ISQI ISTQB Certified Tester Advanced Level Test Analyst (CTAL-TA v4.0) Sample Questions:

1. You are working on a project to build a purchasing system. The main requirements for the system are that it shall:
* Allow users to enter details of items that they wish to have purchased and, from these details, create a purchase request.
* Take each purchase request through a workflow that will allow the requestor's line manager to approve the request, reject it or return it for clarification / modification.
* Forward approved requests to the Purchasing Department.
* Allow purchasers to find the best available supplier for each approved request and place the request on that supplier as a purchase order.
The solution is being developed according to the company's traditional V-model methodology. The requirements are clearly documented and include a business process model.
System testing has finished and the test manager has asked you, the senior TA, to identify any parts of the product that should be focused on during acceptance testing. The results of this may be used to adjust the acceptance test plan.
You are using defect cluster analysis, only counting defects with severity levels 1 to 3, ignoring low severity levels 4 and 5. Function point analysis was used for estimating, so you have used function points as the unit of size for the various functional areas of the product. No numeric estimates of expected defect quantities were made for them individually but, as a result of product risk analysis, these functional areas have been ranked according to the amount of product risk that was predicted in them, with risk ranking 1 being the highest and
5 the lowest; the thoroughness of the testing performed so far has been proportional to that. The results are presented in the table below.
Functional area
Total function points
Product risk ranking
Defects found
Purchase Request entry
2000
2
30
Purchase Request workflow
1500
4
15
Purchase Request authorisation
1000
5
25
Supplier identification
2000
1
30
Purchase Order creation
1000
3
30
Which functional areas would you recommend for more test focus in acceptance testing?
a) Purchase Request entry
b) Purchase Request workflow
c) Purchase Request authorization
d) Supplier Identification
e) Purchase Order creation

A) a) and d)
B) c) and e)
C) a) and b)

2. You are working on a project to replace an old sales and merchandising system with a new system that will be based on modern platforms. The old system is still in production but is poorly documented and expensive to maintain. The new version will be developed using modern technology. The main requirements for the system are that it shall:
* Load sales data, sent electronically from the stores each evening, into a central database.
* Produce actual sales reports for the merchandisers, whose job is to manage stock levels in stores.
* Produce sales forecast reports based on a combination of sales history and forecasting parameters. The parameters will be entered by the merchandisers into a browser-based front end and the reports will be produced overnight. The users will be able to see the reports next day, on screen or in print, by requesting this through the browser.
Requirements 1 and 2 are satisfied by the existing system and will be rewritten with no significant changes.
Requirement 3 is new and has been clearly specified.
The entry of forecasting parameters and of requests to see the reports will be low volume, but the Merchandising Manager is concerned about usability because the forecasting parameters are complex.
Which test charter would be BEST for the initial exploratory testing of requirement 3?

A) Explore the forecasting parameter entry features With their requirements specification To discover any usability issues
B) Explore the forecasting parameter entry features With their requirements specification To discover any performance issues
C) Explore the actual sales report production features With examples of the current reports To discover any adverse impact of requirement 3 on requirement 2
D) Explore the report request entry features With their requirements specification To discover any usability issues

3. A savings bank rewards its customers with a £100 bonus when they reach the age of 21, if they have held a savings account for more than 3 years and have at least £2,000 in the account at that time.
Assume that Age is measured in whole years, Account term in whole years, and Account balance to two decimal places, i.e., pounds and pence.
The intended rule is:
IF Age = 21 AND Account term > 3 years AND Account balance > = £2000.00 THEN Pay £100 bonus You have a suite of test cases with the following values:
* TC1 Age = 21, Account term = 3 years, Account balance = £2000.00
* TC2 Age = 20, Account term = 6 years, Account balance = £500.00
* TC3 Age = 20, Account term = 2 years, Account balance = £3000.00
Which of the following test cases should you add to the suite to achieve 100% Reliable domain coverage?

A) Age = 21, Account term = 3 years, Account balance = £1999.99
B) Age = 22, Account term = 4 years, Account balance = £2000.00
C) Age = 22, Account term = 4 years, Account balance = £1999.99
D) Age = 20, Account term = 4 years, Account balance = £2000.01

4. You have been appointed to be a TA in the development of a road traffic control application, which will be installed at busy road junctions to control the operation of traffic signal lights according to sensors that detect traffic volume on the various approaches to the junction. The project is still in the early stages of test planning, but it is already clear that despite a tight schedule its safety-critical nature demands careful and thorough testing.
You have been asked to decide whether automated test design would deliver benefits. Which characteristic of automated test design is MOST important for the development of this system?

A) Testware can be generated in various output formats, e.g. for use by different tools
B) Creating the model will expose defects in the test basis early in the project
C) Less maintenance effort for the testware after the system has gone live
D) Testware generated by tools usually contains fewer mistakes than testware created manually

5. You have been assigned as Test Analyst on a project that is in the test design stage. Test cases have been written, which activity should you do next before test design complete?

A) Identify constraints and dependencies that will affect the sequence of test execution
B) Decide which test cases should be high-level and which ones should be low-level
C) Identify the test cases that are suitable for automation
D) Have the test cases reviewed by the stakeholders

Solutions: