CSQA Certification Guide: Study Material and Exam Questions

Quickly understand why you should aspire to be a CSQA with this CSQA Certification preparation guide. A list of useful tips for tackling the examination has been provided with sample questions and answers:

This is an article for all those who have always wondered what CSQA was about and wanted to know more about how to approach it or whether to approach it or not.

We decided to provide all the information related to CSQA certification in one place so you can make an informed decision if this is something you want to take up or not.

CSQA Preparation Guide for All

What is CSQA?

CSQA (Certified Software Quality Analyst) is a Software Certification for Quality

Analysts provided by QAI Global Institute for IT professionals who prove their competence in the field of Quality principles and methodologies.

All the details about this certification, like fee, scheduling, format, pre-requisites, etc., are available here.

CSTE Or CSQA?

This is one of the questions every tester has in their mind. Which one to get certified as?

These are two different certifications aimed at two different groups of people in the entire quality field. One is not better than the other – they are just different.

CSTE (Certified Software Tester) is for testers. For those who are at the beginning of their careers in the field of Quality and want to acquaint and evaluate themselves in terms of their quality control skills, CSTE is for them.

CSQA is a little more advanced group of the testing fraternity who are both into Quality control and quality assurance.

Typically, testers in the initial days of their career take the CSTE, and once they progress to performing overall QA roles, they take the CSQA. I hope this helps the readers determine which is more apt for them at the current time.

Why should you aspire to be a CSQA?

• As a part of the QA universe, you will have the best principles, practices, and code of conduct that will differentiate you from the other QAs. This vastly improves the whole QA-sphere.
• You will have more confidence in your day-to-day QA activities and can guide your peers better.
• You provide more value to your employer with the skills you learn by taking this certification.
• It is wonderful for your career growth.

How does it work?

The CSQA certification consists of an educational program that tests the level of competence in the principles and practices of Quality Assurance and control in the Information Technology (IT) Profession. These principles and practices are defined by the Certification Board as the Common Body of Knowledge (CBOK).

The CBOK is divided into 10 Skill categories, which cover everything you will need to master the QA world and emerge as a leader.  These 10 categories are the syllabus for the certification examination.

Here is the list of categories:

• Skill Category 1 – Quality Principles and Concepts
• Skill Category 2 – Quality Leadership
• Skill Category 3 – Quality Baselines
• Skill Category 4 – Quality Assurance
• Skill Category 5 – Quality Planning
• Skill Category 6 – Define, Build, Implement, and Improve Work Processes
• Skill Category 7 – Quality Control Practices
• Skill Category 8 – Metrics and Measurement
• Skill Category 9 – Internal Control and Security
• Skill Category 10 – Outsourcing, COTS, and Contracting Quality

The details of what each one of these skill categories contains are detailed in the CSQA brochure that is available at the link I gave above. I am also providing a screenshot for quick reference.

Certification Preparation Steps

• Take some time to decide on when you want to take the test. I suggest at least 4-6 months of preparation time.
• Once you decide on a good time, go ahead and apply for it online. Choose your nearest test center on the date. (All the procedures are in the link provided)
• Obtain the CBOK. (You will receive a PDF or CD of the CBOK after you register for the certification)
• CBOK has all the information about the test, references, the detailed explanation of the skill categories mentioned above, etc. Read it and understand it thoroughly.

Note: All I studied in preparation for this certification is the CBOK. I never needed to refer to anything else, nevertheless, the below are the references recommended by QAI:

CSQA Study Reference Books:

You don’t have to be overwhelmed by this list. You don’t need to read all the books. But I wanted to list them all the same, for readers who might have an academic interest in the field and are looking for reference titles.

• Prepare well and appear for the examination. It has 2 sections – Multiple-choice and Essay questions. The examination takes approximately 2.5 hours, and you will need a 70% score to pass in each section.

Tips For Tackling the Examination

• Give yourself plenty of time to prepare.
• Do not treat your CBOK knowledge and your professional experience in two different aspects. Try and see how the QA processes that you are currently following are similar or different from the guidelines given in the CBOK.
• During your preparation phase, try to apply the CBOK recommended practices and principles to your job and see how it helps you.
• Adapt the CBOK as your daily guide for your testing or QA practices and record your observations.
• I cannot emphasize this more. CBOK is your bible. Give yourself a thorough understanding of the material in the CBOK, and there is just no reason why you will not be able to succeed

CSQA Certification Sample Questions with Answers & Tips

I am now going to give you some sample CSQA exam questions. There are two parts, i.e., Essays and Multiple-choice questions. I am going to list out 2 multiple-choice questions from each skill category. For essays, I am going to give you one question each on Quality Control and Quality Assurance with answers.

or essays, I am going to give you one question each on Quality control and Quality Assurance with answers.

CSQA Multiple Choice Sample Questions

(The answer key is at the end)

Tips to answer multiple-choice questions:

• In my opinion, this is the easiest part of the examination. If you are thorough with CBOK this is a piece of cake for you.
• You don’t have to answer the questions sequentially so move on if you don’t know something.

Skill Category 1: Quality Principles And Concepts

Q #1) The Quality attribute “Interoperability” is defined as:
a. The effort required to couple one system to another
b. The extent to which a program satisfies its specifications
c. The number of computing resources and code required by a program to perform a function
d. The effort required for learning, operating, preparing input and interpreting output of a program

Q #2) Money spent to train IT professionals in the concepts of quality is included in which category of the Cost of Quality?
a. Cost of production
b. Prevention costs
c. Appraisal cost
d. Failure cost

Skill Category 2: Quality Leadership

Q #3) Which of the following is considered a Quality Management philosophy as opposed to the more traditional management philosophies?
a. Competition between organizations
b. Motivation from fear of failure
c. Motivation from within (self)
d. Correct the error
e. The accomplishment of meeting quotas, the monthly or quarterly bottom line

Q #4) In a Quality Management infrastructure, which of the following is the responsibility of the quality council?
a. Commits resources
b. Forms teams
c. Develops plans
d. Oversees practices
e. Develops processes

Skill Category 3: Quality Baselines

Q #5) Which of the following groups normally does not conduct an IT baseline study?
a. Quality Assurance groups
b. Quality task forces
c. IT management
d. Internal auditors

Q #6) Which of the following is not one of the five maturity levels in the SEI CMM framework?
a. Repeatable
b. Testable
c. Defined
d. Managed
e. Optimized

Skill Category 4: Quality Assurance

Q #7) Which of the following is considered the most desirable skill for a successful Quality Assurance professional?
a. Systems knowledge
b. Business system design knowledge
c. Project management knowledge
d. Verbal communications
e. Knowledge of computer operations

Q #8) The Quality Control tool which is a technique used to quickly generate a quantity of creative or original ideas on or about a process, problem, product, or service is called:
a. Forcefield analysis
b. Benchmarking
c. Quality function deployment
d. Playscript
e. Brainstorming

Skill Category 5: Quality Planning

Q #9) What is the first question that needs to be answered when doing Quality Planning?
a. Where do we want to go?
b. Where are we?
c. How are we going to get there?
d. Who is responsible for what?

Q #10) Which is the preferred approach to Quality Planning?
a. Develop a quality plan – no updating needed during execution
b. Develop a quality plan – updating may be needed during execution
c. Ask the development team to do quality planning
d. Perform quality planning only when there is a quality problem
e. Develop a quality plan as a guideline for performing quality initiatives

Skill Category 6: Define, Build, Implement, and Improve Work Processes

Q #11) In the PDCA Cycle, the letter “C” stands for:
a. Control
b. Compare
c. Check
d. Continuous
e. Custom

Q #12) Who within the IT organization has the responsibility for developing IT policies?
a. IT management
b. Quality assurance function
c. Human resource function
d. Internal audit function
e. Quality control function

Skill Category 7: Quality Control Practices

Q #13) Which of the following types of Testing assumes that a path of logic in a unit or program is known?
a. White-box testing
b. Black-box testing
c. Incremental testing
d. Thread testing
e. Regression testing

Q #14) The “V” model of Testing shows two development paths, which are the two sides of the
“V.” These two processes are:
a. Developmental process and test process
b. The Rest planning process and test execution process
c. Requirements development process and programming process
d. Test planning process and acceptance test planning process
e. The System design process and system programming process

Skill Category 8: Metrics and Measurement

Q #15) Which of the following Data types would be used for ranking data?
a. Nominal
b. Ordinal
c. Interval
d. Racial

Q #16) Which of the following metrics are used to indicate the size of a program?
a. The number of programmers needed to build a program
b. Cost to build a program
c. Function points
d. The number of paths
e. Complexity of logic

Skill Category 9: Internal Control and Security

Q #17) A system of internal control in an IT organization is the responsibility of:
a. IT management
b. Quality assurance function
c. Quality control function
d. Internal audit function
e. Project managers

Q #18) Routines in a computer system that check the validity of input data are referred to as what type of control?
a. Environmental control
b. SOX control
c. Preventive control
d. Detective control
e. Corrective control

Skill Category 10: Outsourcing, COTS, and Contracting Quality

Q #19) What is the first step an organization should do before acquiring COTS software?
a. Define their requirements
b. Identify the cost
c. Develop an acceptance test plan
d. Evaluate the ease of use
e. Determine the reputation of COTS developer

Q #20) In a contract to develop software, what contractual section explains the guarantees provided by the contractor?
a. Deliverables
b. Vendor support
c. Warranty
d. Foreign attachment
e. Governing law

Here is the Key

1. b The effort required to couple one system to another
2. b Prevention cost
3. c Motivation from within (self)
4. a Commits resources
5. d Internal auditors
6. b Testable
7. d Verbal communications
8. e Brainstorming
9. b Where are we?
10. b Develop a Quality plan – updating needed during execution
11. c Check
12. a IT management
13. a White-box testing
14. a Development process and test process
15. b Ordinal
16. c Function points
17. a IT management
18. d Detective Control
19. a Define their requirements
20. c Warranty

Have you tried answering these and gotten most of them right? Great! But if not, don’t worry. All of these questions are based on your CBOK knowledge. So again, CBOK is your bible.

CSQA Essay or Short Answer Questions

You will have 12 questions and 75 minutes to answer this section. There is no minimum word requirement or word limit for your answers. Make sure you write comprehensive answers – preferably pointwise. Use diagrammatic representation whenever applicable.

The evaluation is not based on your expertise in ‘English’ but since it is the medium to write your answers, try to use grammatically correct language. Though a particular criterion for score-giving is not specified, an educated guess is that relevant and elaborate answers are fetching.

Some tips for answering the questions:

• Try to make some points roughly before you write the actual answer. This will ensure that you won’t miss anything.
• Most of us have lost the habit of writing elaborately. But you will need to practice that because the second part of this examination is essay-based. So, practice writing answers and avoid shortcuts.
• Most often we tend to use a term commonly, but the standard word happens to be something else. So, try to use the standard terminology when writing your essay answers. For Example, You might call a test cycle a sprint. But in the examination, use the term “Cycle” instead of a sprint.

Note: The below answers are samples only. You can choose to answer in any way you choose to.

Quality Control: Skill Category 1 – Quality Principles and Concepts

Q #1) The producer of a product views the quality of the product differently from the customer who uses that product. First, define the producer’s view of quality and the customer’s view of Quality. Second, list the characteristics of the product produced from both the producer’s view and the customer’s view.

Answer: Meeting requirements is a producer’s view of quality. This is the view of the organization responsible for the project and processes, and the products and services acquired, developed, and maintained by those processes. Meeting requirements means that the person building the product does so by the requirements.

Requirements can be very complete or they can be simple, but they must be defined in a measurable format, so it can be determined whether they have been met.

The producer’s view of Quality has these four characteristics:

• Doing the right thing
• Doing it the right way
• Doing it right the first time
• Doing it on time without exceeding the cost

Being fit for use is the customer’s definition. The customer is the end-user of the products or services. Fit for use means that the product or service meets the customer’s needs regardless of the product requirements. Of the two definitions of Quality, fit for use is more important.

The customer’s view of Quality has these characteristics:
• Receiving the right product for their use
• Being satisfied that their needs have been met
• Meeting their expectations
• Being treated with integrity, courtesy, and respect

Quality Assurance: Skill Category 8: Metrics and Measurement

Q #2) The help desk in your computer operations department receives numerous calls from IT customers about the status of their work and some questions about their work. You have asked the help desk operators to write down the topics the customers addressed in their calls to the help desk. You collected these and are now ready to do an analysis.

You have been asked to do the following:

Create a Pareto chart using the process recommended for developing a Pareto chart. Do an analysis of the completed Pareto chart and describe your analysis of the information contained in that Pareto chart.

The following are the notes recorded by the help desk operators regarding discussion topics with customers:
• The terminal printer did not work.
• Do not understand instructions in the customer manual.
• The computer message is not clear.
• Did not understand how to correct.
• Could not close down the terminal.
• Entered a code that the software did not recognize.
• Could not find the needed topic in the customer manual.
• Could not activate the terminal screen.
• The terminal printer did not work.
• The computer message is not clear.
• Could not close down the terminal.
• Could not find the needed topic in the customer manual index.
• Terminal printer out of ink.
• Did not understand how to change the customer account name in a software system.
• Lost an hour of input data entered into the terminal.

Answer:  (The following is not an exact answer, but a guideline on how to approach answering this)
• Do a brainstorming session to determine the causes.
• Rank the causes using the nominal group technique.
• Determine the frequency of occurrence for each cause.
• Draw a chart with frequency versus causes.
• Order the chart according to frequency.
• Compute the % of occurrence.
• Apply the 80-20 rule.
• 80% of the frequency will affect 20% of the causes.
• Find 20% of causes.
• Develop solutions to fix the causes.

Conclusion

I know many testers have negative views about testing certifications. But personally, this certification has helped me be more confident at my job, given me the necessary tools to be an efficient QA, has given my superiors and clients more faith in my capabilities, and, of course, makes my resume stronger.

The only concern for anyone thinking of taking this up might be the cost. It is a little expensive, but check with your company about their continued learning policies for the associates. You might be pleasantly surprised that the fee might be reimbursed. I wish you luck!

Note: If you are interested in knowing more about different Software Testing certifications, please read our earlier posts here and here.

In the last section, we covered CSQA certification sample questions with answers – both Multiple-choice and Essays. Along with the questions, we discovered a few more tips on how to answer these questions, especially the essays.

Thus, we have created a little niche on our website for all aspiring CSQAs out there. Reach out to us if you have questions or need any further guidance regarding this. Good luck to you all!