ISTQB Foundation Level CTFL Foundation Exam Practice Questions

1. Which of the following metrics could be used to monitor progress along with test preparation and execution? [K1]

2. “Experience based" test design techniques, typically...

3. An iPhone application identifies and counts all purchases of a particular product from a shopping website. The application incorrectly counts purchase attempts by including both failed attempts, and also those where the purchase was terminated by the user before completion. Testing has identified that the problem was located in the ‘purchase identification’ module, where the first stage in the purchasing process was counted, rather than a successful confirmed purchase.

Which of the following statements correctly identifies what has happened? [K2]

4. Refer to the exhibit





The following test cases need to be run, but time is limited, and it is possible that not all will be completed before the end of the test window

The first activity is to run any re-tests, followed by the regression test script. Users have supplied their priority order to tests.

Which of the following gives an appropriate test execution schedule, taking account of the prioritisation and other constraints? [K3]

5. In a system designed to work out the employee tax to be paid:

_ An employee has $4,000 of salary tax free.

_ The next $1,500 is taxed at 10%.

_ The next $28,000 after that is taxed at 22%.

_ Any further amount is taxed at 40%.

Which of these is a valid Boundary Value Analysis test case?

6. Which of the following processes ensures that all items of testware are identified, version controlled, tracked for changes, so that traceability can be maintained throughout the test process?

7. Refer to the exhibit





A test case starts at S1 and triggers 4 events in sequence: E1, E4, E5, E7 .

What will be the finishing state and the output(s) from the test case? [K3]

8. Refer to the exhibit





Given the following State Transition diagram, match the test cases below with the relevant set of state transitions.

(i) X-Z-V-W

(ii) W-Y-U-U

9. Dynamic Analysis Tools are used to:

10. Which of the following risks represents the highest level of risk to the project?

11. Which of the following test organizations has the highest level of independence?

12. Which statement BEST describes when test planning should be performed? [K1]

13. A client-server system for a web development must support a minimum of 200 enquiries per hour. In peak times, it must be available 24 hours x 7 days due to the critical nature of the application, and must have a response time lower than 20 seconds during peak loads.

Which of the following set of test types would be most appropriate to verify the non-functional requirements expressed in this statement?

14. Refer to the exhibit





The flow graph below shows the logic of a program for which 100% statement coverage and 100% decision coverage is required on exit from component testing. [K4]

The following test cases have been run:

Test Case 1 covering path P,Q,R,U

Test Case 2 covering path P,Q,S,V

Test Case 3 covering path P,Q,S,W,X

Test case 4 covering path P,Q,S,W,Y

15. What is a test condition?

16. From the following list, which of the following apply to experience-based techniques? [K2]

a. Test cases are derived from a model of the problem to be solved or the software

b. Test cases are derived from the knowledge of the testers

c. The knowledge of testers, developers and users is used to drive testing

d. The internal structure of the code is used to derive test cases

17. Refer to the exhibit





Which of the test cases below will exercise both outcomes from decision 2? [K3]

18. Which TWO of the following test tools would be classified as test execution tools? [K2]

a. Test data preparation tools

b. Test harness

c. Review tools

d. Test comparators

e. Configuration management tools

19. What type of test design technique is the most effective in testing screen-dialog flows?

20. End

How many test cases are needed to achieve 100 per cent decision coverage?

21. Which of the following correctly states a limitation in the use of static analysis tools? [K1]

22. Before an invoice can be created, an account is required. Before an account can be set up, an account user is required (in order to set up the account). The software is delivered with a master user only, who can only create other types of users. The following test cases have been written to test the high-level structure of the software

a. Create an invoice

b. Amend an invoice

c. Process an invoice (send to customer)

d. Delete an invoice

e. Create an account

f. Create an account user

g. Amend an account user

h. Delete an account user

i. Amend an account

j. Delete an account

Which of the following test procedures would enable all tests to be run? [K3]

23. Which of the following BEST describes the relationship between test planning and test execution? [K2]

24. Which of the following is a valid objective of testing? [K1]

25. Testers are often seen as the bearer of unwanted news regarding defects .

a) Communicate factual information in a constructive way.

b) Try to understand how the other person feels and why they react the way they do.

c) Always outsource testing activities.

d) Never record information that could be used to apportion blame to an individual or team.

What are effective ways to improve the communication and relationship between testers and others?

26. Which of the following is a white box testing design characteristic?

27. When an organization considers the use of testing tools, they should:

28. Of the following, select the best description of the fundamental test process:

29. Which of the following statements best characterises maintenance testing? [K2]

30. A bank is developing a new service that will be delivered via the web. The user interactions are defined as a set of use cases and the service is designed to be available continuously 24/7. In view of the challenging characteristics of the service the test manager has decided that the code should be thoroughly tested at component level.

Which of the following test types will be required during the development? [K2]

31. The four test levels defined for a common V-model testing approach are:

32. What is the value of static code analysis?

33. Typically, exit criteria may consist of:

34. What factors should be considered to determine whether enough testing has been performed?

(i) The exit criteria.

(ii) The budget.

(iii) How big the test team is.

(iv) The product's risk profile.

(v) How good the testing tools are.

(vi) Sufficient details of the system status to allow decisions

35. What other details should be included in the following incident report when it is first submitted?

Date of Issue: 23/11/05

Severity: P1

Build: Version15.6

Details: Expected field to be limited to 15 chars, able to enter 27

36. What is decision table testing?

37. Which from the following list are typically found to enable the review process to be successful? [K2]

a. Each review has clear defined objectives

b. The lower the number of defects, the better the review process

c. The right people for the review objective are involved

d. There is an emphasis on learning and process improvement

e. Management are not involved in the process at all

f. Checklists should not be used, as these slow down the process

g. Defects found are welcomed and expressed objectively

38. Refer to the exhibit





The Cambrian Pullman Express has special ticketing requirements represented by the partial decision table below.

Carol has a student railcard and is travelling on a Flexible Standard Class ticket. James has a senior railcard and is travelling on a super saver ticket .

Which of the options represents the correct actions for these two test cases? [K3]

39. Which of the following statements about software development models is most accurate? [K1]

40. Which of the following test case design techniques is white box (structure-based)? [K1]

41. A data driven approach to test automation design is best described as:

42. It is recommended to perform exhaustive tests for covering all combinations of inputs and preconditions.

43. Which of the following are valid test objectives?

(i) Finding defects.

(ii) Gaining confidence about the level of quality and providing information.

(iii) Preventing defects.

(iv) Debugging the code.

44. Under which of the following circumstances is maintenance testing required? [K1]

45. Which of the following statements about use-case testing are most accurate?

(i) In a use-case diagram an actor represents a type of user.

(ii) Use-cases are the most common test basis for unit testing.

(iii) A use-case describes interactions between actors.

(iv) An actor is always a human user that interacts with the system.

(v) Test cases can be based on use-case scenarios.

(vi) Use-case testing will often identify gaps not found by testing individual components.

46. Which of the following is a valid reason for writing test cases based on experience and intuition? [K1]

47. Which of the main activities of the fundamental test process does the task ‘verify the test environment set up is correct’ relate to? [K1]

48. Which of the following would NOT be a typical target of testing support tools?

49. Topic 23, Mix Questions Set C



A system requirement states that up to 100 users should be able to carry out a transaction, with responses returned within 5 seconds.

What type of non-functional testing would you carry out to verify these requirements?

50. Which of the following would be a good test technique to use when under severe time pressure?

51. Duration - The duration of operation, in whole minutes, each time it is switched on; ranging from 1 to 60

Applying 2-value boundary value analysis which of the following options has the correct test set of valid and invalid boundary values?

52. Which of the following options describe the causal chain in the correct sequence?

53. Which of the following options explain why it is often beneficial to have an independent test function in an organisation?

54. Which of the following options BEST explain the pesticide paradox principle of testing?

55. Why is measurement of code coverage Important?

56. Which of the following activities is appropriate to the test planning stage?

57. Which of the following would NOT be a common metric used for monitoring test preparation and execution?

58. The following Test Cases have been created for a simple web-based airline booking system.

Test Case 1: Search for an item Available Flights

Test Case 2: View selected item in My Flights

Test Case 3: Login to the system: Login is accepted

Test Case 4: Select an available flight: item added to My Flights

Test Case 5: Print confirmation receipt, then exit

Test Case 6: In My Flights, confirm details and book flight

Which of the following is the correct logical order for the test cases?

59. You have been asked to improve the way test automation tools are being used in your company.

Which one of the following is the BEST approach?

60. During which stage of the fundamental test process is the testability of requirements evaluated?

61. When considering the roles of test leader and tester, which of the following tasks would NOT typically be performed by a tester?

62. Which of the following type of defect would NOT be typically found by using a static analysis tool?

63. Which of the following is a white-box test technique?

64. Which of the following is a defect that is more likely to be found by a static analysis tool than by other testing techniques?

65. Which of the following represents good testing practice for testers, irrespective of the software lifecycle model used?

66. Which one of the following statements about testing techniques is TRUE?

67. Which of the following is NOT a valid use of decision coverage?

68. Which of the following is a Black Box test design technique?

69. A system is being enhanced to simplify screen navigation for users.

Which of the following does NOT reflect structural testing?

70. Which option BEST describes how the level of risk is determined?

71. Testing effort can depend on a number of factors, which one of following is MOST likely to impact the amount of effort required?

72. Your task is to compile a test execution schedule for the current release of software.

The system specification states the following logical dependencies:

• An admin user must create/amend/delete a standard user.

• A standard user is necessary to perform all other actions.

The test plan requires that re-tests must be performed first, followed by the highest priority tests. To save time, the test plan states that tests should be scheduled to create test data for the subsequent tests in the schedule.

The following test cases have been designed, with an indication of priority (1 being the highest priority) and whether the test has previously failed.





Which test execution schedule meets the test plan requirements and logical dependencies?

73. A live defect has been found where a code component fails to release memory after it has finished using it.

Which of the following tools would have been the MOST effective at detecting this defect prior to live implementation?

74. Which of the following is NOT a valid objective of testing?

75. During the development of a software change for a system, the developer makes a mistake in his work, which leads to a fault in the code. Unfortunately the fault is not found by software testing and is released into live.

What is the definite consequence of this mistake?

76. The decision table above reflects a golf club's pricing structure for green fees and buggy/cart hire.





What is the expected result (actions) for each of the following two test cases (TC1 and TC2)?

* TC 1 - Paul is not a full member, is a Loyalty Card holder and requests to play 18 holes with a buggy/cart

* TC 2 - Cheryl is not at full member, doesn't have a Loyalty Card and requests to play 9 holes with a buggy/cart

77. Your company is developing a system with complex business rules and many branches in the structure of its code components. You need to choose one black box technique and one white box technique for test case design.

Which one of the following offers the BEST choice?

78. When can functional and structural testing BOTH be applied?

79. The decision table above shows a company's fuel expenses structure.





Which of the following Test Cases based on the decision table are Valid?

Test Case 1:

An employee who is not a car or motorcycle driver attempts to claim fuel expenses.

Expected result: Expense claim not allowed.

Test Case 2:

An employee who drives a 1700cc diesel car attempts to claim fuel expenses. Expected result: Expense claim accepted at band C.

Test Case 3:

An employee who rides a motorcycle attempts to claim fuel expenses. Expected result:

Expense claim accepted at band A.

80. Which of the following does NOT represent one of the three triggers for maintenance testing an operational system?

81. You are examining a document which gives the precise steps needed in order to execute a test.

What is the correct definition of this document?

82. Which of the following would you NOT expect to see on an incident report from test execution?

83. In the above State Table, which of the following represents an invalid transition?

84. Which of the following would achieve the HIGHEST level of testing independence for a project's test level?

85. A booking system for a city bus service prices its fares according to the time of travel:

• Peak-time tariff starts at 0600 and finishes at 1000 am

• Off-peak tariff applies during all other times of service

• The bus service does not operate between 2300 and the start of the next day’s peak service

Note that all times mentioned are inclusive.

When applying the equivalence partitioning test design technique, which of the following options, shows test case inputs that each fall into a different equivalence partition?

86. A new testing tool has been selected for an organisation and a pilot project has successfully completed. The next step is to deploy the tool within the organization.

What is a key success factor in tool deployment?

87. Debugging and Testing are key activities in the software development lifecycle.

Which of the following are 'Debugging' activities?

a) Identifying, a failure

b) Locating the cause of failure

c) Fixing the defect

d) Checking the fix has resolved the failure

88. Topic 1, Scenario 1 "Medical Domain"

You are working as a test manager in the medical domain leading a team of system testers. You are currently working on a major release of the product which gives customers many new features and resolves a number of problem reports from previous releases.



Explain how the above mentioned report may differ from a report that you produce for the project manager, who is a test specialist Select TWO items from the following options that can be used to report to the project manager and would not be included in a report to senior management. 1 credit

89. Considerable attention will be given in this project to defining exit criteria and on reporting back on their status .

Which combination of TWO exit criteria from the list would be best to use? 1 credit

I. Total number of defects found

II. Percentage of test cases executed

III. Total test effort planned versus total actual test effort spent

IV. Defect trend (number of defects found per test run over time

90. Since the system is in the medical domain and therefore in the safety critical area, testing needs to be rigorous and evidence is required that the system has been adequately tested. Identify THREE measures that would typically be part of the test approach in this domain and which are not always applicable in other domains! 1 credit

91. Consider the typical objectives of testing .

Which of the following metrics can be used to measure the effectiveness of the testing process in achieving one of those objectives? 1 credit

92. A test log is one of the documents that need to be produced in this domain in order to provide evidence of testing. However, the level of detail of test logs can vary .

Which of the following is NOT an influencing factor for the level of detail of the test logs being produced? 1 credit

93. You have been given responsibility for the non-functional testing of a safety-critical monitoring & diagnostics package in the medical area .

Which of the following would you least expect to see addressed in the test plan? 1 credit

94. You are about to release a test progress report to a senior manager, who is not a test specialist .

Which of the following topics should NOT be included in the test progress report? 1 credit

95. Topic 2, Scenario 2 "Reviews"

A software development organization wants to introduce some specific improvements to its test process. Currently, most of their testing resources are focussedon system testing. They are developing embedded software, and do not have a simulation environment to enable them to execute software modules on the development host. They have been

advised that introducing inspections and reviews could be the most appropriate step forward.



Identify the THREE types of formal peer reviews that can be recognized. 1 credit

96. Which of the following is an example of testing as part of the requirements specification phase? 1 credit

97. IEEE 1028 also defines “management review” as a type of review .

What is the main purpose of a management review? 1 credit

98. What is the main reason why reviews are especially beneficial in the above-mentioned scenario? 2 credits

99. The introduction of reviews and inspections has often failed as a process improvement action. Identify the THREE most important measures that should be taken to reduce the risk that this test process improvement will fail. 2 Credits (for 2 out of 3 correct 1 credit)

100. As part of the improvement program, the organization is also looking at tool support .

Which type of tool could be used to ensure higher quality of the code to be reviewed? 1 credit

101. Topic 3, Scenario 3 "Tool Selection and Implementation"

Your company is considering whether or not to purchase a test tool suite from a respectable vendor. Your manager has searched the internet for comparable products but none of them meets his specific requirements. A tool demonstration has been arranged for next week and your team has been invited to attend. The tool suite consists of a test management tool, test execution tool and a requirements management tool. There is the possibility of adding a performance testing tool at a later stage. You have decided to attend the demo but raise some issues beforehand regarding expectations.



Which of the following would you least expect to form part of the analysis of initial tool costs? 1 credit

102. Select THREE issues from the options provided that should at least be raised. 1 credit

103. Topic 4, Scenario 4, V1 "Test Management Tool"

A software development company that sells an established capture-replay tool has decided to complement it with a test management tool. The capture-replay tool was developed over a number of years and is used by a large number of clients.

The test management tool will be developed by the same team that developed the capture-replay tool, using the same technology. The company test strategy mandates that structural testing is focussed at the component test level and dynamic non-functional testing is focussed at the acceptance test level.

In response to growing customer demand, it is proposed to develop the test management tool in an incremental manner. Each increment will be developed using the V life cycle model. The target platform is a PC in a local area network. The PC uses a proprietary relational database and communicates with a single PC which acts as a server.

The test management tool must interface with the company s capture replay tool. Over the first 12 months of the development period the following functionality will be developed for the tool (in two increments): basic requirements management, support for test case creation; support for test procedures, test scripts and test suites. The functionality to be included in later increments will be driven by customer demand: however they expect to provide an incident management system, a web front-end, and interfaces to other proprietary tools and database management systems.



Which of the following would you expect to see in the master test plan? 1 credit

104. Which of the following is a characteristic of good testing in any life cycle model? 1 credit

105. Which of the following are valid reasons for adopting a different life cycle (from the V model), for increments after the first year? 2 credits

i. We do not have a clear understanding of the requirements from a customer perspective.

ii. We see the risk of delivering requested functionality late as being higher than the risk of delivering a lower quality product.

iii. We do not have a budget for additional regression testing which is needed to ensure that existing functionality is not compromised by future iterations.

iv. The company test strategy does not fit well within the V life cycle model.

106. Which of the following would be the most significant input to estimating the time to carry out the specified testing tasks? 3 credits

107. Which of the following would be the TWO most appropriate examples of entry criteria documented in the system integration test plan? 2 credits

108. Topic 5, Scenario 4, V2 "Test Management Tool"

The project situation after 11 months is:

- The first increment was released one week late but contained sufficient functionality to be declared fit for purpose'. However, there were 20 outstanding incidents deferred to increment two.

- The amount of voluntary overtime worked PV the test team has reduced the second Increment slippage to just 3 weeks.

- There is talk of reducing the scope of requirements. The purpose of this is to first deliver the application with support for manual testing and then to provide a delivery * weeks later to resolve any remaining points and provide support for automated testing (i.e. the link to the capture-replay tool).

- Concerns have been expressed by a section of the user community, that in some places the usability is very poor.



Which test management control option is most appropriate to adopt under these circumstances? 2 credits

109. Which of the following is a project risk mitigation step you might take as test manager? 1 credit

110. Which of the following is least likely to be used as a technique to identify project and product risks? 1 credit

111. Risks should be constantly reviewed. Given the current situation, which one of the following factors is most likely to lead to a revised view of product risk? 3 credits

112. Topic 6, Scenario 5, V1"Human Resource System"

You have recently been employed as a test manager for a software house producing Human Resource (HR) systems, namely Payroll, Personnel and Recruitment systems. The company is relatively new and wants to make a major impact in the market by producing a worldwide enterprise HR product.



You have been asked to write a testing strategy for the company .

Which statement best explains how risk can be addressed within the testing strategy? 1 credit

113. Part of the testing strategy indicates that you are going to be using systematic test design techniques. Your manager has asked that you present the main advantages of using these techniques at the next board meeting. Identify THREE main benefits of using systematic test design techniques within this company. 2 credits (for 2 out of 3 correct 1 credit)

114. In addition to risk, identify TWO other components of a testing strategy. 1 credit

115. Topic 7, Scenario 5, V2 "Human Resource System"

For the first increment of the new enterprise HR product you have performed a product risk analysis using the FMEA method. Five risk items have been identified and the likelihood and impact have been scored using scoring tables.

This has resulted in the following scores:







What is the Risk Priority Number for risk item number 2? 2 credits

116. What would be a test approach regarding the test design techniques to be applied that would fit an item with the highest risk? 2 credits

117. Which of the following is a valid drawback of independent testing? 1 credit

118. Which of the following is a benefit of independent testing? 1 credit

119. A number of options have been suggested for the level of independence to be employed for the testing on the next project, and are shown below.

i. External test specialists perform non-functional testing.

ii. Testing is outsourced.

iii. Testing is carried out by the developer.

iv. A separate test team carries out the testing.

v. Testing is performed by the business.

vi. Testing is performed by a different developer.

Which of the following orders the above in a correct order of independence? 1 credit

120. Based on the information given in the scenario, identify how the team could be improved

most effectively? 2 credits

121. Topic 9, Scenario 6, V2 "Independent Test Team"

The project has been running for a few months and the team seems not to be progressing in their test approach. The team also lacks drive and enthusiasm and is sometimes seen to be performing their tasks too slowly. You have been asked to recruit an extra person into the team.



In addition to introducing the new team member, you have decided to raise motivation .

Which of the measures listed below would be the best measure to take in order to increase the motivation of the team? 2 credits

122. Which of the following team roles would be most appropriate to enhance the team and why? 2 credits

123. You are considering involving users during test execution. In general, what is the main reason for involving users during test execution? 1 credit

124. Topic 10, Scenario 6, V3 "Independent Test Team"

Three exit criteria have been defined for the project:

- A: Test cases passed more than 70%

- B: Number of outstanding defects lest than 5

- C: Number of defects per test case less than 0.5

The first week of the testing has shown the following results:







Evaluate the status of the project against the defined exit criteria .

Which of the following options shows the correct status? 2 credits

125. Topic 11, Scenario 6, V4 "Independent Test Team"

You have for a while been trying to hire a second test automation specialist for your test team However, you did not have any luck in finding a suitable candidate. So now, you have been asked by IT management of XYZ to forward a proposal with alternative solutions for building an automated regression test suite at system test level over a period of 2 years including needed training and eventual handover to the test team.



You have investigated different possibilities and selected four of them to present to IT management .

Which of the proposals will you most likely give your highest recommendations? 3 credits

126. Instead of having an independent test team within the company, the company is considering to outsource testing .

What are THREE key challenges that are typical for outsourcing? 1 credit

127. Topic 12, Scenario 7 "Test Estimation"

You have been contracted to manage the acceptance testing of a new computer-based reservation system for a travel agency. You have provided an approximate budget estimate for the testing project based on previous experience with similar sized projects. However, the management of the parent company of the travel agency will not commit to the budget until detailed cost estimates are provided.

The reservation system is being developed by a third party However, detailed specifications of the software are available, as well as an estimate of the total effort that will be spent in developing the software. The software is to be delivered in four increments, and the functionality to be delivered in each increment has already been agreed on.



In general, why is it NOT a good idea to estimate the testing effort based only on a percentage of development effort? Identify THREE valid reasons. 1 credit

128. In general which part of the testing activity is most difficult to estimate? 1 credit

129. Which aspect in the test estimate is the main risk in this project? 1 credit

130. Identify THREE items that would be part of the work-breakdown structure showing the key testing activities for the acceptance test project. 2 credits (for 2 out of 3 correct 1 credit)

131. Topic 13, Scenario 8, V1 "Test Process Improvement"

You have been asked to investigate various test process Improvement models to be introduced for the next project. You have been asked to provide a comparison between the TMMi and TPI models and provide a recommendation.



Model characteristics:

Which THREE of the below mentioned characteristics relate to TMMi? 1 credit

132. The test improvement project will take place in an organization developing a safety-critical avionics application .

Which one of the following standards do you believe would be most appropriate to take into account for compliance during your assignment? 1 credit

133. A test assessment has been carried out using the selected model as a reference framework. A number of recommendations have been identified and you are asked to prioritize them. Based on your knowledge of the project, you are expecting severe resistance to change .

Which of the following would be the most important selection criterion for defining the priority of the recommendations? 2 credits

134. Comparing TMMi and TPI, which is not a valid reason for choosing either TPI or TMMi? 2 credits