates should be taken as correct when there is a conflict.

• The poker planning sessions should continue until all estimated story points are an exact match between customers, developers, and testers.

Answer explanation

Planning poker sessions should continue for the user story, until the entire team is satisfied with the estimated effort.

Given the following results from a product risk analysis that occurred at the beginning of an iteration:

• User story 1 (Performance): likelihood: high, impact: high

• User story 2 (Security): likelihood: high, impact: high

• User story 3 (Functional): likelihood: medium, impact: high

• User story 4 (Functional): likelihood: high, impact: medium

• User story 5 (Compatibility): likelihood: low, impact: low

• User story 6 (Recoverability): likelihood: low, impact: low

Which TWO of the following describes best what the team should do with this information?

Select TWO options.

A. Move onto planning poker session to estimate effort for user stories, and determine what can be done in the current iteration, and what needs to be added to backlog.

B. Remove user stories 5 and 6 from the current iteration and move to a later iteration.

C. Because of the number of high likelihood, high impact risks slotted for this iteration, the team has no choice but to extend the timeframe of the iteration by 2 weeks.

D. The team should collaborate on effective ways to mitigate the high likelihood, high impact risks.

E. The team should plan to complete all items in the current sprint, but save the lower risk items for the end of the sprint, and only test these items if there is time.

• A and B

• A and C

• A and D

• A and E

Answer explanation

A. Correct – The information from the risk analysis is used during poker planning sessions to determine priorities of items to be completed in the iteration. Only after the poker planning sessions, would items be added to the backlog if it is determined that not all items can be completed in the iteration.

D. Correct – Risk mitigation can be done before test execution occurs to reduce the level of risk.