What the Examination Asks, and How to Answer It

Worked example: turning a chapter into a five-mark answer

Chapter One Hundred Four, on Pareto diagrams, is one topic among many; the program below only checks the arithmetic of the scheme itself, the same arithmetic for every topic.

# MU's evaluation scheme for this 2-credit theory course (authorities/mu-software-testing-syllabus.txt)
internal = {"class tests, averaged": 10, "two assignments": 10}
external = {"Q.1, Module 1": 10, "Q.2, Module 2": 10, "Q.3, Modules 1 and 2": 10}

print("internal assessment")
for item, marks in internal.items():
    print(f"   {item:<24}{marks:>3} marks")
print(f"   {'total':<24}{sum(internal.values()):>3} marks")

print("external examination, 1 hour")
for item, marks in external.items():
    print(f"   {item:<24}{marks:>3} marks")
print(f"   {'total':<24}{sum(external.values()):>3} marks")

total = sum(internal.values()) + sum(external.values())
print(f"\ncourse total: {total} marks")

# each external question offers 4 parts; the student answers any 2, each worth 5 marks
parts_per_question, answered_per_question = 4, 2
questions = len(external)
printed = questions * parts_per_question
answered = questions * answered_per_question
mark_each = external["Q.1, Module 1"] // answered_per_question
print(f"\n{questions} questions x {parts_per_question} parts printed = {printed} parts on the paper")
print(f"{questions} questions x {answered_per_question} answered = {answered} answered, "
      f"{mark_each} marks each = {answered * mark_each} marks")

# the book's own shape: which module carries which question
modules = {"I": (51, "Q.1"), "II": (57, "Q.2, and with Module I, Q.3")}
for name, (chapters, carries) in modules.items():
    print(f"Module {name}: {chapters} chapters, carries {carries}")
print(f"book total: {sum(c for c, _ in modules.values())} chapters")

internal assessment
   class tests, averaged    10 marks
   two assignments          10 marks
   total                    20 marks
external examination, 1 hour
   Q.1, Module 1            10 marks
   Q.2, Module 2            10 marks
   Q.3, Modules 1 and 2     10 marks
   total                    30 marks

course total: 50 marks

3 questions x 4 parts printed = 12 parts on the paper
3 questions x 2 answered = 6 answered, 5 marks each = 30 marks
Module I: 51 chapters, carries Q.1
Module II: 57 chapters, carries Q.2, and with Module I, Q.3
book total: 108 chapters

Applying the shape to one topic. Take Chapter One Hundred Four's own material: definition, a Pareto chart ranks categories by frequency or cost, largest to smallest, with a cumulative line; substance, it rests on the 80-20 rule, Juran's vital few against the useful many, and can be weighted by cost rather than count; worked thing, release 2.0's 200 defects, four types making 78 per cent by count, the ranking changing when weighted by hours to fix; closing line, a Pareto chart ranks, it does not explain, which is why a cause-and-effect diagram comes next. Read aloud at an unhurried pace, that is a five-mark, ten-minute answer, and it is already sitting in the chapter's own "In one line", "Quick revision" and worked example, not invented for the exam.

Q.3: where the modules cross

Q.3 draws from both modules in one answer, and this syllabus was built to allow it: three places where a Module 1 topic and a Module 2 topic are, in substance, the same idea taught twice, once in general and once inside software quality assurance specifically.

A Q.3 answer on any of these three pairs draws one part from each module's chapter and states the relationship in a sentence, which is the "crossing" itself, before giving each side's own five-mark content.

Internal assessment: class tests and assignments

Two class tests, each confined to one module, are the same five-mark shape at twice the length: a definition, substance and one worked thing for each of two topics, in the time a class test allows. An assignment rewards depth on fewer topics than a class test or the paper can reach: a full worked example carried further than this book's own, with its own numbers, checked the way every number in this book was checked, by running it.

A revision order

The scheme itself sets the order, not a guess at what will be asked. Module 1's fifty-one chapters answer Q.1; revise them first, using each chapter's "Quick revision" box as the pass. Module 2's fifty-six syllabus chapters answer Q.2 (this closing chapter is about the exam, not Module 2's content, and is one more); revise them the same way, second. Then revisit the three crossings above for Q.3, since they are the one place a single answer must hold two chapters' material at once. Internal assessment needs nothing beyond the module it tests, done in the same pass as that module.

What it does not mean

Nothing in this book, or in this chapter, predicts a question. The scheme says how many marks, how many parts, and which modules a question draws on; it does not say which topic within a module will be asked, and no pattern across past papers changes what this book teaches or how much space a topic gets. A claim that a topic is "frequently asked" is not made here, because it would not be true in any sense a program could check.

A revision order is not a priority order. Revising Module 1 first is not a claim that Module 1 matters more; the order only follows the paper's own Q.1, Q.2, Q.3 structure.

The five-mark shape is a starting discipline, not a ceiling. A student with time to write more may; the shape describes what a complete answer needs in ten minutes, not the most a strong answer could say.

The practical paper has its own scheme. Two hours, 50 marks, a different structure entirely; this chapter, like this book, covers the theory paper only.

Quick revision

• Scheme: 50 marks total, 20 internal (class tests averaged to 10, two assignments totalling 10), 30 external.
• External paper: 1 hour; Q.1 (Module 1), Q.2 (Module 2), Q.3 (Modules 1 and 2), each "any 2 of 4" parts, 10 marks; 12 parts printed, 6 answered, 5 marks each.
• A five-mark answer: definition in exam wording, two or three points of substance, one worked thing, a closing line, the shape every chapter in this book already has.
• Q.3's three crossings: reviews/inspection/walkthrough with formal technical reviews; quality and QA in general with software quality assurance specifically; unit testing with statement and branch testing.
• Revision order: Module 1 for Q.1, Module 2 for Q.2, then the three crossings for Q.3; nothing here predicts a question.

Test yourself

1. What are this course's total marks, and how do they split between internal and external assessment? 50 marks: 20 internal (two class tests averaged to 10, two assignments totalling 10) and 30 external (a one-hour Semester End Examination).

2. Describe the structure of the external paper. Three questions, Q.1 on Module 1, Q.2 on Module 2, Q.3 on both modules, each offering four parts headed "Answer any 2 of the following" for 10 marks; twelve parts printed in all, six answered, five marks each.

3. What four things does this book say a five-mark answer should contain? A definition in examination wording, two or three points of substance explaining what the definition means, one worked example or small computation, and a closing line tying the answer to the question.

4. Name the three places this book's Module 1 and Module 2 content cross, as Q.3 might draw on them. Reviews, inspection and walkthrough (Module 1) with formal technical reviews (Module 2); quality control, assurance and management in general (Module 1) with software quality assurance specifically (Module 2); unit testing and its techniques (Module 1) with statement and branch testing (Module 2).

5. In what order does this chapter suggest revising the book, and why that order? Module 1 first, for Q.1; Module 2 second, for Q.2; then the three Q.3 crossings. The order follows the external paper's own Q.1, Q.2, Q.3 structure, not a judgement about which module matters more.

6. Why does this book refuse to say a topic is "frequently asked"? Because the evaluation scheme fixes how many marks and how many parts a question carries, and which modules it draws on, but not which topic within a module is chosen; a frequency claim about topics would be a prediction this book cannot check by running a program, so it is not made.