FC0-U71 Software Development Concepts Practice Test 4 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A software development team is working on a project with fixed requirements and a strict deadline. The project manager decides to use a methodology where each phase must be completed before moving to the next. Which development methodology is being used?

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

Waterfall. Waterfall is a linear sequential development methodology where each phase (requirements, design, implementation, testing, deployment) must be completed before the next begins. It is suited for projects with fixed requirements and strict deadlines, as it emphasizes upfront planning and documentation. The other methodologies are iterative or adaptive.

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Agile

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Scrum

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Spiral

Question 2

A developer is writing a program that stores a collection of unique student IDs. The program needs to quickly look up a student by ID and does not require the IDs to be stored in any particular order. Which data structure is most appropriate for this task?

Accepted Answer

Dictionary. A dictionary (hash map) stores key-value pairs and provides average O(1) lookup by key, which is ideal for quickly retrieving a student record by unique ID. Since the IDs are unique and order does not matter, a dictionary's key uniqueness constraint and fast lookup make it the best fit. Arrays and other sequential structures would require O(n) search unless indexed by a contiguous integer range.

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Queue

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Array

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Stack

Question 3

A testing team is verifying a new version of an e-commerce website. They run a set of pre-existing test cases to ensure that recent changes have not broken any previously working functionality. What type of testing is this?

Accepted Answer

Regression testing. Regression testing re-runs previously passing test cases after code changes to confirm that new modifications have not broken existing functionality. The scenario describes exactly this: pre-existing test cases are executed to verify that recent changes did not introduce defects in working features. It is a core part of continuous integration pipelines.

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Unit testing

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System testing

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Integration testing

Question 4

A software development team is using Scrum. During a sprint, the product owner introduces a new high-priority requirement that was not in the sprint backlog. The team has already committed to the current sprint's goals. According to Scrum principles, what should the team do?

Accepted Answer

Include the new requirement in the next sprint planning. In Scrum, the sprint backlog is frozen once the sprint starts; new requirements should be added to the product backlog for future sprints.

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Ask the development team to work overtime to accommodate the new requirement

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Hold an emergency sprint planning meeting to adjust the sprint backlog

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Add the new requirement to the current sprint and remove a lower-priority item

Question 5

A developer wants to represent the logic of a program before writing code. The diagram should show decisions with diamond shapes and processes with rectangles. Which representation is the developer creating?

Accepted Answer

Flowchart. A flowchart is the only representation that uses standardized geometric symbols to depict program logic visually: diamonds represent decisions (conditional branches), rectangles represent processes or actions, parallelograms represent input/output, and arrows show control flow. The question explicitly describes these shapes, which are the defining visual vocabulary of a flowchart. Algorithms, data structures, and pseudocode do not use diamond/rectangle diagrams.

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Algorithm

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Data structure

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Pseudocode

Question 6

An organization is implementing a new payroll system. Before final deployment, a group of actual payroll employees test the system to ensure it meets their business needs and processes payroll correctly. Which testing phase is this?

Accepted Answer

User acceptance testing. User acceptance testing (UAT) is the phase where actual end users—in this case, payroll employees—validate that the system meets real business requirements and performs its intended function (processing payroll correctly) before going live. Because the testers are the people who will actually use the system in production, their validation confirms fitness for purpose rather than just technical correctness.

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Unit testing

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System testing

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Integration testing

Question 7

A web developer is creating a weather application that retrieves data from a third-party service. The service requires an identifier to track usage and authenticate requests. The developer includes this identifier in the HTTP header of each request. What is this identifier called?

Accepted Answer

API key. An API key is a unique identifier issued by a service provider to authenticate and track a client's usage of its API. It is typically passed in an HTTP header (such as `X-API-Key` or `Authorization`) with each request. This matches the scenario of a weather service requiring an identifier for usage tracking and request authentication.

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JWT

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Session ID

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OAuth token

Question 8

A programmer writes a step-by-step description of a solution in plain English without using any specific programming language syntax. What is this description called?

Accepted Answer

Pseudocode. Pseudocode is a plain-language, step-by-step description of an algorithm that uses programming-like constructs but no specific language syntax. It is used to plan logic before coding. Source code is actual code in a programming language, a bug report documents defects, and a flowchart uses symbols to represent flow.

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Source code

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Bug report

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Flowchart

Question 9

A development team is using an agile methodology. Which TWO of the following are typical practices in agile development?

Accepted Answer

Iterative development with short cycles. Option C is correct because agile development is built on iterative, incremental delivery through short cycles (sprints or iterations, typically 1–4 weeks) that produce a potentially shippable increment and allow frequent reprioritization based on feedback. Option D is correct because the daily standup (a short, time-boxed Scrum ceremony, usually 15 minutes) is a hallmark agile practice for synchronizing the team, surfacing impediments, and maintaining transparency. Options A and E are incorrect because waterfall phase transitions and a detailed design phase completed before coding reflect sequential, plan-driven lifecycle models rather than agile's continuous, cross-functional delivery. Option B is incorrect because agile embraces emergent, reprioritized scope (e.g., a groomed product backlog) rather than a fixed scope locked at project start.

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Waterfall phase transitions

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Fixed scope defined at project start

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Detailed design phase before coding

Question 10

A software company is using version control for a project. A developer has completed work on a new feature in a separate branch and wants to merge it into the main branch. What TWO steps should typically occur before the merge is accepted?

Accepted Answer

Update the feature branch with the latest main branch changes. Common version control best practices include code review via pull requests and ensuring the feature branch is up to date with the main branch to minimize conflicts.

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Delete the feature branch immediately

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Run unit tests only on the main branch

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Commit changes directly to the main branch

Question 11

A developer is debugging a program that crashes with an error. Which THREE of the following are common debugging techniques?

Accepted Answer

Stepping through code line by line. Option A (Stepping through code line by line) is correct because executing code one statement at a time in a debugger lets the developer observe the exact instruction where the crash occurs and trace the control flow leading up to it. Option D (Setting breakpoints to pause execution) is correct because breakpoints halt the program at a chosen line or condition, allowing the developer to examine the program state at the critical moment before the error manifests. Option E (Inspecting variable values during execution) is correct because examining variables, registers, and memory at runtime reveals incorrect values, null references, or out-of-range data that explain the crash. Option B (Ignoring the error and continuing) is not a debugging technique since it provides no diagnostic information and typically lets the fault propagate or recur. Option C (Recompiling the entire program without changes) is not a debugging technique because rebuilding identical source produces the same binary behavior and yields no new insight into the defect.

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Ignoring the error and continuing

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Recompiling the entire program without changes

Question 12

Which TWO of the following are core phases of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)?

Accepted Answer

Testing. Testing (C) is a core SDLC phase because it is the formal stage where the built software is verified and validated against requirements before release, covering activities like unit, integration, system, and acceptance testing. Implementation (E) is also a core SDLC phase, as it is the stage in which the design is translated into actual code and the system is built and deployed. The remaining options are not core SDLC phases: algorithm design (A) is a lower-level design activity that may occur within the design phase, flowcharting (B) is a modeling or documentation technique used during analysis/design, and debugging (D) is a defect-fixing activity performed within implementation and testing rather than a distinct SDLC phase.

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Algorithm design

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Flowcharting

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Debugging

Question 13

A REST API is used by a mobile app to retrieve data. The API returns responses in a specific format. Which THREE of the following are typical characteristics of a REST API?

Accepted Answer

Is stateless between requests. REST APIs are stateless by design, meaning each request from a client to the server must contain all the information needed to understand and process the request. The server does not store any client context between requests, which improves scalability and reliability. This statelessness is a core constraint of the REST architectural style, as defined by Roy Fielding in his doctoral dissertation.

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Uses SOAP for message exchange

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Maintains server-side session state

Question 14

A quality assurance team is executing system testing on a new banking application. They need to verify that the entire application works correctly from start to finish. Which THREE of the following testing types would be included in system testing?

Accepted Answer

Security testing. System testing validates the complete, integrated application against its requirements, so Security testing (A) is included because it verifies authentication, authorization, encryption, and protection against vulnerabilities across the whole banking system. Functional testing (C) is included because it confirms end-to-end business functions and requirements work correctly from start to finish. Performance testing (E) is included because it assesses responsiveness, throughput, scalability, and stability of the fully integrated application under load. Integration testing (B) is not part of system testing because it focuses on interfaces between combined units/modules and is performed earlier at the integration level. Unit testing (D) is not included because it tests individual components or functions in isolation, typically done by developers before integration.

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Integration testing

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Unit testing

Question 15

A junior programmer is reviewing a piece of pseudocode written by a teammate. The pseudocode contains the line: total = total + item. The programmer wants to know what type of operation this line performs in the algorithm. Which of the following best describes this line?

Accepted Answer

It assigns the sum of total and item back to total.. The statement total = total + item is an assignment that adds the current value of total to item and stores the result back into total. This accumulator pattern is used to keep a running sum while processing items in a loop. It is not a comparison, declaration, or output statement, so the correct description is that it assigns the sum back to total.

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It outputs the value of total and item to the user.

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It declares total as a new variable of type item.

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It performs a comparison between total and item.