ISTQB ISTQB-CT-TAE Online Practice Questions and Exam Preparation

ISTQB ISTQB-CT-TAE Online Questions & Answers

• Question 1:

  Which of the following is a benefit of designing abstraction into the TAA?

  A. It requires a smaller initial investment, with a less complex architecture and smaller learning curves.
  B. It increases the ability to re-use test artifacts in other implementations and provides the ability to switch to other vendors when needed.
  C. It simplifies the Test Automation Engineer's (TAE's) calculations in the return on investment (ROI) analysis.
  D. It minimizes the need to interact with other development, quality assurance, and testing stakeholders.
  B. It increases the ability to re-use test artifacts in other implementations and provides the ability to switch to other vendors when needed.

• Question 2:

  You have been asked to determine a TAS for a new release of a SUT, test should be automated wherever. The new release will consist of 5 new interfaces and an amendment to 3 existing interfaces. The new and amended interface will be deliver incrementally in 3 sprints, each lasting 2 weeks.

  What would be the BEST Test Automation Solution (TAS) design in this scenario?

  A. Automate tests at both Component and System Level. Only do this automation once every interface has been fully developed or amended and manual testing has completed successfully.
  B. Automate tests at one level only, System level. Use only the newly developed interfaces and do not create any customized interfaces/test hooks.
  C. Automate the tests at two levels, Component and System level. Create customized hooks at Component level for interface not yet developed or amended. Only use the newly developed or amended interfaces to test at System level.
  D. Automate a test at once level, component level, Create customized interface/test hooks for this level where the interface has not yet been developed or amended.
  C. Automate the tests at two levels, Component and System level. Create customized hooks at Component level for interface not yet developed or amended. Only use the newly developed or amended interfaces to test at System level.

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  Explanation

  The ISTQB Test Automation Engineer guidelines emphasize the importance of a Test Automation Architecture (TAa)- that is flexible and maintainable. In the scenario described, automating tests at both the Component and System levels allows for early detection of defects and continuous integration of changes. Customized hooks at the Component level enable testing of interfaces that are under development, which is crucial for incremental delivery in Agile environments.

  Testing only the newly developed or amended interfaces at the System level ensures that the automation is focused on the changes that are most relevant to the release.

  References:

  The answer is based on the principles outlined in the ISTQB Test Automation Engineer syllabus, which discusses the design, development, and maintenance of test automation solutions, as well as the automation of dynamic functional tests and their relationship to test management, configuration management, defect management, software development processes, and quality assurance.

• Question 3:

  Two years ago, you deployed a TAS that has been working well with the SUT. This TAS used test data replicated from production that consisted of various customer support contracts each with a particular setting that was being tested (such as standard response times, part replacement policy, etc.). Because these contracts never expired, the data could be used by the test automation with known expected results. A change has recently been made which causes the contracts to expire after 90 days, at which time they must be renewed with updated terms. Expired contracts cannot be used for testing.

  You have decided the best way to handle this data change is to query the database for the appropriate contracts and then create a table of the contracts to be used by the test automation. In this way, the scripts will require only minimal changes and the solution will be more flexible.

  Given this information, where should this change be implemented to provide the highest level of maintainability?

  A. In the affected test automation scripts
  B. In the SUT so that the data is retrieved and stored in the current SUT database
  C. In the TAS to separate the data from the actual scripts
  D. In the TAA so that any TAS instantiated from the TAA will inherit this capability
  D. In the TAA so that any TAS instantiated from the TAA will inherit this capability

• Question 4:

  Consider the following example of TAS metrics.

  Time to execute automated tests.

  Speed and efficiency of TAS components.

  Which of the following statements is TRUE?

  A. A and B are both internal TAS metrics
  B. A is an internal TAS metric and B is an external TAS metric
  C. A and b are both external TAS metric
  D. A is and external TAS metric and b is an internal TAS metric
  A. A and B are both internal TAS metrics

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  Explanation

  Both the time to execute automated tests and the speed and efficiency of TAS components are considered internal TAS metrics. Internal metrics are those that relate directly to the performance and effectiveness of the Test Automation System (TAS) itself, rather than its impact on external processes or outcomes. The time to execute automated tests measures how long the TAS takes to run a set of tests, which is a key factor in assessing the efficiency and performance of the automation. Similarly, the speed and efficiency of TAS components are directly related to how well the internal parts of the TAS are functioning. These metrics are crucial for understanding and improving the internal workings of the TAS, making them both internal metrics.

• Question 5:

  Which of the following attributes should NOT be included in a test execution report associated with a suite of automated tests?

  A. Summary of the test execution results
  B. System/Application under test and its version
  C. Defect clusters identified during test execution
  D. Environment in which the tests have been executed
  C. Defect clusters identified during test execution

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  Explanation

  In the context of automated test execution reports, the inclusion of defect clusters is not typically recommended. The primary focus of such reports is to provide a summary of the test execution results, details about the system or application under test along with its version, and the environment in which the tests were executed. Defect clusters, while important in the overall testing process, are generally managed separately from the execution report, often in defect management tools or systems designed for tracking and analyzing defects.

  References:

  The answer is based on the ISTQB CT-TAE guidelines which specify the content that should be included in a test automation report. According to the guidelines, the report should include a summary of the execution results, the system being tested, and the environment in which the tests were run. Defect clusters are not mentioned as part of the report's content and are therefore considered irrelevant to be included in the test execution report 1.

• Question 6:

  You are in the pilot phase of a new TAS that has been created for an e-commerce project. One of the issues you have noted is that the test results are provided in a text document whereas the testers normally get the output in Excel. The output is used to generate charts and to track risk mitigation.

  What is the preferable path to take at this point?

  A. Change the TAS to support the current processes.
  B. Change the current processes to use the output from the TAS.
  C. Update both the TAS and the current processes to a more streamlined approach.
  D. Gather the information manually and feed it into Excel to continue to produce the expected reports.
  C. Update both the TAS and the current processes to a more streamlined approach.

• Question 7:

  Which of the following is an advantage of using automated installation of the TAS from a central repository?

  A. Validation tests are not needed because the TAS is known to be good.
  B. The TAS will have more flexibility for selecting test preconditions because of the loose coupling with the SUT.
  C. The TAS will automatically align itself with the special requirements of the SUT.
  D. It is unlikely that unexpected test results will be caused by an incorrect version of a TAS component.
  D. It is unlikely that unexpected test results will be caused by an incorrect version of a TAS component.

• Question 8:

  Which of the following CORRECTLY describes how automation SHOULD be applied to confirmation testing?

  A. Confirmation tests are not good candidates for automation as they are not designed to run many times
  B. Confirmation tests should only be automated if they fail to pass on the first attempt
  C. Confirmation tests can be automated and incorporated into an automated regression suite to show whether defects that were previously fixed reoccur
  D. A confirmation test should only be automated after it has been run manually
  C. Confirmation tests can be automated and incorporated into an automated regression suite to show whether defects that were previously fixed reoccur

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  Explanation

  Confirmation testing, also known as retesting, involves verifying that defects identified during earlier tests have been fixed. The ISTQB guidelines suggest that confirmation tests are suitable candidates for automation because they are often repetitive and need to be run multiple times to confirm that the defect has indeed been fixed and does not reappear in subsequent releases. Automating these tests can save time and resources, and when incorporated into a regression test suite, they can provide continuous feedback on the status of the application under test.

  References:

  The ISTQB Test Automation Engineer syllabus and study materials emphasize the importance of automating confirmation tests as part of a comprehensive test strategy. This includes integrating automated confirmation tests into the regression suite to ensure that previously fixed defects do not reoccur, thus maintaining the integrity of the software over time.

• Question 9:

  You are currently designing the TAA of a TAS. In particular, you have been asked to adopt an approach for automatically generating and executing test cases from a model that defines the SUT. The SUT is a state-based and event-driven system that is described by a finite-state machine and exposes its functionality via an API. Assume also that the behavior of the SUT depends on possibly unreliable hardware or communication links.

  Based only on the given information, which of the following aspects would you expect to be most important when designing the TAA in this scenario?

  A. Looking for tools that allow directly denoting exceptions and actions depending on system events
  B. Adopting a test generation strategy based on classification trees coverage for the test generation layer
  C. Looking for tools that allow performing setup and teardown of the test suites and the SUT
  D. Adopting a test generation strategy based on use case/exception case coverage for the test generation layer
  A. Looking for tools that allow directly denoting exceptions and actions depending on system events

• Question 10:

  Which statement describes an important success factor for a significant automation project?

  A. The TAA should be self-documenting so that testability of the SUT is not needed
  B. The SUT should be designed for testability
  C. The SUT should be fully documented before automation begins
  D. The TAS should be independent of all configuration management practices
  B. The SUT should be designed for testability

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  Explanation

  Option B is correct because a testable SUT, with appropriate interfaces, observability, and controllability, is a fundamental enabler of sustainable automation.

  Option A is incorrect because self-documentation does not replace the need for testability.

  Option C is incorrect because full documentation may help, but it is not the same as designing for testability.

  Option D is incorrect because configuration management is important for a stable and controlled TAS.