AI & Digital Quality School · Learning track

Software QA

Turn vague software concerns into reproducible evidence and release decisions.

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01 Learning plan

Know the work.
Produce evidence.

Public foundation 2026.10.08-learning-paths-1 · published 2026-10-08. Independent subject-matter review is pending; paid delivery and credential issuance remain closed. This track is organized around inspectable work, not attendance alone.

Workload

No validated completion time is published. Read the six modules, then complete the six case assignments and self-review across as many sessions as needed. This release has not yet been timed with learners; no facilitated capstone is included.

Prerequisites

  • Ability to use a web browser and record exact steps
  • Access to an authorized test environment and synthetic test accounts
  • Permission from the system owner before performing any security, load, or destructive testing

Outputs

  • A risk-based test plan and environment record
  • A requirements-to-test traceability matrix
  • A reusable test suite with objective evidence
  • A reproducible defect portfolio and severity rationale
  • A regression, accessibility, and release recommendation package

Demonstrated outcomes

  • Write testable acceptance criteria
  • Execute structured and exploratory tests
  • Report defects that developers can reproduce
  • Build a practical regression and release record

Working vocabulary

Acceptance criterion
A specific, observable condition that must be true for a requirement or user outcome to be accepted.
Test oracle
The authoritative basis used to decide the expected result, such as an approved requirement, calculation, policy, design, or standard.
Regression test
A repeatable check intended to detect whether a change has broken behavior that previously worked or remains required.
Severity
The assessed impact of a defect on users, data, safety, security, compliance, or operations; it is distinct from repair priority.
Exploratory testing
A disciplined activity in which learning, test design, and execution occur together under a defined mission, scope, and evidence record.

02 Public foundation curriculum

Six foundation
learning modules.

Each module states what to understand, what to practice, what evidence to retain, and the criteria for moving forward. The case lab turns those standards into six realistic assignments.

01

Module 1

Quality risk and acceptance criteria

Objective: Translate user and business outcomes into testable acceptance criteria prioritized by consequence, likelihood, exposure, and detectability.

Open Lesson 1: examples, worksheet & feedback →

Quality begins with a shared definition of acceptable behavior. Identify users, goals, environments, dependencies, data, and consequences before writing tests. A requirement such as 'the form is easy to use' is not directly testable; clarify the intended user, task, condition, and observable result. Acceptance criteria should cover the normal path, important alternatives, invalid input, permissions, failure messages, recovery, and relevant accessibility or security expectations. Each criterion needs an approved source. When the source is ambiguous or conflicting, QA should raise the decision rather than silently choose the expected behavior.

Prioritize testing using risk, not feature visibility alone. Consider impact on people, money, safety, privacy, security, compliance, reputation, and continuity; then assess likelihood, frequency, exposure, change size, complexity, and how easily failure would be detected. A rarely used administrative permission can deserve more attention than a popular color change. Record assumptions and residual gaps so decision-makers know what was not tested. QA provides evidence and risk analysis; product, engineering, security, legal, accessibility, or other authorized owners decide within their roles. Testers must not perform intrusive or destructive work without explicit scope and permission.

Practice

Rewrite ten vague requirements for a fictional customer portal as measurable acceptance criteria and rank them using an impact-likelihood-exposure model.

Evidence to keep

Submit the clarified criteria, source links, risk scores, assumptions, open decisions, and rationale for the top five test priorities.

Ready to move on when

  • Every acceptance criterion has an observable result and authorized source
  • Risk ranking considers user and business harm rather than effort alone
  • Ambiguities and out-of-scope specialist questions are explicitly escalated

Module provenance

External authorities, common professional practice, and Academy-selected controls are identified separately. A source supports only the stated scope; it does not convert this lesson into legal, licensed, accredited, or regulatory advice.

02

Module 2

Test planning and environments

Objective: Create a proportionate test plan with controlled scope, representative environments, safe data, ownership, entry and exit criteria, and known limitations.

Open Lesson 2: examples, worksheet & feedback →

A test plan explains what evidence will support a release decision. Define scope, excluded areas, risks, test types, environments, devices, browsers, roles, data, dependencies, responsibilities, schedule, entry criteria, exit criteria, defect rules, evidence storage, and reporting cadence. Map the plan to acceptance criteria and recent changes. Include recovery and negative paths, not only successful completion. Estimate based on risk and available capacity, then state what reduced scope means. A plan that promises complete coverage is not credible; software has too many states and interactions for exhaustive testing in ordinary projects.

The environment record is part of every result. Capture build or commit, configuration, operating system, browser or client, device, locale, time zone, account role, feature flags, integrations, and relevant data state. Use synthetic or authorized data and keep production credentials out of test artifacts. Confirm that test actions cannot notify real customers, charge real accounts, corrupt records, or overload systems. Differences between test and production must be documented because they limit inference. Security, performance, resilience, and destructive testing require approved methods and specialists where appropriate. If the environment changes during a run, record the change and reassess affected evidence.

Practice

Develop a test plan for a fictional subscription checkout across desktop and mobile, including payment stubs, role-based access, email suppression, and rollback boundaries.

Evidence to keep

Submit the plan, environment matrix, data strategy, traceability map, entry and exit criteria, and residual-risk statement.

Ready to move on when

  • Scope, exclusions, risks, ownership, and exit criteria are decision-ready
  • Environment and test data are representative, authorized, and reproducible
  • Potentially harmful or specialist testing is explicitly controlled or excluded

Module provenance

External authorities, common professional practice, and Academy-selected controls are identified separately. A source supports only the stated scope; it does not convert this lesson into legal, licensed, accredited, or regulatory advice.

03

Module 3

Test cases and evidence

Objective: Write repeatable test cases tied to acceptance criteria and capture evidence sufficient for another authorized tester to evaluate the result.

Open Lesson 3: examples, worksheet & feedback →

A structured test case records its identifier, objective, requirement, risk, preconditions, data, environment, steps, expected result, cleanup, and evidence. Keep steps precise enough to reproduce but focused on behavior rather than irrelevant clicks. The expected result must come from a test oracle, not from the current application's behavior. Include equivalence classes and meaningful boundaries: empty, minimum, maximum, just inside, just outside, invalid format, duplicate, expired, unauthorized, and interrupted states where applicable. Avoid using one enormous case for an entire customer journey because a failure becomes hard to diagnose and rerun.

Evidence should support the conclusion without collecting more data than necessary. Screenshots are useful when they show state, but text logs, network records, accessibility-tree output, database assertions, or system events may be stronger. Record timestamps and identifiers that connect evidence to the case and build. Redact secrets and personal data, and do not place credentials in videos or defect tickets. Mark pass, fail, blocked, not run, or inconclusive using defined meanings. A passed check means the observed result met the criterion in the recorded environment; it does not prove the feature works in every environment or is free of defects.

Practice

Write and execute eight cases for password-reset initiation using only synthetic accounts, covering normal, unknown account, expired link, repeated request, localization, and keyboard behavior.

Evidence to keep

Submit the cases, oracle references, environment, sanitized evidence, results, and limitations for each untested condition.

Ready to move on when

  • Cases trace to requirements and include boundary, invalid, and permission conditions
  • Expected results are independent of the implementation being tested
  • Evidence is reproducible, sufficient, and free of credentials or unnecessary personal data

Module provenance

External authorities, common professional practice, and Academy-selected controls are identified separately. A source supports only the stated scope; it does not convert this lesson into legal, licensed, accredited, or regulatory advice.

04

Module 4

Exploratory and edge-case testing

Objective: Run time-boxed exploratory sessions that pursue a clear risk mission, adapt from observations, and preserve useful coverage and evidence.

Open Lesson 4: examples, worksheet & feedback →

Exploratory testing is not random clicking. Write a charter that names the target, risk, users, data, techniques, time box, and prohibited actions. Begin with a model of the feature and vary one dimension at a time: sequence, timing, role, state, device, locale, network, data size, interruption, concurrency, or dependency behavior. Follow surprising observations while recording what was tried. Heuristics can broaden thinking, but they do not replace requirements or specialist methods. Stop when the charter is exhausted, the time box ends, or risk requires escalation.

Edge cases matter when they represent real boundaries or harmful failure, not merely unusual values. Test state transitions such as draft-to-submit, active-to-expired, authenticated-to-session-timeout, online-to-offline, and retry-after-partial-success. Consider daylight-saving changes, Unicode, long names, right-to-left text, zoom, assistive technology, duplicate requests, and permissions where relevant. Do not conduct denial-of-service, credential attack, injection, or unauthorized security testing under a general exploratory charter. Preserve notes, data, screenshots, and coverage so another tester can understand the path. Convert stable discoveries into repeatable regression tests and record untested questions.

Practice

Run a 60-minute charter against a fictional appointment workflow focused on interrupted sessions, time zones, duplicate submission, keyboard navigation, and stale availability.

Evidence to keep

Submit the charter, session timeline, coverage map, findings, converted regression cases, and open questions with owners.

Ready to move on when

  • The session has a bounded risk mission, authorized scope, and time box
  • Notes connect observations to states, data, environment, and evidence
  • Repeatable discoveries become regression cases and unsafe testing is not performed

Module provenance

External authorities, common professional practice, and Academy-selected controls are identified separately. A source supports only the stated scope; it does not convert this lesson into legal, licensed, accredited, or regulatory advice.

05

Module 5

Defect severity and reproducibility

Objective: Report defects with reproducible evidence, user and business impact, appropriate severity, and a clear distinction between severity and repair priority.

Open Lesson 5: examples, worksheet & feedback →

A useful defect report reduces uncertainty. Record a concise title, environment, build, preconditions, exact steps, expected result and source, actual result, frequency, evidence, affected users, impact, workaround, and related changes. Confirm reproducibility when safe, then state if the issue is intermittent or not reproduced. Avoid conclusions about root cause unless investigation supports them. Duplicate reports should be linked without discarding distinct environments or impacts. Protect sensitive data and use the organization's confidential vulnerability path for security findings rather than a broadly visible ticket.

Severity describes impact; priority reflects sequencing under current constraints. A severe defect may wait briefly for a specialist or safe fix, while a minor defect may be repaired immediately because it blocks a launch asset. Define levels with examples covering safety, security, privacy, financial loss, data integrity, legal or accessibility barriers, core workflow failure, degraded function, and cosmetic impact. Critical classifications require an escalation and containment rule. Product and engineering owners may set priority, but changes to severity should preserve the reasoning and evidence. After repair, verify the exact defect and nearby regression risk in the corrected build.

Practice

Rewrite four poor bug reports, assign severity using a provided matrix, and conduct a safe retest of a fictional corrected defect.

Evidence to keep

Submit complete reports, severity rationales, duplicate analysis, retest evidence, and the regression scope selected around each fix.

Ready to move on when

  • Another authorized tester can reproduce the issue from the report
  • Severity is justified by documented impact and kept distinct from priority
  • Retest verifies the fix and relevant neighboring behavior on the corrected build

Module provenance

External authorities, common professional practice, and Academy-selected controls are identified separately. A source supports only the stated scope; it does not convert this lesson into legal, licensed, accredited, or regulatory advice.

06

Module 6

Regression, accessibility, and release signoff

Objective: Assemble risk-based regression and accessibility evidence into a transparent release recommendation with defects, gaps, ownership, and rollback readiness.

Open Lesson 6: examples, worksheet & feedback →

Regression selection should follow change impact, dependency paths, defect history, critical customer journeys, permissions, data integrity, and operational controls. Maintain a small smoke set for rapid confidence and deeper suites for affected risks. Remove or repair flaky tests rather than treating reruns as normal evidence. Accessibility belongs throughout design and testing; combine automated checks with keyboard, zoom, focus, name-role-value, error, contrast, reflow, screen-reader, caption, and content review appropriate to the product. Automated tools find only part of accessibility risk, and conformance claims require qualified evaluation beyond this course.

A release recommendation summarizes build, scope, environments, results, open defects, critical criteria, accessibility findings, security or performance evidence, untested areas, data or migration checks, monitoring, support readiness, rollback, and named risk owners. QA recommends based on evidence; authorized stakeholders accept or reject residual risk. A signoff should never say 'bug-free.' If a critical criterion failed or required evidence is missing, state that clearly and recommend no release unless an authorized exception process applies. Preserve the test package and decision version so incidents can be compared with what was known at release time.

Practice

Prepare a release recommendation for a fictional build with one open accessibility barrier, two medium defects, a payment-service change, and incomplete older-browser coverage.

Evidence to keep

Submit the regression rationale, accessibility record, defect summary, coverage gaps, release recommendation, approvals, monitoring, and rollback checklist.

Ready to move on when

  • Regression scope is tied to changes, critical journeys, history, and dependencies
  • Accessibility evidence combines automated and appropriate manual checks
  • The release recommendation identifies residual risk, authority, monitoring, and rollback without claiming zero defects

Module provenance

External authorities, common professional practice, and Academy-selected controls are identified separately. A source supports only the stated scope; it does not convert this lesson into legal, licensed, accredited, or regulatory advice.

Software developer reviewing code and test evidence on a tablet.
Learn the standard. Practice the work.
Developer testing and reviewing software code in a modern office.
Leave with evidence you can inspect.

Free operational lesson

Write a defect another person can reproduce

Record the environment, starting state, exact steps, expected result, actual result, frequency, evidence, and user impact. A useful report reduces the next person’s uncertainty.

01

Clarify

Turn user and business needs into testable criteria with an authorized expected-result source.

02

Prioritize

Allocate depth according to consequence, likelihood, exposure, change, complexity, and detectability.

03

Execute

Test safely in a recorded environment with authorized data, structured cases, and focused exploration.

04

Explain

Report defects and limitations with reproducible facts, objective evidence, impact, and uncertainty.

05

Recommend

Connect results, accessibility, gaps, residual risk, monitoring, and rollback to an authorized release decision.

Unscored self-reflection

Select each module standard that is already consistently true. This is a private reflection—not a test, grade, credential assessment, or claim of competence.

Your choices stay in this browser and are not submitted. Device-only saving is optional in the learning-work panel.

Worked example

A defect report a developer can reproduce

On mobile, a customer completes checkout and taps Submit twice because the first tap provides no visible feedback. Two orders are created.

Weak approach

Checkout is broken on mobile. Sometimes it duplicates orders. Please fix ASAP.

Stronger approach

Build 3.8.14, iOS 18.2, Safari, synthetic account QA-204. With a valid cart, throttle the network to Slow 3G, tap Submit twice within two seconds. Expected: one order and disabled or status-announced submission control. Actual: orders T-9102 and T-9103 are created in 3 of 5 runs. Customer impact: duplicate charge risk. Evidence: sanitized screen recording, timestamps, and server event IDs. Severity: high under the approved matrix; disable repeated submission or contain before release.

Why it matters: The improved report identifies state, environment, exact action, expected behavior, frequency, evidence, impact, and containment without guessing at root cause.

03 Control the work

Spot failure.
Measure the system.

Common failure modes

Using the current application as the oracle

Expected behavior must come from approved requirements or standards; otherwise a defect can be encoded as the expectation.

Testing only the happy path

Normal success cannot reveal many permission, boundary, interruption, invalid-input, recovery, accessibility, and dependency failures.

Calling severity priority

Impact and scheduling are related but different; combining them hides why the defect matters and who owns the release tradeoff.

Claiming comprehensive coverage

A credible release record states environments, tested risks, and gaps rather than implying that finite testing proved the absence of defects.

Operating measures

Requirement-risk coverage

The percentage of approved high- and medium-risk acceptance criteria with executed evidence in the target release environment.

Use it to decide: Do not treat unexecuted critical criteria as passed; adjust release recommendation or obtain authorized exception.

Defect reproduction rate

The percentage of sampled defect reports another authorized tester can reproduce from the recorded steps and environment.

Use it to decide: Improve report standards, environments, or evidence when reproducibility falls below the team's target.

Defect escape rate

Verified production defects within a defined window divided by all verified defects associated with that release, segmented by impact and cause.

Use it to decide: Use trends to change risk analysis, regression, environment, or review; avoid using the metric alone to punish individuals.

Flaky-test rate

The percentage of automated test executions with inconsistent outcomes not explained by an intended product change.

Use it to decide: Quarantine and repair unreliable tests before their noise obscures release evidence.

04 · Applied case lab · 2026.08.31-practice-3

Practice on a
messy record.

The packet contains contradiction and incomplete evidence on purpose. Each assignment now identifies the exact fictional inputs available to the learner. Complete a bounded starter, mark missing records instead of inventing them, and compare your reasoning with the debrief—not with a pretend single perfect answer.

This is a fictional, sanitized software-quality case. All systems, users, transactions, and records are fabricated; testing remains authorized and bounded and provides no security, legal, accessibility, or defect-free guarantee.

CB01 · citable versioned case brief

BlueMesa checkout release

BlueMesa is a fictional business-to-business storefront preparing release 4.8 of its checkout. The approved requirement says authenticated buyers may purchase approved catalog items up to their account credit limit, apply one active contract discount, choose an allowed shipping method, and receive an accessible confirmation. The release candidate is build 4.8.17 in staging. Six browsers and two mobile devices are in scope, but the test plan lists only the latest desktop Chrome. A sample account has a $10,000 credit limit and an existing $9,600 open balance. The cart contains a $700 item, a 10 percent contract discount, $55 shipping, and an 8.25 percent tax rule. The product owner expects the order to be blocked, while the developer says discounts should be considered before the credit check; the requirement does not state calculation order. In preliminary testing, the keyboard focus disappears after the shipping modal closes, the error summary is not announced by the screen reader, and refreshing after payment timeout sometimes creates a second pending order. Logs show the same idempotency key on both requests, but the payment sandbox returns different response identifiers. The tax service was upgraded after the last regression baseline. A defect titled checkout broken includes no build, data, steps, expected result, actual result, or evidence. Marketing already announced Friday availability, and the release manager proposes accepting all medium defects. Learners must define risk and acceptance, control environments, write reproducible tests, explore edge cases within authority, classify defects, and make an evidence-bounded release recommendation. They must not conduct unapproved security testing or claim exhaustive coverage.

F01 · confirmedThe release candidate is build 4.8.17 in staging.
F02 · confirmedSix browsers and two mobile devices are in scope, while the plan covers one desktop browser.
F03 · confirmedThe sample account has a $10,000 limit and a $9,600 open balance.
F04 · confirmedThe cart includes a $700 item, ten-percent discount, $55 shipping, and 8.25-percent tax rule.
F05 · conflictingProduct and development owners disagree about the credit-check calculation order.
F06 · unknownThe approved requirement does not define the calculation order.
F07 · confirmedKeyboard focus disappears after the shipping modal closes.
F08 · confirmedThe error summary is not announced by the screen reader.
F09 · confirmedRefreshing after payment timeout can create a second pending order.
F10 · conflictingDuplicate requests share an idempotency key but receive different sandbox response identifiers.
F11 · confirmedThe tax service changed after the prior regression baseline.
F12 · confirmedThe existing checkout-broken defect lacks reproducibility and expected-result evidence.

Expected credit behavior is disputed and the approved requirement omits calculation order.

Judgment required: Pause the affected pass-fail decision and obtain an authorized product and finance clarification before codifying a test oracle.

Do not assume: Do not treat current implementation, developer preference, or product-owner expectation as the approved requirement.

The duplicate order may involve application retry handling, the sandbox, or both.

Judgment required: Preserve identifiers and isolate components without claiming root cause prematurely.

Do not assume: Do not assign fault from timing correlation or one unsuccessful reproduction.

Six module assignments and debriefs

Module 1 · Define acceptance and risk

Bounded case starter

Translate the requirement and known uncertainty into testable criteria and release risks.

Deliverable: An acceptance-criteria table and quality-risk register.

Completion boundary: Complete a bounded starter and gap analysis using only CB01, F03, F04, F05, F06, F07, F08, F09, and the assignment-scope record below. Populate supported fields, label every unavailable field “not supplied,” and cite the input ID for each material statement. You may design a proposed template, control, question, or decision rule, but must label it as a learner proposal rather than observed case evidence. Do not contact people, access live systems, run tests, sign records, claim approval, or invent names, dates, quotations, transactions, results, or source documents.

Workbook plan: 2 authored artifacts with 8 stable practice rows. The download includes a prerequisite check, six-to-eight task-specific operating steps, field-by-field guidance, completed supported and known-gap examples, supporting-artifact examples where authored, stop/go/escalate rules, and an exact completion test.

Review the module lesson →

Provided inputs

  • M01-I01 · case-fact · F03
    The sample account has a $10,000 limit and a $9,600 open balance.
  • M01-I02 · case-fact · F04
    The cart includes a $700 item, ten-percent discount, $55 shipping, and 8.25-percent tax rule.
  • M01-I03 · case-fact · F05
    Product and development owners disagree about the credit-check calculation order.
  • M01-I04 · case-fact · F06
    The approved requirement does not define the calculation order.
  • M01-I05 · case-fact · F07
    Keyboard focus disappears after the shipping modal closes.
  • M01-I06 · case-fact · F08
    The error summary is not announced by the screen reader.
  • M01-I07 · case-fact · F09
    Refreshing after payment timeout can create a second pending order.
  • M01-B01 · case-brief · CB01
    Use CB01, the full versioned case brief printed once at the start of this packet, as a citable narrative source for details not normalized into F01–F12. Preserve its uncertainty language and do not treat narrative detail as approval, complete operational records, or professional judgment.
  • M01-S01 · assignment-scope · F03, F04, F05, F06, F07, F08, F09
    Build a starter version of “An acceptance-criteria table and quality-risk register.” from the listed case facts. Treat requested structures, controls, questions, calculations, and templates as learner-designed proposals. Where an operational record or result is absent, add a gap entry naming the missing evidence and authorized owner instead of fabricating it.

Evidence criteria

  • M01-EC01: Identifies the missing calculation-order decision as a requirement gap
  • M01-EC02: Ranks payment duplication, credit enforcement, tax, and accessibility risks
  • M01-EC03: Names the authorized owner for expected-behavior decisions
  • M01-EC04: Cites the supplied input IDs for material statements and marks omitted operational records or results “not supplied” rather than fabricating them

Debrief lens: Missing expected behavior is a requirement defect, not a reason for QA to invent a rule. Risk ranking should emphasize user and business consequence, detectability, and reversibility.

  • Source-linked acceptance criteria
  • Owner-assigned risk register
Module 2 · Control test conditions

Bounded case starter

Design an environment and data matrix that represents the approved scope and dependencies.

Deliverable: A test-plan matrix with builds, devices, browsers, roles, data, services, and reset method.

Completion boundary: Complete a bounded starter and gap analysis using only CB01, F01, F02, F11, and the assignment-scope record below. Populate supported fields, label every unavailable field “not supplied,” and cite the input ID for each material statement. You may design a proposed template, control, question, or decision rule, but must label it as a learner proposal rather than observed case evidence. Do not contact people, access live systems, run tests, sign records, claim approval, or invent names, dates, quotations, transactions, results, or source documents.

Workbook plan: 1 authored artifact with 8 stable practice rows. The download includes a prerequisite check, six-to-eight task-specific operating steps, field-by-field guidance, completed supported and known-gap examples, supporting-artifact examples where authored, stop/go/escalate rules, and an exact completion test.

Review the module lesson →

Provided inputs

  • M02-I01 · case-fact · F01
    The release candidate is build 4.8.17 in staging.
  • M02-I02 · case-fact · F02
    Six browsers and two mobile devices are in scope, while the plan covers one desktop browser.
  • M02-I03 · case-fact · F11
    The tax service changed after the prior regression baseline.
  • M02-B01 · case-brief · CB01
    Use CB01, the full versioned case brief printed once at the start of this packet, as a citable narrative source for details not normalized into F01–F12. Preserve its uncertainty language and do not treat narrative detail as approval, complete operational records, or professional judgment.
  • M02-S01 · assignment-scope · F01, F02, F11
    Build a starter version of “A test-plan matrix with builds, devices, browsers, roles, data, services, and reset method.” from the listed case facts. Treat requested structures, controls, questions, calculations, and templates as learner-designed proposals. Where an operational record or result is absent, add a gap entry naming the missing evidence and authorized owner instead of fabricating it.

Evidence criteria

  • M02-EC01: Covers all scoped browser and mobile classes using risk-based rationale
  • M02-EC02: Versions the payment and tax dependencies
  • M02-EC03: Provides repeatable data setup and cleanup without real payment data
  • M02-EC04: Cites the supplied input IDs for material statements and marks omitted operational records or results “not supplied” rather than fabricating them

Debrief lens: Environment diversity should follow the declared scope and risk. Versioning external services matters because a changed dependency can invalidate prior regression evidence.

  • Configuration and dependency matrix
  • Repeatable synthetic test data
Module 3 · Write reproducible evidence

Bounded case starter

Create tests for credit calculation, payment timeout, and accessible error handling.

Deliverable: Six test-case designs, two evidence starters for the observed accessibility and duplicate-order issues, and result-pending fields for every unexecuted case.

Completion boundary: Complete a bounded starter and gap analysis using only CB01, F03, F04, F05, F06, F07, F08, F09, F10, F12, and the assignment-scope record below. Populate supported fields, label every unavailable field “not supplied,” and cite the input ID for each material statement. You may design a proposed template, control, question, or decision rule, but must label it as a learner proposal rather than observed case evidence. Do not contact people, access live systems, run tests, sign records, claim approval, or invent names, dates, quotations, transactions, results, or source documents.

Workbook plan: 3 authored artifacts with 8 stable practice rows. The download includes a prerequisite check, six-to-eight task-specific operating steps, field-by-field guidance, completed supported and known-gap examples, supporting-artifact examples where authored, stop/go/escalate rules, and an exact completion test.

Review the module lesson →

Provided inputs

  • M03-I01 · case-fact · F03
    The sample account has a $10,000 limit and a $9,600 open balance.
  • M03-I02 · case-fact · F04
    The cart includes a $700 item, ten-percent discount, $55 shipping, and 8.25-percent tax rule.
  • M03-I03 · case-fact · F05
    Product and development owners disagree about the credit-check calculation order.
  • M03-I04 · case-fact · F06
    The approved requirement does not define the calculation order.
  • M03-I05 · case-fact · F07
    Keyboard focus disappears after the shipping modal closes.
  • M03-I06 · case-fact · F08
    The error summary is not announced by the screen reader.
  • M03-I07 · case-fact · F09
    Refreshing after payment timeout can create a second pending order.
  • M03-I08 · case-fact · F10
    Duplicate requests share an idempotency key but receive different sandbox response identifiers.
  • M03-I09 · case-fact · F12
    The existing checkout-broken defect lacks reproducibility and expected-result evidence.
  • M03-B01 · case-brief · CB01
    Use CB01, the full versioned case brief printed once at the start of this packet, as a citable narrative source for details not normalized into F01–F12. Preserve its uncertainty language and do not treat narrative detail as approval, complete operational records, or professional judgment.
  • M03-S01 · assignment-scope · F03, F04, F05, F06, F07, F08, F09, F10, F12
    Build a starter version of “Six test-case designs, two evidence starters for the observed accessibility and duplicate-order issues, and result-pending fields for every unexecuted case.” from the listed case facts. Treat requested structures, controls, questions, calculations, and templates as learner-designed proposals. Where an operational record or result is absent, add a gap entry naming the missing evidence and authorized owner instead of fabricating it.

Evidence criteria

  • M03-EC01: Each design states source, precondition, data, steps, expected result, environment, and evidence to capture without inventing actual results or timestamps
  • M03-EC02: Uses supplied calculation inputs and known request-identifier facts only where available
  • M03-EC03: Uses accessible names and defines observable assistive-technology outcomes while leaving execution pending

Debrief lens: A screenshot alone cannot prove a result. Reproducible evidence connects approved expectations and exact conditions to observed behavior another reviewer can verify.

  • Complete test record
  • Request, calculation, and accessibility evidence
Module 4 · Explore bounded edge cases

Bounded case starter

Charter an authorized exploration of retries, boundaries, navigation, interruption, and recovery.

Deliverable: A sixty-minute exploratory charter, pre-session coverage map, note template, and new-risk hypothesis list; no exploratory session or finding is represented as completed.

Completion boundary: Complete a bounded starter and gap analysis using only CB01, F03, F04, F05, F06, F07, F08, F09, F10, and the assignment-scope record below. Populate supported fields, label every unavailable field “not supplied,” and cite the input ID for each material statement. You may design a proposed template, control, question, or decision rule, but must label it as a learner proposal rather than observed case evidence. Do not contact people, access live systems, run tests, sign records, claim approval, or invent names, dates, quotations, transactions, results, or source documents.

Workbook plan: 4 authored artifacts with 18 stable practice rows. The download includes a prerequisite check, six-to-eight task-specific operating steps, field-by-field guidance, completed supported and known-gap examples, supporting-artifact examples where authored, stop/go/escalate rules, and an exact completion test.

Review the module lesson →

Provided inputs

  • M04-I01 · case-fact · F03
    The sample account has a $10,000 limit and a $9,600 open balance.
  • M04-I02 · case-fact · F04
    The cart includes a $700 item, ten-percent discount, $55 shipping, and 8.25-percent tax rule.
  • M04-I03 · case-fact · F05
    Product and development owners disagree about the credit-check calculation order.
  • M04-I04 · case-fact · F06
    The approved requirement does not define the calculation order.
  • M04-I05 · case-fact · F07
    Keyboard focus disappears after the shipping modal closes.
  • M04-I06 · case-fact · F08
    The error summary is not announced by the screen reader.
  • M04-I07 · case-fact · F09
    Refreshing after payment timeout can create a second pending order.
  • M04-I08 · case-fact · F10
    Duplicate requests share an idempotency key but receive different sandbox response identifiers.
  • M04-B01 · case-brief · CB01
    Use CB01, the full versioned case brief printed once at the start of this packet, as a citable narrative source for details not normalized into F01–F12. Preserve its uncertainty language and do not treat narrative detail as approval, complete operational records, or professional judgment.
  • M04-S01 · assignment-scope · F03, F04, F05, F06, F07, F08, F09, F10
    Build a starter version of “A sixty-minute exploratory charter, pre-session coverage map, note template, and new-risk hypothesis list; no exploratory session or finding is represented as completed.” from the listed case facts. Treat requested structures, controls, questions, calculations, and templates as learner-designed proposals. Where an operational record or result is absent, add a gap entry naming the missing evidence and authorized owner instead of fabricating it.

Evidence criteria

  • M04-EC01: Defines mission, techniques, time, prohibited actions, and evidence
  • M04-EC02: Exercises boundary values and state transitions rather than random clicking
  • M04-EC03: Stops and escalates any security or production-impact question outside authorization
  • M04-EC04: Cites the supplied input IDs for material statements and marks omitted operational records or results “not supplied” rather than fabricating them

Debrief lens: Exploration is bounded investigation with a mission and evidence trail. It supplements repeatable tests while respecting authorization and production-safety boundaries.

  • Time-boxed charter and notes
  • Coverage and newly discovered risk map
Module 5 · Make defects actionable

Bounded case starter

Rewrite and classify the known failures using impact and reproducibility evidence.

Deliverable: Two defect-report starters for the observed accessibility and duplicate-order issues, one incomplete-evidence remediation record for F12, and a severity-versus-priority decision proposal.

Completion boundary: Complete a bounded starter and gap analysis using only CB01, F07, F08, F09, F10, F12, and the assignment-scope record below. Populate supported fields, label every unavailable field “not supplied,” and cite the input ID for each material statement. You may design a proposed template, control, question, or decision rule, but must label it as a learner proposal rather than observed case evidence. Do not contact people, access live systems, run tests, sign records, claim approval, or invent names, dates, quotations, transactions, results, or source documents.

Workbook plan: 4 authored artifacts with 4 stable practice rows. The download includes a prerequisite check, six-to-eight task-specific operating steps, field-by-field guidance, completed supported and known-gap examples, supporting-artifact examples where authored, stop/go/escalate rules, and an exact completion test.

Review the module lesson →

Provided inputs

  • M05-I01 · case-fact · F07
    Keyboard focus disappears after the shipping modal closes.
  • M05-I02 · case-fact · F08
    The error summary is not announced by the screen reader.
  • M05-I03 · case-fact · F09
    Refreshing after payment timeout can create a second pending order.
  • M05-I04 · case-fact · F10
    Duplicate requests share an idempotency key but receive different sandbox response identifiers.
  • M05-I05 · case-fact · F12
    The existing checkout-broken defect lacks reproducibility and expected-result evidence.
  • M05-B01 · case-brief · CB01
    Use CB01, the full versioned case brief printed once at the start of this packet, as a citable narrative source for details not normalized into F01–F12. Preserve its uncertainty language and do not treat narrative detail as approval, complete operational records, or professional judgment.
  • M05-S01 · assignment-scope · F07, F08, F09, F10, F12
    Build a starter version of “Two defect-report starters for the observed accessibility and duplicate-order issues, one incomplete-evidence remediation record for F12, and a severity-versus-priority decision proposal.” from the listed case facts. Treat requested structures, controls, questions, calculations, and templates as learner-designed proposals. Where an operational record or result is absent, add a gap entry naming the missing evidence and authorized owner instead of fabricating it.

Evidence criteria

  • M05-EC01: Separates supplied user-impact evidence from the proposed repair order
  • M05-EC02: Uses reliable reproduction only where the packet supports it and explicitly leaves F12 reproduction and expected-result evidence incomplete
  • M05-EC03: Links the accessibility and duplicate-order observations to affected-user and business-impact questions without inventing test results

Debrief lens: Duplicate orders can be high severity even when intermittent. Priority remains an authorized business decision, and every classification needs stated evidence and consequence.

  • Reproducible or occurrence-based defect evidence
  • Severity and priority rationale
Module 6 · Recommend release truthfully

Bounded case starter

Design focused regression and a conditional release-evidence process; do not run tests or record owner approval.

Deliverable: A regression manifest proposal, traceability matrix starter, accessibility-summary template, and conditional release-evidence brief with results and approval pending.

Completion boundary: Complete a bounded starter and gap analysis using only CB01, F01, F02, F07, F08, F09, F11, F12, and the assignment-scope record below. Populate supported fields, label every unavailable field “not supplied,” and cite the input ID for each material statement. You may design a proposed template, control, question, or decision rule, but must label it as a learner proposal rather than observed case evidence. Do not contact people, access live systems, run tests, sign records, claim approval, or invent names, dates, quotations, transactions, results, or source documents.

Workbook plan: 4 authored artifacts with 26 stable practice rows. The download includes a prerequisite check, six-to-eight task-specific operating steps, field-by-field guidance, completed supported and known-gap examples, supporting-artifact examples where authored, stop/go/escalate rules, and an exact completion test.

Review the module lesson →

Provided inputs

  • M06-I01 · case-fact · F01
    The release candidate is build 4.8.17 in staging.
  • M06-I02 · case-fact · F02
    Six browsers and two mobile devices are in scope, while the plan covers one desktop browser.
  • M06-I03 · case-fact · F07
    Keyboard focus disappears after the shipping modal closes.
  • M06-I04 · case-fact · F08
    The error summary is not announced by the screen reader.
  • M06-I05 · case-fact · F09
    Refreshing after payment timeout can create a second pending order.
  • M06-I06 · case-fact · F11
    The tax service changed after the prior regression baseline.
  • M06-I07 · case-fact · F12
    The existing checkout-broken defect lacks reproducibility and expected-result evidence.
  • M06-B01 · case-brief · CB01
    Use CB01, the full versioned case brief printed once at the start of this packet, as a citable narrative source for details not normalized into F01–F12. Preserve its uncertainty language and do not treat narrative detail as approval, complete operational records, or professional judgment.
  • M06-S01 · assignment-scope · F01, F02, F07, F08, F09, F11, F12
    Build a starter version of “A regression manifest proposal, traceability matrix starter, accessibility-summary template, and conditional release-evidence brief with results and approval pending.” from the listed case facts. Treat requested structures, controls, questions, calculations, and templates as learner-designed proposals. Where an operational record or result is absent, add a gap entry naming the missing evidence and authorized owner instead of fabricating it.

Evidence criteria

  • M06-EC01: Covers the changed dependency and critical checkout paths as planned scope
  • M06-EC02: Discloses untested scope, unresolved barriers, and proposed exception fields without claiming acceptance
  • M06-EC03: Avoids bug-free, fully accessible, secure, exhaustive, passed, or approved claims
  • M06-EC04: Cites the supplied input IDs for material statements and marks omitted operational records or results “not supplied” rather than fabricating them

Debrief lens: Marketing dates do not override release criteria. The recommendation should disclose barriers, scope, and exceptions so the authorized owner can make an informed decision.

  • Requirement-to-test traceability
  • Signed exception and release record

Self-review standard

Inspect evidence, reasoning, completeness, boundaries, and traceability.

There is no universal release answer or complete test set. Strong QA states the tested scope, source of expected behavior, consequence of gaps, and authority for exceptions. The downloadable rubric is formative guidance only—not a grade, verified completion, credential assessment, or professional approval.

Unclear financial calculation, tax treatment, contract pricing, or credit-policy requirement

Route to: Authorized product, finance, tax, legal, or accounting owner as applicable

Learner boundary: QA identifies ambiguity and tests approved behavior but does not make the policy decision.

Security testing, payment handling, production data, accessibility conformance, or unresolved duplicate transaction risk

Route to: Authorized security, payment, accessibility, engineering, and release owners

Learner boundary: The learner remains within the approved environment and does not claim certification or security assurance.

05 Editable working tool

Use the template.
Inspect the example.

Use one row per test or defect. Record the exact environment and evidence location, separate expected from actual behavior, and assign severity from the approved impact matrix with a named owner. Add as many rows as needed, export a CSV, or print only this tool. Entries are not transmitted. They last only in this tab unless you opt into device-only saving in the learning-work panel. No account or cross-device sync is provided.

Editable Software QA public-foundation worksheet
Test or defectEnvironmentSteps and evidenceExpected/actualSeverity and owner

Completed example

Test or defect
QA-317: duplicate mobile checkout submission
Environment
Build 3.8.14; iOS 18.2; Safari; Slow 3G; synthetic account QA-204
Steps and evidence
Valid cart; tap Submit twice within two seconds; sanitized recording and server events T-9102/T-9103
Expected/actual
Expected one order and announced pending state; actual two orders in three of five runs
Severity and owner
High due to duplicate-charge risk; checkout engineering owner with payment-operations containment review

Data boundary: Work only in an approved system. Do not place passwords, payment-card data, government identifiers, health information, export-controlled material, client secrets, or unpublished invention details in this public worksheet.

Practice one module.
Get useful feedback now.

Each two-question check works independently. Review any answered question immediately; you do not need to finish all twelve. Feedback is formative, not a verified grade or credential.

Module 1 · 2-item formative check

Quality risk and acceptance criteria

Choose an answer and request feedback. Read why each option does or does not fit the evidence. Answers stay in this tab unless you choose device-only saving; they are never submitted.

Question 1 of 2 · MODULE 1 · knowledgeWhich source provides the strongest independent basis for an expected test result?
Question 2 of 2 · MODULE 1 · scenarioBlueMesa confirms account and cart values in F03 and F04; F05 is conflicting on credit calculation order; F06 is unknown for the approved order; F07 through F09 confirm accessibility and duplicate-order risks. Which acceptance approach is defensible?

Answer either question to review its reasoning.

Module 2 · 2-item formative check

Test planning and environments

Choose an answer and request feedback. Read why each option does or does not fit the evidence. Answers stay in this tab unless you choose device-only saving; they are never submitted.

Question 1 of 2 · MODULE 2 · knowledgeWhy must a software test result identify the environment in which it was observed?
Question 2 of 2 · MODULE 2 · scenarioF01 confirms build 4.8.17 in staging, F02 confirms six browsers and two mobile devices in scope while the plan covers one desktop browser, and F11 confirms the tax service changed after the prior baseline. Which planning sequence is supported?

Answer either question to review its reasoning.

Module 3 · 2-item formative check

Test cases and evidence

Choose an answer and request feedback. Read why each option does or does not fit the evidence. Answers stay in this tab unless you choose device-only saving; they are never submitted.

Question 1 of 2 · MODULE 3 · knowledgeWhich test record supports a reproducible pass-or-fail decision by another authorized tester?
Question 2 of 2 · MODULE 3 · scenarioF05 is conflicting and F06 is unknown for calculation order; F07 through F09 confirm accessibility and duplicate-order observations; F10 is conflicting for duplicate request identifiers; F12 confirms an incomplete defect record. Which evidence-design gate is appropriate?

Answer either question to review its reasoning.

Module 4 · 2-item formative check

Exploratory and edge-case testing

Choose an answer and request feedback. Read why each option does or does not fit the evidence. Answers stay in this tab unless you choose device-only saving; they are never submitted.

Question 1 of 2 · MODULE 4 · knowledgeWhich description defines a disciplined exploratory testing charter?
Question 2 of 2 · MODULE 4 · scenarioThe module confirms boundary values and accessibility observations in F03, F04, F07, F08, and F09; F05 is conflicting; F10 is conflicting; F06 is unknown. Which charter finding is actionable without claiming execution?

Answer either question to review its reasoning.

Module 5 · 2-item formative check

Defect severity and reproducibility

Choose an answer and request feedback. Read why each option does or does not fit the evidence. Answers stay in this tab unless you choose device-only saving; they are never submitted.

Question 1 of 2 · MODULE 5 · knowledgeWhich statement correctly distinguishes defect severity from repair priority?
Question 2 of 2 · MODULE 5 · scenarioF07 and F08 confirm accessibility observations, F09 confirms possible duplicate pending orders, F10 is conflicting about duplicate identifiers, and F12 confirms an incomplete checkout-broken defect. What may the tester responsibly report?

Answer either question to review its reasoning.

Module 6 · 2-item formative check

Regression, accessibility, and release signoff

Choose an answer and request feedback. Read why each option does or does not fit the evidence. Answers stay in this tab unless you choose device-only saving; they are never submitted.

Question 1 of 2 · MODULE 6 · knowledgeWhich release statement remains within the evidence finite testing can support?
Question 2 of 2 · MODULE 6 · scenarioBlueMesa confirms build 4.8.17 in F01, incomplete environment coverage in F02, accessibility barriers in F07 and F08, duplicate-order risk in F09, a changed tax service in F11, and an incomplete defect in F12. Which release record is defensible?

Answer either question to review its reasoning.

07 Sources and handoffs

Verify the standard.
Know when to escalate.

Module provenance distinguishes external authorities, legal-status evidence, and Wealth Synergy internal operating standards. Requirements change; verify current source text and obtain qualified advice when a decision carries legal, financial, technical, employment, safety, or regulatory consequences.

Future facilitated pathway · not open

Practice with feedback.
Finish with evidence.

The public case lab is available now. A future facilitated cohort may add assignments, feedback, and human capstone review only after a named qualified facilitator and reviewer, schedule, rubric, privacy controls, support, price, refund terms, and delivery terms are published in writing. No enrollment or payment is accepted here.

Clear boundaries.

Course material supports professional development. It does not replace legal, tax, accounting, cybersecurity, engineering, regulatory, employment, translation, or other qualified professional advice where that expertise is required.

The public knowledge check and portal review markers are learning aids only. They do not award a credential. Pilot curriculum and credential assessment are in quality review; Foundry Academy is not currently representing these pages as accredited instruction or an automatic path to a certificate.

Participation does not guarantee employment, client work, funding, licensure, certification by a public authority, or any business outcome.

Use the public foundation

Read. Practice.
Inspect your evidence.

All public materials and case files are available without enrollment. A fit conversation is non-binding and does not reserve a place in a future pilot.

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