Software Testing Certifications - Eligibility,

Exam Patterns and How to Apply

CSTE stands Ior 'CertiIied SoItware Test Engineer. CSTE is a benchmark certiIication
program Ior all Testers and Mangers that emphasize on proIessional competency and best
practices in quality control in IT industry. Requirement or Eligibility criteria to take CSTE
certiIication include and one oI the Iollowing:
O year degree Irom a recognized institution2 year experience
O year degree Irom a recognized institution year experience
O 2 year degree Irom a recognized institution year experience
O years oI experience in IT industry
How to Apply:
The applicant should submit the request on Customer Portal with the payment oI
$PDFinitial exam) or $2PDFBookCDinitial exam).
You can apply Ior this certiIication through Customer Portal at SoItware Testing CertiIications.
You can also share your concerns at: certiIysoItwarecertiIications.org.
Exam Pattern:
The exam is divided into Iollowing parts:
O Two sections Ior multiple choice questions which consist oI objective type questions.
O Two sections Ior 1 subjective type questions such as Short answers or essays.
O Exam duration is hours minutes and the passing marks are 7. The examination
retaking Iees is $1.
elow you will find 20 multiple choice questions from all skill categories. There are around
1 skill categories and I have included 2 questions Irom each category.
Skill categories:
O SoItware Testing Principles and Concepts
O Building the Test Environment
O Managing the Test Project
O Test Planning
O Executing the Test Plan
O Test Reporting Process
O User Acceptance Testing
O Testing SoItware Developed by Contractors
O Testing Internal Control
O Testing New Technologies
These are the latest sample questions Irom the CSTE CBOK.
ark the answers somewhere so that you can check the score at the end of the test.
1. The customer`s view of quality means:
a. Meeting requirements
b. Doing it the right way
c. Doing it right the Iirst time
d. Fit Ior use
e. Doing it on time
2. The testing of a single program, or function, usually performed by the developer is
called:
a. Unit testing
b. Integration testing
c. System testing
d. Regression testing
e. Acceptance testing
3. The measure used to evaluate the correctness of a product is called the product:
a. Policy
b. Standard
c. Procedure to do work
d. Procedure to check work
e. Guideline
4. Which of the four components of the test environment is considered to be the most
important component of the test environment:
a. Management support
b. Tester competency
c. Test work processes
d. Testing techniques and tools
5. Effective test managers are effective listeners. The type of listening in which the tester is
performing an analysis of what the speaker is saying is called:
a. Discriminative listening
b. Comprehensive listening
c. Therapeutic listening
d. Critical listening
e. Appreciative listening
6. To become a CSTE, an individual has a responsibility to accept the standards of conduct
defined by the certification board. These standards of conduct are called:
a. Code oI ethics
b. Continuing proIessional education requirement
c. Obtaining reIerences to support experience
d. Joining a proIessional testing chapter
e. Following the common body oI knowledge in the practice oI soItware testing
. Which of the following are risks that testers face in performing their test activities:
a. Not enough training
b. Lack oI test tools
c. Not enough time Ior testing
d. Rapid change
e. All oI the above
8. All of the following are methods to minimize loss due to risk. Which one is not a method
to minimize loss due to risk:
a. Reduce opportunity Ior error
b. IdentiIy error prior to loss
c. QuantiIy loss
d. Minimize loss
e. Recover loss

9. Defect prevention involves which of the following steps:
a. IdentiIy critical tasks
b. Estimate expected impact
c. Minimize expected impact
d. a, b and c
e. a and b
10. The first step in designing use case is to:
a. Build a system boundary diagram
b. DeIine acceptance criteria
c. DeIine use cases
d. Involve users
e. Develop use cases
11. The defect attribute that would help management determine the importance of the
defect is called:
a. DeIect type
b. DeIect severity
c. DeIect name
d. DeIect location
e. Phase in which deIect occurred
12. The system test report is normally written at what point in software development:
a. AIter unit testing
b. AIter integration testing
c. AIter system testing
d. AIter acceptance testing
13. The primary objective of user acceptance testing is to:
a. IdentiIy requirements deIects
b. IdentiIy missing requirements
c. Determine iI soItware is Iit Ior use
d. Validate the correctness oI interIaces to other soItware systems
e. VeriIy that soItware is maintainable
14. If IT establishes a measurement team to create measures and metrics to be used in
status reporting, that team should include individuals who have:
a. A working knowledge oI measures
b. Knowledge in the implementation oI statistical process control tools
c. A working understanding oI benchmarking techniques
d. Knowledge oI the organization`s goals and objectives
e. All oI the above
15. What is the difference between testing software developed by a contractor outside your
country, versus testing software developed by a contractor within your country:
a. Does not meet people needs
b. Cultural diIIerences
c. Loss oI control over reallocation oI resources
d. Relinquishment oI control
e. Contains extra Ieatures not speciIied
16. What is the definition of a critical success factor:
a. A speciIied requirement
b. A soItware quality Iactor
c. Factors that must be present
d. A soItware metric
e. A high cost to implement requirement
1. The condition that represents a potential for loss to an organization is called:
a. Risk
b. Exposure
c. Threat
d. Control
e. Vulnerability
18. A flaw in a software system that may be exploited by an individual for his or her
advantage is called:
a. Risk
b. Risk analysis
c. Threat
d. Vulnerability
e. Control
19. The conduct of business of the Internet is called:
a. e-commerce
b. e-business
c. Wireless applications
d. Client-server system
e. Web-based applications
20. The following is described as one of the five levels of maturing a new technology into an
IT organization`s work processes. The ~People-dependent technology level is equivalent to
what level in SEI`s compatibility maturity model:
a. Level 1
b. Level 2
c. Level
d. Level
e. Level
1 (d) llL for use
2 (a) unlL LesLlng
3 (b) SLandard
4 (a) ManagemenL supporL
S (d) CrlLlcal llsLenlng
6 (a) Code of eLhlcs
7 (e) All of Lhe above
8 (c) CuanLlfy loss
9 (d) a b and c
10 (a) 8ulld a sysLem boundary dlagram
11 (b) uefecL severlLy
12 (c) AfLer sysLem LesLlng
13 (c) ueLermlne lf sofLware ls flL for use
14 (e) All of Lhe above
1S (b) CulLural dlfferences
16 (c) lacLors LhaL musL be presenL
17 (a) 8lsk
18 (d) vulnerablllLy
19 (b) ebuslness
20 (a) Level 1
CSTE mock test paper - Questions and Answers:
1. Define the following along with examples |2 Marks|
a. oundary Value testing
b. Equivalence testing
c. Error Guessing
d. Desk checking
e. Control Flow analysis
Answer:
a) Boundary value Analysis: A process oI selecting test cases/data by identiIying the
boundaries that separate valid and invalid conditions. Tests are constructed to test the inside and
outside edges oI these boundaries, in addition to the actual boundary points. or A selection
technique in which test data are chosen to lie along 'boundaries oI the input domain |or output
range| classes, data structures, procedure parameters, etc. Choices oIten include maximum,
minimum, and trivial values or parameters.
E.g. Input data 1 to 1 boundary value)
Test input data , 1, 2 to 9, 1, 11
b) Equivalence testing: The input domain oI the system is partitioned into classes oI
representative values, so that the no oI test cases can be limited to one-per-class, which
represents the minimum no. oI test cases that must be executed.
E.g.- valid data range: 1-1
Test set:-2; ; 1
c) Error guessing: Test data selection technique. The selection criterion is to pick values that
seem likely to cause errors Error guessing is based mostly upon experience, with some assistance
Irom other techniques such as boundary value analysis. Based on experience, the test designer
guesses the types oI errors that could occur in a particular type oI soItware and designs test cases
to uncover them.
E.g. For example, iI any type oI resource is allocated dynamically, a good place to look Ior
errors is in the de-allocation oI resources. Are all resources correctly deallocated, or are some
lost as the soItware executes?
d) Desk checking: Desk checking is conducted by the developer oI the system or program. The
process involves reviewing the complete product to ensure that it is structurally sound and that
the standards and requirements have been met. This is the most traditional means Ior analyzing a
system or program.
e) Control Flow Analysis: It is based upon graphical representation oI the program process. In
control Ilow analysis; the program graphs has nodes which represent a statement or segment
possibly ending in an unresolved branch. The graph illustrates the Ilow oI program control Irom
one segment to another as illustrated through branches .the objective oI control Ilow analysis is
to determine the potential problems in logic branches that might result in a loop condition or
improper processing.
2. You find that there is a senior tester who is making more mistakes than the junior
testers. You need to communicate this aspect to the senior tester. Also, you don`t want to
loose this tester. How should one go about the constructive criticism? |1 Marks|
Answer:
In the quality approach, it is the responsibility oI the supervisor to make His/Her subordinates
successIul. The eIIective use oI criticism is a tool Ior improving subordinate perIormance.
In giving constructive criticism, you should incorporate the Iollowing tactics: -
O Do it privately.
O Have the Iacts.
O Be prepared to help the worker improve His/Her perIormance.
O Be speciIic on Expectations.
O Follow a speciIic process in giving the criticism.
3. Your manager has taken you onboard as a test lead for testing a web-based application.
He wants to know what risks you would include in the Test plan. Explain each risk factor
that would be a part of your test plan. |2 marks|
Answer:
Web-Based Application primary risk Iactors:-
A) Security: anything related to the security oI the application.
B) PerIormance:- The amount oI computing resources and code required by the system to
perIorm its stated Iunctions.
C) Correctness:-Data entered, processed, and outputted in the system is accurate and complete
D) Access Control:-Assurance that the application system resources will be protected
E) Continuity oI processing:-The ability to sustain processing in the event problem occurs
F) Audit Trail:-The capability to substantiate the processing that has occurred.
G) Authorization:-Assurance that the data is processed in accordance with the intents oI the
management.
General risk or secondary risk`s:-
A) Complex anything disproportionately large, intricate or convoluted.
B) New anything that has no history in the product.
C) Changed anything that has been tampered with or 'improved.
D) Upstream Dependency anything whose Iailure will cause cascading Iailure in the rest oI the
system.
E) Downstream Dependency anything that is especially sensitive to Iailures in the rest oI the
system.
F) Critical anything whose Iailure could cause substantial damage.
G) Precise anything that must meet its requirements exactly.
H) Popular anything that will be used a lot.
I) Strategic anything that has special importance to your business, such as a Ieature that sets
you apart Irom the competition.
J) Third-party anything used in the product, but developed outside the project.
K) Distributed anything spread out in time or space, yet whose elements must work together.
l) Buggy anything known to have a lot oI problems.
M) Recent Failure anything with a recent history oI Iailure.
4. You are in the contract stage of a project and are developing a comprehensive proposal
for a safety critical software system. Your director has consulted you for preparing a
guideline document what will enlist user`s role during acceptance testing phase. Indicate
the key roles you feel that the user should play during acceptance stage. Also indicate the
categories into which the acceptance requirements should fall. |1 Marks|
Answer:
1) Ensure user involvement in developing systems requirement and acceptance criteria.
2) IdentiIy interim and Iinal products Ior acceptance their acceptance criteria and schedule.
) Plan how and by whom each acceptance activity will be perIormed.
) Plan resources Ior providing inIormation.
) Schedule adequate time Ior buyer staII to receive and examine the products and evaluation
prior to acceptance review.
) Prepare the acceptance plan.
7) Respond to the analysis oI project entitles beIore accepting and rejecting.
8 ) Approve the various interim soItware products.
9) PerIorm the Iinal acceptance activities, including the Iormal acceptance testing at delivery.
1) Make an acceptance decision Ior each product.
5. What is parallel testing and when do we use parallel testing? Explain with
example? | marks|
Answer:
Testing a new or an altered data processing system with the same source data that is used in
another system. The other system is considered as the standard oI comparison. OR we can say
that parallel testing requires the same input data be run through two versions oI the same
application.
Parallel testing should be used when there is uncertainty regarding the correctness oI processing
oI the new application. And old and new versions oI the applications are same.
E.g.-
1) Operate the old and new version oI the payroll system to determine that the paychecks Irom
both systems are reconcilable.
2) Run the old version oI the application system to ensure that the operational status oI the old
system has been maintained in the event that problems are encountered in the new application.
6. What is the difference between testing Techniques and tools? Give examples. | marks|
Answer:
Testing technique: Is a process Ior ensuring that some aspects oI the application system or unit
Iunctions properly there may be Iew techniques but many tools.
Tools: Is a vehicle Ior perIorming a test process. The tool is a resource to the tester, but itselI is
insuIIicient to conduct testing
E.g.:- The swinging oI hammer to drive the nail. The hammer is a tool, and swinging the hammer
is a technique. The concept oI tools and technique is important in the testing process. It is a
combination oI the two that enables the test process to be perIormed. The tester should Iirst
understand the testing techniques and then understand the tools that can be used with each oI the
technique.