Software Quality Assurance Practice Exam

Which of the following best describes functional testing?

1. Testing the application's performance under stress

2. Testing the application's features against specified requirements

3. Testing the user's experience with the interface

4. Testing the application's ability to handle errors

The correct answer is: Testing the application's features against specified requirements

Functional testing is primarily focused on verifying that the features and functions of an application operate as intended according to specified requirements. This type of testing ensures that the software behaves as expected when given input and produces the correct output. It is centered around the specific behaviors dictated by user requirements, which can include requirements derived from documentation, specifications, or user stories. By concentrating on whether the application performs its intended functions correctly, functional testing validates the software against positive scenarios. It typically involves testing individual functions, user interfaces, APIs, and integrations to confirm that they meet both functional and non-functional requirements as outlined. Other aspects such as performance under stress, user experience, or error handling are important but do not encompass the essence of functional testing. Performance testing evaluates how the application behaves under high load, focusing on scalability and speed. Testing user experience is concerned with usability, interface design, and overall satisfaction, which typically falls under usability testing. Error handling testing assesses how the application handles incorrect inputs or failures, but again, this veers away from the core purpose of functional testing, which is to validate specific functionalities against predefined requirements. Therefore, the best description of functional testing is indeed its alignment with verifying application features against specified requirements.