ISTQB Exam ATA Topic 1 Question 91 Discussion

Actual exam question for ISTQB's ATA exam

Question #: 91
Topic #: 1

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A specification states: "If the fossil is Jurassic in origin then it must be catalogued under Mesozoic post Triassic and cross referred to politic limestone.

If it is a tooth, then it must be catalogued under Dental remains. If the fossil is both Jurassic in origin and a tooth it will be catalogued under Mesozoic post Triassic and cross referred to politic limestone only. ''

The tester analyses this for decision table testing and finds the following conditions and actions:

C1: Jurassic C2: tooth A1: Catalogue as Mesozoic post Triassic A2: Cross refer to politic limestone A3: Catalogue as

Dental remains

How many test cases will a collapsed decision table have?

[K3] 2 credits

Show Suggested Answer

Suggested Answer: B

by Kerry at Jun 12, 2025, 10:37 PM

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Carolynn

21 hours ago

This question is a real fossil of a decision table problem. I'm surprised they didn't ask for the number of test cases in an expanded decision table, which would have been 8. But hey, at least they didn't ask us to dig up some actual fossils, right? *chuckles*

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Barabara

5 days ago

I'm a little confused by this question. Does the fossil have to be both Jurassic and a tooth to be catalogued under Mesozoic post Triassic and cross referred to politic limestone? Or can it be one or the other? I'm going to go with C) 4, but I'm not 100% sure.

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Lenna

18 days ago

I'm not sure, but I think the answer might be C) 4. Can someone explain why it's not 4?

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Shelba

25 days ago

This is a classic decision table problem. The number of test cases in a collapsed decision table is determined by the number of unique combinations of the conditions. In this case, there are two conditions (Jurassic and tooth), so the number of test cases should be 2^2 = 4. The answer is C) 4.

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Jacquelyne

27 days ago

I think the answer is C) 4. The question states that there are two conditions (Jurassic and tooth) and three actions (Catalogue as Mesozoic post Triassic, Cross refer to politic limestone, and Catalogue as Dental remains). When you collapse the decision table, you'll have four possible combinations: Jurassic and tooth, Jurassic and not tooth, not Jurassic and tooth, and not Jurassic and not tooth.

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Barrie

20 hours ago

I agree with you, the answer is C) 4. It makes sense when you break it down like that.

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Coleen

7 days ago

That makes sense, C) 4 is the correct answer.

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Vincenza

9 days ago

So, the decision table will have 4 test cases.

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Renea

15 days ago

I agree, there are four possible combinations.

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Jackie

21 days ago

I think the answer is C) 4.

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Krystal

27 days ago

I agree with Meaghan, because there are 3 possible test cases based on the conditions and actions given.

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Meaghan

1 months ago

I think the answer is B) 3.

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Sharita

1 months ago

The question is asking for the number of test cases in a collapsed decision table, and the answer options are 2, 3, 4, and 6. From the given information, it seems like there are 2 conditions (Jurassic and tooth) and 3 actions (Catalogue as Mesozoic post Triassic, Cross refer to politic limestone, and Catalogue as Dental remains). Therefore, the correct answer should be 4.

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Alesia

23 days ago

Yeah, it makes sense that there would be 4 test cases in a collapsed decision table.

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Mi

24 days ago

I agree, there are 2 conditions and 3 actions, so it should be 4.

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Lilli

28 days ago

I think the answer is 4.

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