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

ISTQB ISTQB-CT-TAE Online Questions & Answers

• Question 121:

  Which of the following statements does NOT describe good practice for maintaining the TAS?

  A. The TAS must run in the development environment because development and programming knowledge are required for its maintainability
  B. The TAS must be under configuration management, along with the test suite, the testware artefacts and the test environment in which it runs
  C. The TAS must separate the test scripts from the environment in which it runs and from the associated harnesses and artefacts
  D. The TAS must consist of components that can be easily replaced without affecting the overall behavior of the TAS itself
  A. The TAS must run in the development environment because development and programming knowledge are required for its maintainability

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  Explanation

  Good practice for maintaining the Test Automation System (TAS) involves ensuring that the system is under configuration management, which includes the test suite, the testware artifacts, and the test environment. It also involves separating the test scripts from the environment and associated harnesses and artifacts to promote modularity and maintainability. Additionally, the TAS should be designed with replaceable components to allow for easy updates and changes without disrupting the overall system. However, stating that the TAS must run in the development environment because development and programming knowledge are required for its maintainability is not a good practice. The TAS should be able to run in multiple environments, and maintainability should not be dependent solely on the development environment or require development knowledge, as it should be maintainable by the testing team as well.

  References:

  The ISTQB Test Automation Engineer (CT-TAe)- certification materials and the associated syllabus provide guidelines on the best practices for maintaining the TAS, emphasizing the importance of configuration management, separation of concerns, and modularity.

• Question 122:

  When designing a TAA, which of the following is NOT a technical design consideration?

  A. Availability of interfaces that make the SUT testable
  B. Standards and legal requirements such as data privacy
  C. Data used by the SUT, such as configuration or user data
  D. The number of end users who will use the SUT in production
  D. The number of end users who will use the SUT in production

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  Explanation

  Option D is correct because the number of production users is primarily a business or operational consideration, not a direct technical design input for the TAA.

  Option A is incorrect because interface availability directly affects automation feasibility.

  Option B is incorrect because standards and legal constraints can shape how the TAA must be designed and operated.

  Option C is incorrect because SUT data characteristics influence how automated tests are prepared, executed, and maintained.

• Question 123:

  You are working on a web-based application called Book Vault that allows people to upload books and order books. This application must be available on all major browsers. You have been testing the application manually and management have asked you to consider automating some of the tests.

  You have investigated a number of commercial and free tools which can automate tests at a web browser level and one tool in particular meets your requirements and you have implemented a trial version. You have basic programming skills and the main goal is to automate a few functional tests to see if the tool is compatible with the application and can recognise the objects and controls.

  Which scripting technique would be MOST suitable in this scenario in order to meet the objectives?

  A. Structured scripting
  B. Capture-replay scripting
  C. Data-driven scripting
  D. Model-based scripting
  B. Capture-replay scripting

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  Explanation

  In this scenario, where the main goal is to verify the compatibility of the automation tool with the application and its ability to recognize objects and controls, capture-replay scripting would be the most suitable technique. This approach allows you to record manual test cases as they are performed in the browser and then replay them automatically. It's a quick way to convert manual tests into automated ones without requiring extensive programming knowledge. Capture-replay tools can help validate that the tool can interact with the application as expected and identify any potential issues with object recognition.

  References:

  The ISTQB Test Automation Engineer syllabus covers the different scripting techniques and their appropriate usage scenarios.

  For a detailed understanding of capture-replay scripting and its benefits for initial automation efforts, refer to the official ISTQB Test Automation Engineer documents and training resources.

• Question 124:

  A SUT has an existing automated test suite.

  Which of the following statements relating to the introduction of new features in the SUT is TRUE?

  A. Automated tests are not affected by the introduction of a new feature and running them against the new SUT is a waste of effort
  B. The introduction of a new feature could require updates or additions to the testware components
  C. The test automation engineer should work with the business analysts to ensure the new feature is testable
  D. It is generally more difficult to automate test cases for a new feature as the development has not yet started
  B. The introduction of a new feature could require updates or additions to the testware components

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  Explanation

  When a new feature is introduced to the System Under Test (SUT), it often necessitates changes to the existing automated test suite. This is because the test suite must now account for the new functionality and ensure that it works as expected, in addition to not breaking existing features. The testware, which includes scripts, data, and configurations, may need to be updated or new components added to cover the new feature adequately. This ensures that the automated tests remain effective and can validate that the new feature integrates well with the existing system.

  References:

  The answer and explanation are based on the principles outlined in the ISTQB Test Automation Engineer syllabus, which emphasizes the importance of maintaining and updating testware in response to changes in the SUT.

  The ISTQB documents provide detailed guidance on how to approach test automation when new features are added to a system.

• Question 125:

  Assume that you are working on a TAS for standalone desktop applications. The automated tests are developed based on a given automation framework that allows interacting with the application using the GUI elements by means of an object-oriented API. The TAS needs also a tool that allows identifying the properties of these elements. In this tool the root element represents the current desktop and the child elements represent application windows. Each of these child elements contains GUI elements (e.g., menus, buttons, radio buttons, text boxes, toolbars etc.) with their properties. Unfortunately, the elements of two third party components are not unidentifiable by this tool and thus they cannot be used with the specified framework.

  Based only on the given information, which of the following is the first step that you should consider to address such issue in this scenario?

  A. Verify the testability support within the current automation solution with the providers of the third party controls
  B. Verify whether the identifiability issue associated to the third party controls depends on the web browser
  C. Adopt an approach that uses the coordinates of the GUI elements for interacting with the application
  D. Verify whether naming standards for variables and files have been defined for the current automation solution
  A. Verify the testability support within the current automation solution with the providers of the third party controls

• Question 126:

  You are the TAE for an Agile project which has six sprints for the current release. Sprint five is underway and the automated regression suite is due to start later today. You have re-examined the results from the automated regression runs for the past four sprints. You notice that two test cases both reported a pass for sprints 1 and 4 but a fail for sprints 2 and 3. The failures have gone undetected and are therefore unexplained. Both test cases are closely coupled with other tests in the suite.

  What course of action SHOULD you take?

  A. Run the regression suite as planned and see If the tests fail again if they do, determine the cause of failure.
  B. Remove the test cases from the regression suite and refer them to the test designer for manual testing for future sprints.
  C. Quarantine the test cases, run the regression suite without them, and perform root cause analysis on the test cases in parallel.
  D. Run the test cases manually now. If they still pass, keep them in the regression suite, if they fail perform root cause analysis.
  C. Quarantine the test cases, run the regression suite without them, and perform root cause analysis on the test cases in parallel.

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  Explanation

  In an Agile project, it is crucial to maintain the integrity of the regression suite to ensure that it reliably verifies the application's functionality as new changes are introduced. When inconsistencies in test results are observed, as in the case of the two test cases that passed in sprints 1 and 4 but failed in sprints 2 and 3, it is important to address these issues promptly to prevent potential defects from being overlooked. Quarantining the inconsistent test cases allows the regression suite to continue to be executed without the risk of these tests affecting the overall results. This approach also enables the Test Automation Engineer (TAe)- to conduct a root cause analysis in parallel to determine why the test cases are producing inconsistent results. By doing so, the TAE can identify whether the issue lies within the test cases themselves, the test environment, or the application under test. This course of action aligns with best practices for maintaining test reliability and effectiveness in an Agile environment, where rapid iterations and continuous integration are key. It ensures that the rest of the regression suite can still provide valuable feedback on the application's quality, while the problematic tests are being investigated and resolved.

  References:

  The answer and explanation are based on the ISTQB Test Automation Engineer syllabus and best practices for Agile testing methodologies. For further details, refer to the ISTQB CT-TAE study materials and resources provided by ISTQB and other reputable testing knowledge sources.

• Question 127:

  You have been running an automated test suite over the last several months, but you are seeing intermittent failures. Further analysis has determined that the failures are caused by data issues. The test data is replicated from production and periodically changes. The scripts are supposed to be flexible enough to handle the data changes, but they are not.

  At this point, what should you do?

  A. Further analyze the failures so the problems can be provided to the developers.
  B. Comment out the tests that have the intermittent failures so the pass/fail metrics won't track the false negatives.
  C. Investigate ways to control the test data either by generating it or by checking it before use to improve repeatability of the test results.
  D. Manually test each failing test to verify the failure and to understand how to recode around the failure.
  C. Investigate ways to control the test data either by generating it or by checking it before use to improve repeatability of the test results.

• Question 128:

  You have been asked to automate a set of functional tests at system Test level via the CLI of the SUT for the first release of a software system. The automated tests will be delivered to the learn in change of maintenance testing, who will use them for part of the regression testing. They have the following requirements.

  1. The automated tests must be as fast and cheap to maintain as possible.

  2. The cost of adding new automated tests must be as low as possible.

  3. The automated tests must have a high level of independence from the tool itself.

  Which of the following scripting techniques would be MOST suitable?

  A. Data-driven scripting
  B. Keyword-driven scripting
  C. Linear scripting
  D. Structure scripting
  A. Data-driven scripting

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  Explanation

  For the scenario of automating functional tests at the system test level via the Command Line Interface (CLI) of the SUT, with the requirements for fast and cheap maintenance, low cost for adding new tests, and high independence from the automation tool, the most suitable scripting technique is Data-driven scripting. This approach externalizes test data from the scripts into separate data files or repositories, allowing for the reuse of test scripts with different sets of data. Data-driven scripting is ideal for meeting the specified requirements because it enables rapid execution of a large number of test cases by merely changing the input data, without the need to alter the scripts themselves. This significantly reduces maintenance costs and the effort required to add new tests, as the core script remains the same. Moreover, this technique enhances the independence of the automated tests from the specific tools used, as the focus is on the data and the generic actions performed by the scripts, making it the most suitable choice for the described needs.

• Question 129:

  Which of the following is considered a disadvantage of test automation?

  A. Automated exploratory testing is difficult to implement
  B. Test automation can be a distraction from the objective of finding bugs
  C. Tests are more likely to have operator errors.
  D. Slower feedback on the quality of the system.
  A. Automated exploratory testing is difficult to implement

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  Explanation

  Automated exploratory testing is challenging because it relies heavily on human intuition, experience, and real-time decision-making, which are difficult to replicate with automated systems. While test automation offers many advantages, such as repeatability and efficiency, it lacks the creativity and adaptability of a human tester exploring the software without predefined scripts or scenarios. This limitation can be significant, especially when the goal is to discover new and unexpected issues within the system under test.

  References:

  The ISTQB CT-TAE materials discuss the objectives, advantages, disadvantages, and limitations of test automation, acknowledging that while automation can significantly enhance testing efficiency, certain aspects like exploratory testing are better suited for manual execution.

• Question 130:

  You are using a gTAA to create a TAS for a project. The TAS is aimed at automatically and executing test cases based on a use-case. Modeling approaching that uses UML as a modeling language. All the interaction between TAS and SUT will only be at the API and GUI level.

  Which of the following components of the gTAA would you EXCLUDE from the TAS?

  A. The test reporting component of the test execution layer.
  B. The Test execution component of the test generation layer
  C. The test execution (test engine of the test execution layer
  D. The Command Line Interface (CLI) component of the test adaptation layer
  D. The Command Line Interface (CLI) component of the test adaptation layer

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  Explanation

  In the context of a Test Automation System (TAS) that is designed to execute test cases based on a use-case modeling approach using UML, and where all interactions with the System Under Test (SUT) are at the API and GUI level, the Command Line Interface (CLI) component of the test adaptation layer would be excluded. This is because the CLI is typically used for interactions that are not GUI-based, and since the TAS in this scenario is focused on API and GUI interactions, the CLI component would not be necessary.

  References:

  The ISTQB Test Automation Engineer syllabus outlines the general Test Automation Architecture (gTAa)- and its components, which include the test generation layer, the test execution layer, and the test adaptation layer. The syllabus also provides guidance on how to tailor the test automation solution to the specific needs of the project, which would involve selecting the appropriate components of the gTAA to include in the TAS.