Defect classification (severity, priority) in Testing Fundamentals - Practice Problems & Coding Challenges

Challenge - 5 Problems

🧠 Conceptual

intermediate

Understanding Defect Severity Levels

Which of the following best describes a defect with critical severity?

A A defect that causes the system to crash or lose data, blocking further testing or use.

B A defect that causes minor visual issues but does not affect functionality.

C A defect that affects performance slightly but does not stop the system from working.

D A defect that is related to spelling mistakes in the user interface.

💡 Hint

Think about defects that stop the system from working properly.

Critical severity defects cause major failures like crashes or data loss, making the system unusable.

🧠 Conceptual

intermediate

Priority vs Severity

Which statement correctly distinguishes priority from severity in defect classification?

A Severity measures the impact on the system; priority measures how soon it should be fixed.

B Priority measures the impact on the system; severity measures how soon it should be fixed.

C Severity and priority both measure the impact on the system equally.

D Priority and severity are the same and can be used interchangeably.

💡 Hint

Think about what each term controls in the defect fixing process.

Severity is about how bad the defect is; priority is about how quickly it needs fixing.

❓ data_output

advanced

Classify Defects by Severity and Priority

Given the following defects data, what is the count of defects with high severity and high priority?

Testing Fundamentals

import pandas as pd

defects = pd.DataFrame({
    'id': [101, 102, 103, 104, 105],
    'severity': ['high', 'medium', 'high', 'low', 'high'],
    'priority': ['high', 'low', 'high', 'medium', 'medium']
})

result = defects[(defects['severity'] == 'high') & (defects['priority'] == 'high')].shape[0]
print(result)

A 0

B 3

C 1

D 2

💡 Hint

Filter defects where both severity and priority are 'high'.

Defects 101 and 103 have both high severity and high priority, so count is 2.

🔧 Debug

advanced

Identify the Error in Defect Priority Assignment Code

What error will this code produce when trying to assign priority based on severity?

def assign_priority(severity):
    if severity == 'critical':
        return 'high'
    elif severity == 'major':
        return 'medium'
    else:
        return 'low'

priority = assign_priority('major')
print(priority)

A TypeError because of wrong return type

B NameError because 'priority' is not defined

C SyntaxError due to missing colon after elif statement

D No error, prints 'medium'

💡 Hint

Check the syntax of the if-elif statements carefully.

The elif line is missing a colon at the end, causing a SyntaxError.

🚀 Application

expert

Determine Final Defect Fix Order

You have this list of defects with severity and priority. Which defect should be fixed first based on highest priority and then highest severity?

defects = [
    {'id': 1, 'severity': 'medium', 'priority': 'high'},
    {'id': 2, 'severity': 'critical', 'priority': 'medium'},
    {'id': 3, 'severity': 'high', 'priority': 'high'},
    {'id': 4, 'severity': 'low', 'priority': 'low'}
]

A Defect with id 2

B Defect with id 3

C Defect with id 1

D Defect with id 4

💡 Hint

First sort by priority, then by severity to decide fix order.

Defect 3 has highest priority and high severity, so it should be fixed first.

Practice

1.

What does severity indicate in defect classification?

easy

A. How serious or harmful the defect is

B. How soon the defect should be fixed

C. Who reported the defect

D. The number of times the defect occurred

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand the meaning of severity

   Severity measures the impact or seriousness of a defect on the system or user.

2. Step 2: Differentiate severity from priority

   Priority is about scheduling the fix, not the defect's impact.

3. Final Answer:

   How serious or harmful the defect is -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Severity = seriousness [OK]

Hint: Severity = impact level, not fix timing [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Confusing severity with priority
• Thinking severity means who found the bug
• Assuming severity counts defect occurrences

2.

Which of the following is the correct way to classify a defect with high severity and low priority?

easy

A. A defect that is not serious and can be ignored

B. A defect that causes major system failure but can be fixed later

C. A minor UI glitch that must be fixed immediately

D. A defect that is serious and must be fixed immediately

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand high severity

   High severity means the defect causes major problems or failures.

2. Step 2: Understand low priority

   Low priority means the defect fix can be delayed or scheduled later.

3. Final Answer:

   A defect that causes major system failure but can be fixed later -> Option B

4. Quick Check:

   High severity + low priority = serious but delayed fix [OK]

Hint: High severity ≠ immediate fix if priority is low [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Assuming high severity always means high priority
• Mixing up severity and priority meanings
• Ignoring the priority when severity is high

3.

Consider this defect list with severity and priority:
defects = [{'id':1, 'severity':'High', 'priority':'Low'}, {'id':2, 'severity':'Low', 'priority':'High'}, {'id':3, 'severity':'Medium', 'priority':'Medium'}]
Which defect should be fixed first based on priority?

medium

A. Defect with id 2

B. Defect with id 1

C. Defect with id 3

D. All defects have same priority

Solution

1. Step 1: Check priority values of each defect

   Defect 1 has priority Low, Defect 2 has priority High, Defect 3 has priority Medium.

2. Step 2: Determine which priority is highest

   High priority means fix first, so Defect 2 should be fixed first.

3. Final Answer:

   Defect with id 2 -> Option A

4. Quick Check:

   Highest priority = fix first [OK]

Hint: Fix defects with highest priority first [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Choosing based on severity instead of priority
• Assuming Medium priority is higher than High
• Ignoring priority values

4.

Find the error in this defect classification code snippet:

def classify_defect(severity, priority):
    if severity == 'High' and priority == 'High'
        return 'Fix Immediately'
    else:
        return 'Schedule Fix'

medium

A. Function missing return statement

B. Wrong comparison operator used

C. Missing colon after if condition

D. Indentation error in else block

Solution

1. Step 1: Check syntax of if statement

   The if statement lacks a colon at the end of the condition line.

2. Step 2: Verify other parts of the function

   Return statements and else block indentation are correct.

3. Final Answer:

   Missing colon after if condition -> Option C

4. Quick Check:

   if condition must end with ':' [OK]

Hint: Check colons after if/else statements [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Forgetting colon after if condition
• Misplacing indentation in else block
• Assuming missing return statement

5.

You have a list of defects with severity and priority:
defects = [{'id':101, 'severity':'Medium', 'priority':'High'}, {'id':102, 'severity':'High', 'priority':'Low'}, {'id':103, 'severity':'Low', 'priority':'Medium'}]
Write a Python expression using dictionary comprehension to create a dictionary mapping defect id to 'Fix Immediately' if priority is High, else 'Fix Later'.

hard

A. {d['id']: ('Fix Immediately' if d['priority'] == 'High') else 'Fix Later' for d in defects}

B. {d['id']: 'Fix Immediately' if d['priority'] == 'High' for d in defects}

C. {d['id']: 'Fix Immediately' if d['priority'] = 'High' else 'Fix Later' for d in defects}

D. {d['id']: ('Fix Immediately' if d['priority'] == 'High' else 'Fix Later') for d in defects}

Solution

1. Step 1: Understand dictionary comprehension syntax

   It uses {key: value for item in iterable} with conditional expressions inside value.

2. Step 2: Check conditional expression correctness

   {d['id']: ('Fix Immediately' if d['priority'] == 'High' else 'Fix Later') for d in defects} correctly uses parentheses and '==' for comparison inside the expression.

3. Final Answer:

   {d['id']: ('Fix Immediately' if d['priority'] == 'High' else 'Fix Later') for d in defects} -> Option D

4. Quick Check:

   Correct dict comprehension with conditional [OK]

Hint: Use parentheses around if-else in dict comprehension [OK]

Common Mistakes:

• Using single '=' instead of '==' in condition
• Missing parentheses around conditional expression
• Placing else outside parentheses