ISTQB CT-TAE – Certified Tester Test Automation Engineer — Question 52

Assume that you are executing the first test run of a test automation suite that consists of 200 tests. All the relevant information related to the state of the SUT and to the automated test execution is stored to a small database. During such run you observe that the first 10 tests pass while an abnormal termination occurs when executing the 11th test: this test does not complete its execution and the overall execution of the suite is aborted. An immediate analysis of the abnormal termination is expected to be too time consuming since you have been asked to produce as soon as possible a detailed report of the test execution results for the first test run.

Based only on the given information, which of the following would you expect to be the most important action to be performed immediately after the abnormal termination occurred during the execution of the 11th test, in this scenario?

Answer options

• A. Re-running the test automation suite limited to the subsequent tests
• B. Returning the database to a consistent state that allows subsequent tests to run
• C. Making a backup of the database for later analysis
• D. Re-running the test automation suite from the beginning

Correct answer: C

Explanation

The correct answer is C because creating a backup of the database ensures that you have a snapshot of the current state, which can be crucial for investigating the failure later. Options A and D would be inefficient as they do not address the need for immediate reporting, and option B, while useful, does not directly contribute to the urgent requirement of generating the report.