CTAL-TM practice question 3 of 30

You have been seeing a high number of rejections of defect reports The developers are complaining that they do not understand what the problem is…

You have been seeing a high number of rejections of defect reports The developers are complaining that they do not understand what the problem is. even though they have been supplied with screenshots. You have checked a number of the 'problem' defect reports and have not found any information that is missing. The descriptions are very detailed and include all the necessary information in a long descriptive paragraph. What change should you recommend that should help with the developer s problems?

Answer options

A: instruct your team to make all defects high priority so the developers have more urgency behind making the fixes

B: With the problem reports highlight all the information and then walk through it with the developers so they see it is all there

C: In addition to attaching the screenshots to the defect report, ask the testers to also email them to the developer

D: Separate out the steps to reproduce the defect in the description so it is clearer for the developers and easier to find Correct answer

Correct Answer:

D. Separate out the steps to reproduce the defect in the description so it is clearer for the developers and easier to find

Explanation

Defect reports must be clear, concise, and easily reproducible by developers. A long, dense descriptive paragraph obscures critical details, leading to misunderstandings and rejected reports despite containing all necessary data. By separating the steps to reproduce the defect into a structured, numbered list, the Test Manager ensures that developers can easily follow the exact sequence of actions that led to the failure. This improves readability, reduces cognitive load, and directly addresses the root cause of the developers' complaints, thereby lowering the rejection rate.

Why Incorrect

A. Artificially inflating defect priority violates defect management principles and does not resolve the underlying communication and readability issues.
B. Manually walking through every defect is highly inefficient, does not scale, and fails to address the root cause of poorly structured reports.
C. Emailing screenshots is redundant since they are already attached to the report, and it does not fix the unreadable text description.

References

1. ISTQB Certified Tester Advanced Level - Test Manager (CTAL-TM) Syllabus v3.0, Section 4.2 (Defect Management - Defect Report Information).

2. IEEE Standard for Software and System Test Documentation (IEEE Std 829-2008), Section 10 (Test Incident Report).

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