CTFL-PT practice question 5 of 10

You have been asked to test the performance of a software and system update to a North American mobile trivia quiz game application. The quiz app is…

Full set: 40 questions
You have been asked to test the performance of a software and system update to a North American mobile trivia quiz game application. The quiz app is available on major app stores serving English- speaking users. The number of concurrent users planned for is 5 million Winning quiz participants are promised a share of an allocated cash prize Once participants start playing, their quiz sessions must not be lost especially if all previous questions were answered correctly. The application owner wants to ensure that 99% of quiz sessions are maintained (up to 4 95 million sessions) until the last answer has been successfully recorded An essential operational profile you identified is the quiz participant Your operational profile discovery efforts have yielded a number of profile attributes / quiz participant will answer twelve questions if they manage to answer the first eleven correctly Every user is made aware of a new question nearly simultaneously. The quiz user has limited time to respond using a mobile application. They are unable to respond to subsequent questions after they incorrectly answer a question. However, the quiz participant continues to see new questions even though they may have responded incorrectly to a previous question, if they manage to answer all twelve questions correctly, the quiz application notifies them that they have tentatively won (subject to formal verification) an equal share of a cash prize of an amount set for the particular quiz event In addition to this individualized interaction, a broadcast video stream is presented in the quiz app providing entertaining commentary, quiz event coordination event status and answer explanations. The average quiz event duration when measured from when the first question is presented to the last answer is reviewed is fifteen minutes Over the fifteen minutes, twelve questions are presented to quiz participants. Which of the following Is a proper load profile for the quiz participants?
Answer options
A: 240.000,000 question responses per hour
B: Steady ramp-up of quiz response transactions from one million until the design maximum is reached within the first three questions. The maximum is sustained until question twelve
C: Stepped ramp-up of quiz response transactions from one million increasing by a one million after each question until the design maximum is reached. The minimum is sustained until question twelve.
D: Maximum number of planned concurrent quiz responses will occur at the first question with a stepped ramp-down after each question. The size of each step and the final number of nearly simultaneous quiz responses are random values within historical ranges observed over the last three Correct answer
Correct Answer:
D. Maximum number of planned concurrent quiz responses will occur at the first question with a stepped ramp-down after each question. The size of each step and the final number of nearly simultaneous quiz responses are random values within historical ranges observed over the last three
Explanation

A load profile must realistically model the application's usage pattern over time. In the described quiz game, the maximum number of users (up to 5 million) will submit an answer for the first question. After each subsequent question, a portion of these users will answer incorrectly and be eliminated from submitting further answers. This results in a decreasing number of concurrent quiz response transactions for each new question. This pattern is best described as a "stepped ramp-down," where the load is highest at the beginning and decreases in steps. Using historical data to model the size of each step-down is a standard practice for creating a realistic workload.

Why Incorrect

A. This represents a throughput metric (transactions per hour), not a load profile, which describes the variation of load over the duration of the test.
B. This describes a ramp-up to a sustained maximum load, which contradicts the game's logic where the number of active participants decreases over time.
C. This describes a stepped ramp-up, suggesting the load increases with each question. This is the opposite of the actual user behavior in the quiz game.

References

1. ISTQB® Certified Tester Foundation Level Performance Testing Syllabus Version 2.0 (2023).

Section 3.2.2, Load Profiles: This section defines a load profile as a model of "the variation in load over time" and explicitly mentions that it "may include periods of increasing load (ramp-up), constant load (e.g., a plateau), and decreasing load (ramp-down)." The scenario clearly describes a decreasing load, making a ramp-down profile the correct choice.

Section 3.2.1, Operational Profiles: This section emphasizes that an operational profile is a "representation of the distinct user groups and their associated behavior over a period of time." The behavior described is that users are eliminated, which must be reflected in the load profile.

2. Smith, C. U., & Williams, L. G. (2002). Performance Solutions: A Practical Guide to Creating Responsive, Scalable Software. Addison-Wesley.

Chapter 4, Understanding the System, Section 4.3, Workload Characterization: This chapter details the process of identifying workload patterns. It stresses the importance of accurately modeling user behavior scenarios and their intensity levels over time. The quiz game scenario, with its user elimination mechanic, directly corresponds to a workload that peaks initially and then declines, which aligns with the stepped ramp-down model.

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