Sleep Deprivation Negatively Influences Driving Performance

Road traffic injuries are estimated to be the 5th leading cause of death within the next 15 years, with the current yearly death toll reaching 1.3 million (Gresser, 2014; ASIRT, 2016). The average person is generally awake for around 16 hours a day, however sometimes within busy lives sleep may become a last priority between family and work, and thus extending the period a person is awake (Williamson Feyer, 2000). In this essay, it will be argued that sleep deprivation negatively influences driving performance, as it has been found that driving for long periods of time or after sleep deprivation leads to poor driving performance as levels of alertness are low. Two empirical studies have been chosen to support this argument, by Otmani, Pebayle, Roge, and Muzet (2004) and Williamson and Feyer (2000). The general findings of both studies agreed that performance was impaired in sleep deprived subjects (Williamson et al. 2000; Otmani, Pebayle, Roge, Muzet, 2004). An article by Williams and Feyer (2000), investigated the effects of sleep deprivation and Blood Alcohol Concentrations (BAC) on driving performance. The aim was to compare these two factors to determine the level of sleep deprivation at which showed equivalent driving performance of hazardous BAC (Williamson Feyer, 2000). To do this, two independent variables were manipulated – BAC and sleep deprivation. The levels tested for BAC included, 0.025%, 0.05%, 0.075 and 0.1%. For sleep deprivation theShow MoreRelatedSleep Deprivation And Sleep Deficiency1774 Words   |  8 PagesKevin Touch Ms. Acosta-Mata English 4 AP 6 Oct. 2015 Sleep Deprivation: A Bane to Men, Women and Children alike It was 12:30 am in the morning and Israel Joubert and his family was driving home after a family reunion. Joubert had hoped to get to his workplace on time at 8 am in the town of Fort Worth. However in the midst of his driving, Joubert fell asleep at the wheel resulting in a crash of the family’s Chevy Suburban into the rear of a parked 18-wheeler. Although one of his sons and he hadRead MoreA Brief Note On Increased Productivity From The Workplace Essay2039 Words   |  9 Pagesproductivity and alertness. Sleep should be seen as a necessity for everyone, not a luxury. There is a big difference between unexpectedly dozing off in important work environments such as at a patient s bedside, while on a customer service phone call, transporting merchandise and while operating heavy machinery, compared to taking a planned nap in a designated area during a scheduled break. I believe napping in the workplace would increase overall business performance and customer and employee satis factionRead MoreSleep Deprivation And The Sleep1928 Words   |  8 PagesSleep is a basic necessity of everyday life. According to the National Foundation of sleep, a person is required to sleep at least seven to nine hours a day. (citation) As mentioned by Matt T. Bianchi in the book Sleep Deprivation and Disease, â€Å" The normal quantity of sleep depends on the individual and a myriad of other factors such as environment and an individual s waking needs.† (citation) This means that the quantity of sleep that people achieve depends on their body’s needs and functions.Read MoreDr. Robert Vorona, An Associate Professor Of Internal Medicine2002 Words   |  9 PagesThere is no such thing as a sleep deprived horse, bat, whale, or any other mammal for that matter except the human. Humans are the only creature in their mammalian class to prolong other activities at the expense of sleep (National Sleep Foundation 1). The cost of such practices is our own lives and unfor tunately, many do not know it. Study author Dr. Robert Vorona, an associate professor of internal medicine in the Division of Sleep Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, VirginiaRead MoreHow Fatigue Affects Your Sleep Habits2954 Words   |  12 Pagesstrong working ability. This topic is really interesting because it is relative to my life. It is interesting to see what researchers have found as a leading result and different ways to improve someone’s sleep habits. It would also be beneficial to take into account how I can improve my sleep habits in order to maintain a healthy working ability. As a working camp counselor myself, it is important for me to stay healthy and get a good night’s rest. Fatigue is when a person has a lack of energyRead MoreEffects of Lack of Sleep to Students of Philippine State College5455 Words   |  22 Pagesâ€Å"Effects of Lack Sleep to the Students of Philippine State College of Aeronautics† Name (Optional):_____________________ Age: __________ Gender: __M __F Civil Status: ____________ Check for the desired answer. | Yes | No | 1. Do you usually sleep late? | | | 2. Do you find it hard to sleep early? | | | 3. Do you feel lazy if you experience lack of sleep? | | | 4. Do you feel short tempered when you experience lack of sleep? | | | 5. Does your lack of sleep affect your study? | |Read MoreEssay on Sleep Deprivation in America2096 Words   |  9 PagesSleep Deprivation in America Research indicates that America’s sleep problems have increased and might be the number one health problem. The average amount of sleep that people get per night can range anywhere from three to twelve hours. According to Dr. David Dinges at the University of Pennsylvania, it is a fact that people who get fewer than six hours of sleep a night do not live as long as people who get seven hours or more. Most people do not realize the importance of sleepRead MoreStudy on Effect of Quality of Sleep and Subjective Sleepiness, Sustained Attention and Subjective Mood.2382 Words   |  10 PagesAbstract The main outcomes of this study were that a significant (p.05) relationship was found between quality of sleep and subjective sleepiness, sustained attention and subjective mood. It was found that the better quality of sleep is obtained, the less subjectively sleepy, higher sustained attention and more positive subjective mood the participant has. The present study was in line with several other studies undertaken, with many of the findings being reflected in both this study and othersRead MoreMarijuana Is The Most Popular Illicit Drug Used Among Our Teenagers Essay1485 Words   |  6 Pagesschool performances and a â€Å"gateway† to other lethal substances. Smoking marijuana increases respiratory diseases, impaired immune function, cognitive problems and motivational impairment. (National Institute on Drug Abuse). It is the leading cause of abnormal cognitive development which persists long after abstinence. Marijuana is the main drug used by children who seek emergency medi cal treatments and screened following an arrest or autopsies (Dennis et at). Marijuana addiction can negatively impactRead MoreThe Sleep Disorders2309 Words   |  10 Pages Sleep disorders are an underestimated public health concern considering that fifty to seventy million Americans are affected. Technological advances in the field of sleep have facilitated various theories to explain the need for and the purpose of sleep. Scientist have uncovered many types of sleep disorders such as insomnia, sleep apnea, and narcolepsy. Sleep disorders affect men ,women, children, the elderly, and the obese in different ways. Factors such as the number of children and the effects

The Role Of Talent Development Programme ( Tdp ) - 1716 Words

DEVELOPING COACHING AND MENTORING Student’s Name The Name of the Class (Course) Professor (Tutor) The Name of the School (University) The City and State where it is located The Date Introduction Developing talents is one of the vital ways of assuring an organization to have leaders it will require for a strong future and easy transition of power. Talent Development Programme (TDP) is a plan that is targeting to improve talents by providing intensive, extra-curricular opportunities for training leadership and problem-solving skills in addressing real world concerns, such as diversity, sustainability, integration or financial regulation (Bailey Morley, 2006, p. 214). TDP activities include seminars by academic or financiers and debates with industrialists or politicians. Students can attend training from a field expert and then organize a follow-up activity. Contemporary companies are turning to mentoring and coaching programs for talent development. These programs tap the value of the internal employee resources in developing other, which saves cost, time, and boosts overall employee satisfaction. Coaching helps an employee to get the best performance from thems elves – the potential that was already there. Mentoring works alongside coaching and it helps to prepare someone moving to a new role, working in a different or new environment, taking on new responsibilities, or building confidence to develop career further. Proposed Talent Development ProgrammeShow MoreRelatedTalent Identification Essay1213 Words   |  5 Pageschance to become great. There are talent identification programs (TIP) which aim to find the future star athletes. Scientists have researched ways to improve such programs and also to introduce new ways of going about recognizing talent. The way most TIP work is that they seek out early adolescent children, some as early as 6, but most between 8-12 years of age (Vaeyens 1368). The factors considered by many TIP programs are: â€Å"height, weight, muscular development, body fat, aerobic capacity, anaerobicRead MoreEmployees Training and Development in Banking Sector12573 Words   |  51 Pages1.Introduction Of Employee Training amp; HR Development You are a DIY person and you want to find out everything about starting and operating a business. There are so many resources out there and you are overwhelmed by the amount of information you need to absorb. Besides, which sources are reliable? After you swim through a sea of â€Å"useful† tips, how do you put them into action? The quality of employees and their development through training and education are major factors in determiningRead MoreMost Basic and Frequently Asked Interview Questions and Answers10148 Words   |  41 Pagesyour college days. 9. Can u explain about Child labour/Corruption/Poverty? 10. Why do you want to leave your current job? 11. Describe the movie you have seen recently. 12. Tell me about a memorable/happiest/saddest day in your life. 13. Who is your role model, and why? 14. What is your favourite colour? Talk about it. 15. What will you do if you are not selected today? 16. What do you consider to be the important element of teamwork? 17. Tell me something about your favourite movie? 18. Who is your

Quality Assurance Question Bank Free Essays

string(86) " all the details of the project and have undergone â€Å"walkthrough† process\." Question bank Q1. Why software needs to be tested? Ans. Every software product needs to be tested since; the development process is unable to produce defect free software. We will write a custom essay sample on Quality Assurance Question Bank or any similar topic only for you Order Now Even if the development process is able to produce defect free software, we will not be able to know unless until we test it. Without testing it, we shall not be having enough confidence that it will work. Testing not only identifies and reports defect but also measures the quality of the product, which helps to decide whether to release the product, or not. Q2. What is the reason that Software has Bugs? Ans. Following factors contribute to the presence of bugs in the software applications:- a. Software development tools like visual tools, class libraries, compilers, scripting tools, etc. usually introduce their own bugs in the system. b. To err is human. Likewise programmers do make mistakes while programming c. In fast-changing business environments continuously modified requirements are becoming a fact of life. Such frequent changes requested by the customer leads to errors in the application already nearing completion. Last minute design changes leads to many chaos like redesign of the whole system, rescheduling of engineers, scrapping of the work already completed, fresh requirements of compatible hardware etc d. A quickly written but poorly documented code is bound to have bugs. It becomes difficult to maintain and modify such code that is badly written or poorly documented. – its tough to maintain and modify code that is badly written or poorly documented; the result is bugs. In many organizations management provides no incentive for programmers to document their code or write clear, understandable, maintainable code. In fact, it’s usually the opposite: they get points mostly for quickly turning out code, and there as jobs security if nobody else can understand it (if it was hard to write, it should be hard to read). e. When project deadlines come too close time pressures come, mistakes are bound to come Q3. What is the difference between QA and Testing? Ans. QA stands for â€Å"Quality Assurance†, and focuses on â€Å"Prevention† of defects in the product being developed. It is associated with the â€Å"Process† and activities related to the Process Improvement. Quality Assurance measures the quality of the processes employed to create a quality product. Whereas â€Å"Testing† refers to â€Å"Quality Control†, and focuses on Detection of Defect and removal thereafter. Or Quality Control measures the quality of a product. Q4. What is the difference between Software Testing and Debugging? Ans. Testing is the process of locating or identifying the errors or bugs in a software system. Whereas Debugging is the process of Fixing the identified Bugs. It involves a process of analyzing and rectifying the syntax errors, logic errors and all other types of errors identified during the process of testing. Q5. What is the difference between a Bug and a Defect? Ans. â€Å"Bug† is a problem or an error in the software code, which is found in the application during Testing. Bug is responsible for failure of the application to comply with the desired specifications. Whereas â€Å"Defect† is problem reported by the customer during usage of the software application. Q6. What is the difference between a Bug and an Enhancement? Ans. â€Å"Bug† is a problem or an error in the software code, which is found in the application during Testing. Bug is responsible for failure of the application to comply with the desired specifications. Whereas â€Å"Enhancement† is the additional feature or functionality found and added to the application as desired by the end user / real word customer or tester during the testing process. Q7. What is the difference between Requirements Specifications? Ans. â€Å"Requirements† are statements given by the customer as to what needs to be achieved by the software system. Later on these requirements are converted into specifications which are nothing but feasible or implementable requirements. Whereas â€Å"Specifications† are feasible requirements derived from various statements given by the customer. These are the starting point for the product development team. Q8. What is the difference between Verification and Validation? Ans. â€Å"Verification† involves reviews and meetings to evaluate documents, plans, code, requirements, and specifications to confirm whether items, processes, services, or documents conform to specified requirements or not. This can be done with the help of checklists, issues lists, walkthroughs, and inspection meetings. The purpose f verification is to determine whether the products of a given phase of the software development cycle fulfill the requirements established during the previous phase or not. Whereas â€Å"Validation† is the determination of the correctness of the final program or software product produced from a development project with respect to the user needs and requirements. This involves actual testing of the product and takes place after verifications are completed. â€Å"Software Verification† raises the question, â€Å"Are we building the Product Right? † that is, does the software conform to its specification. Software Validation† raises the question, â€Å"Are we building the Right Product? † that is, the software doing what the user really requires. Q9. What is difference between Waterfall Model and V Model? Ans. â€Å"Waterfall Model† Is a sequential software development model (a process for the creation of software) in which development is seen as flowing steadily downwards (like a waterfall)through the phases of requirements analysis, design, implementation, testing (validation),integration, and maintenance. To follow the waterfall model, we proceed from one phase to the next in a purely sequential manner. In traditional waterfall model, testing comes at the far end of the development process. Whereas â€Å"V Model† or â€Å"Life Cycle Testing† involves carrying out verification of consistency, completeness and correctness of software at every stage of the development life cycle. It aims at catching the defects as early as possible and thus reduces the cost of fixing them. It involves continuously testing the system during all stages of the development process rather than just limiting testing to the last stage. Q10. What are Baseline Documents? Ans. Baseline documents are the documents, which have been approved by the customer and will not have any more changes. Baseline Documents cover all the details of the project and have undergone â€Å"walkthrough† process. You read "Quality Assurance Question Bank" in category "Essay examples" Once a document is Base-lined it cannot be changed unless there is a change request duly approved by the customer. Service Level Agreement (SLA) Business Requirement Documents (BRD) are the examples of Baseline Documents. Q11. What is Defect Density? Ans. â€Å"Defect Density† Is a software metric defined as: Total number of defects per LOC (lines of code). Alternatively it can be: Total number of defects per Size of the Project. Here the measure of â€Å"Size of the Project† can be number of Function Points, Number of Feature Points, number of Use Cases or KLOC (Kilo Lines of Code) etc. Q12. What is Quality? Ans. Quality software is software that is reasonably bug-free, delivered on time and within budget, meets requirements and expectations and is maintainable. However, quality is a subjective term. Quality depends on who the customer is and their overall influence in the scheme of things. Customers of a software development project include end-users, customer acceptance test engineers, testers, customer contract officers, customer management, the development organization’s management, test engineers, testers, salespeople, software engineers, stockholders and accountants. Each type of customer will have his or her own slant on quality. The accounting department might define quality in terms of profits, while an end- user might define quality as user friendly and bug free. Q13. What is an Inspection? Ans. An inspection is a formal meeting, more formalized than a walkthrough and typically consists of 3-10 people including a moderator, reader (the author of whatever is being reviewed) and a recorder (to make notes in the document). The subject of the inspection is typically a document, such as a requirements document or a test plan. The purpose of an inspection is to find problems and see what is missing, not to fix anything. The result of the meeting is documented in a written report. Attendees should prepare for this type of meeting by reading through the document, before the meeting starts; most problems are found during this preparation. Preparation for inspections is difficult, but is one of the most cost-effective methods of ensuring quality, since bug prevention is more cost effective than bug detection. A14. What is Six Sigma? Ans. â€Å"Six Sigma† means Six Standard Deviations from the mean. It is a methodology aimed to reduce defect levels below 3. 4 Defects Per one Million Opportunities. Six Sigma approach improves the process performance, decreases variation and maintains consistent quality of the process output. This leads to defect reduction and improvement in profits, product quality and customer satisfaction. Q15. What is difference between CMM and CMMI? Ans. â€Å"CMM† means â€Å"Capability Maturity Model† developed by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI). It is a process capability maturity model, which aids in the definition and understanding of an organization’s processes. CMM is intended as a tool for objectively assessing the ability of government contractors’ processes to perform a contracted software project. Whereas â€Å"CMMI† means â€Å"Capability Maturity Model Integration† it has superseded CMM. The old CMM has been renamed to Software Engineering CMM (SE-CMM). Q16. What is Verification? Ans. Verification ensures the product is designed to deliver all functionality to the customer; it typically involves reviews and meetings to evaluate documents, plans, code, requirements and specifications; this can be done with checklists, issues lists, walkthroughs and inspection meetings. Q17. What is Validation? Ans. Validation ensures that functionality, as defined in requirements, is the intended behavior of the product; validation typically involves actual testing and takes place after verifications are completed. Q18. What is a Test Plan? Ans. A software project test plan is a document that describes the objectives, scope, approach and focus of a software testing effort. The process of preparing a test plan is a useful way to think through the efforts needed to validate the acceptability of a software product. The completed document will help people outside the test group understand the why and how of product validation. It should be thorough enough to be useful, but not so thorough that none outside the test group will be able to read it. Q19. What is a Walkthrough? Ans. A walkthrough is an informal meeting for evaluation or informational purposes. A walkthrough is also a process at an abstract level. It’s the process of inspecting software code by following paths through the code (as determined by input conditions and choices made along the way). The purpose of code walkthroughs is to ensure the code fits the purpose. Walkthroughs also offer opportunities to assess an individual’s or team’s competency. Q20. What is Software Life Cycle? Ans. Software life cycle begins when a software product is first conceived and ends when it is no longer in use. It includes phases like initial concept, requirements analysis, functional design, internal design, documentation planning, test planning, coding, document preparation, integration, testing, maintenance, updates, re-testing and phase-ou Q21. What is the Difference between STLC SDLC? Ans. STLC means † Software Testing Life Cycle†. It starts with activities like : 1) Preparation of Requirements Document 2) Preparation of Test Plan 3) Preparation of Test Cases 4) Execution of Test Cases 5) Analysis of Bugs 6) Reporting of Bugs 7) Tracking of Bugs till closure. Whereas SDLC means † Software Development Life Cycle† is a software development process, used by a systems analyst to develop an information system. It starts with activities like : 1) Project Initiation 2) Requirement Gathering and Documenting 3) Designing 4) Coding and Unit Testing 5) Integration Testing 6) System Testing 7) Installation and Acceptance Testing 8) Support or Maintenance Q22. What is the Difference between Project and Product Testing? Ans. If any organization is developing the application according to the client specification then it is called as project. Accordingly its testing is known as â€Å"Project Testing† Whereas If any organization is developing the application and marketing it is called as product. Hence its testing is known as â€Å"Product Testing† Q23. How do you introduce a new software QA process? Ans. It depends on the size of the organization and the risks involved. For large organizations with high-risk projects, a serious management buy-in is required and a formalized QA process is necessary. For medium size organizations with lower risk projects, management and organizational buy-in and a slower, step-by-step process is required. Generally speaking, QA processes should be balanced with productivity, in order to keep any bureaucracy from getting out of hand. For smaller groups or projects, an ad-hoc process is more appropriate. A lot depends on team leads and managers, feedback to developers and good communication is essential among customers, managers, developers, test engineers and testers. Regardless the size of the company, the greatest value for effort is in managing requirement processes, where the goal is requirements that are clear, complete and testable. Q24. What is configuration Management? Ans. Configuration Management (or CM) is the processes of controlling, coordinating and tracking the Standards and procedures for managing changes in an evolving software product. Configuration Testing is the process of checking the operation of the software being tested on various types of hardware. Q25. What is the role of QA in a software producing company? Ans. QA is responsible for managing, implementing, maintaining and continuously improving the Processes in the Company and enable internal projects towards process maturity and facilitate process improvements and innovations in the organization. Tester is responsible for carrying out the testing efforts in the company. In many companies QA person is responsible both the roles of Testing as well as creating and improving the processes. Q26. What is Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA)? Ans. Failure Mode and Effect Analysis is a systematic approach to risk identification and analysis of identifying possible modes of failure and attempting to prevent their occurrence. Q27. What is Test Maturity Model or TMM? Ans. Test Maturity Model or TMM is a five level staged framework for test process improvement, related to the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) that describes the key elements of an effective test process. Q28. What is the difference between API ABI? Ans. Application Programming Interface (API) is a formalized set of software calls and routines that can be referenced by an application program in order to access supporting system or network services. Whereas Application Binary Interface (ABI) is a specification defining requirements for portability of applications in binary forms across different system platforms and environments. Q29. What is I V V? Ans. I V V means Independent Verification and Validation. Verification typically involves reviews and meetings to evaluate documents, plans, code, requirements, and specifications. Verification can be done with the help of checklists, issues lists, walkthroughs, and inspection meetings. Whereas Validation typically involves actual testing and takes place after verifications are completed. Q30. What are the benefits of Software Validation? Ans. Software validation is an important tool employed to assure the quality of the software products. Few benefits are as under: 1) It increases the usability and reliability of the device software, resulting in reduced failure rates, less recalls and corrective actions, less liability to device manufacturers. 2) It reduces the long term costs by making it easier and less costly to reliably modify software and revalidate software changes. 3) It helps to reduce the long-term cost of software by reducing the cost of validation for each subsequent release of the software. Q31. What is the role of Design Reviews in Software Development Life Cycle? Ans. Design review is a primary tool for managing and evaluating software development projects. Design reviews allow management to confirm that all goals defined in the software validation plan have been achieved. Formal design reviews are more structured and include participation from others outside the development team. Design reviews are documented, comprehensive, and systematic examinations of a design to evaluate the adequacy of the design requirements, to evaluate the capability of the design to meet these requirements, and to identify problems. Design reviews include examination of development plans, requirements specifications, design specifications, testing plans and procedures, all other documents and activities associated with the project. Q32. What is the need of Software Validation after a change? Ans. When any change even a small one is made to the software, following activities need to be performed: 1) Re-establishment of the validation status of the software. 2) Conducting necessary validation analysis – not for the sake of validation of the individual change, but o to know the effect of the change on the entire software system. ) Conducting suitable level of regression testing to show that unchanged but vulnerable portions of the system have not been adversely affected. Regression testing is meant to provide a confidence that the software has been validated after the change. Q33. How would you convince upper management that company needs a formal QA testing team? How would you explain that Software quality would not improve if the company get rid of QA team? Ans. Developing amazing applications isn’t the same as testing them, ut a experienced QA tester, I would rather have a developers testing application than the testers who can just plainly submit bug reports. QA team needs to build quality into software development life cycle. The bug in software design is 15times cheaper than a bug in code. QA productivity is really hard to measure. If QA team is doing testing right, , everything just happens smoothly, but if testers mess up even a little, everyone knows about it. To be successful, QA team must create test plans, create test harnesses, create test cases and use testing tools. QA should ensure whether the application code is effectively delivering on the business requirements provided. The developers should unit test their own code and deliver ‘perfectly good code’ , while QA testers should deliver ‘code that actually addresses business needs’. For a company that make software applications, a rock-solid QA department is absolutely irreplaceable. Q34. WhatQuality Assurance and Quality Control activities are done differently for COTS / GOTS project than for a traditional custom development project? | Ans. The activities themselves are broadly the same, but with different stakeholders, and different detailed procedures for verification and validation. Often the challenge for SQA is to pin down the ownership of the requirements, which may be represented by a complex debate between marketing departments, technical eggheads, user groups, customer focus groups and other interested parties. | | Q35. What in your opinion is the role of SQA personnel with respect to inspections or testing? | Ans. Formally, the role is to make the inspection process or testing process visible, both to the participants (so they can see what they are achieving, how effective they are being) and to management (so that they can assess progress and risk). In practice, SQA personnel often need to act as facilitators or coaches. They are often regarded (wrongly) as the owners or custodians of the inspection or testing process, or even as the owners/custodians of the whole software process. Part of the training and mentoring for SQA personnel should address the difficult dilemma of how to be adequately engaged in the software process without being landed with the responsibility for it. | | Q36. What are the most likely quality consequences of choosing an inappropriate life cycle model for a software project? | Ans. The most likely consequence is that the project will not deliver anything at all. Not because the lifecycle couldn? t be made to work technically, but because it will fail to contain the political tensions between stakeholders. | | Q37. What in your opinion, are the most important changes that occurred in the role of Software Quality Assurance during the last 5 to 10 years? Ho| Ans. rowing awareness and importance of public domain models such as SEI SW CMM, BOOTSTRAP and SPICE. Changing nature of software development, especially model-based development (CASE) and component-based development (CBD). Growing need to connect software of different ages and sources. Software projects not pure software development, but including maintenance, package selection and implementation, and other software activities. (Perhaps software projects never were pure development, but such topics as project management, quality management and configuration management used to be taught as if they were. )   Faced with these changes, SQA needs to be both reductionist (giving close attention to the quality of components from various sources) and holistic (giving broad attention to the emergent properties of the whole assembled system, in terms of its overall fit to business requirements). As I see it, the mandate of SQA is to make defects in software products and processes visible to management. SQA fits into a context of software quality management where this visibility leads to corrective and preventative action (not itself part of SQA), and to general software process improvement. | Q38. Someone complains that during system testing the application often crashes. What likely process problem does that indicate? | Ans. Systematic failure to carry out proper unit testing. OR inconsistency between the development/unit test environment and the system test environment. AND ALSO management failure to respond promptly to the situation with corrective and preventative action. | | Q39. What exposure have you had to auditing? Internal? External? Certification related? | Ans. I have been trained as a lead assessor for ISO 9000 and also as an examiner for the European Quality Award. I have conducted internal audits and informal external assessments but not formal external audits. I have advised organizations on steps towards certification. | Q40. What in your opinion are the most significant fundamental differences between SEI SW-CMM and ISO 9000-3? | Ans. The main difference is what the two models tell you. ISO 9000-3 gives you a yes/no answer, whereas SEI SW-CMM gives you a more complex assessment. This implies different ways of using the models for SQA and process improvement. | 1. Difference is ISO is a standard and CMMI is a model with framework. 2. Other one is Specific practices should be determinded in ISO and where as CMMI model having predefined useful specific and general practices. | Q41. In your experience, who are the most important allies of SQA within an organization? | Ans. SQA is a form of risk awareness, and is therefore potentially allied to any senior management with a risk management focus. Within some companies/industries (e. g. insurance), software risks are seen as having mainly financial consequences, and so the main ally might be the financial director. Within other companies/industries (e. g. retail), software risks are seen as having mainly customer service implications, and so the main allies may be in marketing roles. In one client, we had useful conversations with the Company Secretariat, because of the due diligence implications of some software risks. These conversations were triggered by Y2K issues, but ranged much more widely. In practice, SQA often fails to make these alliances, because it gets bogged down in obscure software technicalities and trivialities, which it is incapable of communicating effectively even to software engineers, let alone anybody else. | Q42. A company recruits its first and only SQA â€Å"specialist†. The person is new to the area. The company is relatively young, operates in a competitive commercial domain and has no previous SQA presence. The SQA specialist feels he needs to show some results during the next 6 to 9 months. What advice will you give him? | Ans. Start with a risk assessment, to identify the significant software risks and their business implications. Identify managers directly affected by these implications, who may be recruited as allies. Select a small number of issues to address in the initial phase. Try to include some quick wins, as well as some improvements that could be achieved within 3-6 months. Don? t try to do everything at once. At this stage, use whichever model you prefer (ISO 9000-3 or TickIT or SW-CMM or SPICE) merely as a framework, so that you know how what you? re doing fits into a larger picture. | Q43. What advice would you give to someone who asked you where to start to introduce to their company a metrics and quality reporting program? | Ans. Use the GQM approach to derive relevant metrics from personal and corporate goals. Select a small number of key metrics that will be directly relevant to project managers and/or software engineers. Put the metrics into the hands of the workers, as a tool for personal performance improvement. | | | | Q44. What is Total Quality Management? Ans. A company commitment to develop a process that achieves high quality product and customer satisfaction. Q45. What is Quality Circle? Ans. A group of individuals with related interests that meet at regular intervals to consider problems or other matters related to the quality of outputs of a process and to the correction of problems or to the improvement of quality. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | How to cite Quality Assurance Question Bank, Essay examples Quality Assurance Question Bank Free Essays string(86) " all the details of the project and have undergone â€Å"walkthrough† process\." Question bank Q1. Why software needs to be tested? Ans. Every software product needs to be tested since; the development process is unable to produce defect free software. We will write a custom essay sample on Quality Assurance Question Bank or any similar topic only for you Order Now Even if the development process is able to produce defect free software, we will not be able to know unless until we test it. Without testing it, we shall not be having enough confidence that it will work. Testing not only identifies and reports defect but also measures the quality of the product, which helps to decide whether to release the product, or not. Q2. What is the reason that Software has Bugs? Ans. Following factors contribute to the presence of bugs in the software applications:- a. Software development tools like visual tools, class libraries, compilers, scripting tools, etc. usually introduce their own bugs in the system. b. To err is human. Likewise programmers do make mistakes while programming c. In fast-changing business environments continuously modified requirements are becoming a fact of life. Such frequent changes requested by the customer leads to errors in the application already nearing completion. Last minute design changes leads to many chaos like redesign of the whole system, rescheduling of engineers, scrapping of the work already completed, fresh requirements of compatible hardware etc d. A quickly written but poorly documented code is bound to have bugs. It becomes difficult to maintain and modify such code that is badly written or poorly documented. – its tough to maintain and modify code that is badly written or poorly documented; the result is bugs. In many organizations management provides no incentive for programmers to document their code or write clear, understandable, maintainable code. In fact, it’s usually the opposite: they get points mostly for quickly turning out code, and there as jobs security if nobody else can understand it (if it was hard to write, it should be hard to read). e. When project deadlines come too close time pressures come, mistakes are bound to come Q3. What is the difference between QA and Testing? Ans. QA stands for â€Å"Quality Assurance†, and focuses on â€Å"Prevention† of defects in the product being developed. It is associated with the â€Å"Process† and activities related to the Process Improvement. Quality Assurance measures the quality of the processes employed to create a quality product. Whereas â€Å"Testing† refers to â€Å"Quality Control†, and focuses on Detection of Defect and removal thereafter. Or Quality Control measures the quality of a product. Q4. What is the difference between Software Testing and Debugging? Ans. Testing is the process of locating or identifying the errors or bugs in a software system. Whereas Debugging is the process of Fixing the identified Bugs. It involves a process of analyzing and rectifying the syntax errors, logic errors and all other types of errors identified during the process of testing. Q5. What is the difference between a Bug and a Defect? Ans. â€Å"Bug† is a problem or an error in the software code, which is found in the application during Testing. Bug is responsible for failure of the application to comply with the desired specifications. Whereas â€Å"Defect† is problem reported by the customer during usage of the software application. Q6. What is the difference between a Bug and an Enhancement? Ans. â€Å"Bug† is a problem or an error in the software code, which is found in the application during Testing. Bug is responsible for failure of the application to comply with the desired specifications. Whereas â€Å"Enhancement† is the additional feature or functionality found and added to the application as desired by the end user / real word customer or tester during the testing process. Q7. What is the difference between Requirements Specifications? Ans. â€Å"Requirements† are statements given by the customer as to what needs to be achieved by the software system. Later on these requirements are converted into specifications which are nothing but feasible or implementable requirements. Whereas â€Å"Specifications† are feasible requirements derived from various statements given by the customer. These are the starting point for the product development team. Q8. What is the difference between Verification and Validation? Ans. â€Å"Verification† involves reviews and meetings to evaluate documents, plans, code, requirements, and specifications to confirm whether items, processes, services, or documents conform to specified requirements or not. This can be done with the help of checklists, issues lists, walkthroughs, and inspection meetings. The purpose f verification is to determine whether the products of a given phase of the software development cycle fulfill the requirements established during the previous phase or not. Whereas â€Å"Validation† is the determination of the correctness of the final program or software product produced from a development project with respect to the user needs and requirements. This involves actual testing of the product and takes place after verifications are completed. â€Å"Software Verification† raises the question, â€Å"Are we building the Product Right? † that is, does the software conform to its specification. Software Validation† raises the question, â€Å"Are we building the Right Product? † that is, the software doing what the user really requires. Q9. What is difference between Waterfall Model and V Model? Ans. â€Å"Waterfall Model† Is a sequential software development model (a process for the creation of software) in which development is seen as flowing steadily downwards (like a waterfall)through the phases of requirements analysis, design, implementation, testing (validation),integration, and maintenance. To follow the waterfall model, we proceed from one phase to the next in a purely sequential manner. In traditional waterfall model, testing comes at the far end of the development process. Whereas â€Å"V Model† or â€Å"Life Cycle Testing† involves carrying out verification of consistency, completeness and correctness of software at every stage of the development life cycle. It aims at catching the defects as early as possible and thus reduces the cost of fixing them. It involves continuously testing the system during all stages of the development process rather than just limiting testing to the last stage. Q10. What are Baseline Documents? Ans. Baseline documents are the documents, which have been approved by the customer and will not have any more changes. Baseline Documents cover all the details of the project and have undergone â€Å"walkthrough† process. You read "Quality Assurance Question Bank" in category "Papers" Once a document is Base-lined it cannot be changed unless there is a change request duly approved by the customer. Service Level Agreement (SLA) Business Requirement Documents (BRD) are the examples of Baseline Documents. Q11. What is Defect Density? Ans. â€Å"Defect Density† Is a software metric defined as: Total number of defects per LOC (lines of code). Alternatively it can be: Total number of defects per Size of the Project. Here the measure of â€Å"Size of the Project† can be number of Function Points, Number of Feature Points, number of Use Cases or KLOC (Kilo Lines of Code) etc. Q12. What is Quality? Ans. Quality software is software that is reasonably bug-free, delivered on time and within budget, meets requirements and expectations and is maintainable. However, quality is a subjective term. Quality depends on who the customer is and their overall influence in the scheme of things. Customers of a software development project include end-users, customer acceptance test engineers, testers, customer contract officers, customer management, the development organization’s management, test engineers, testers, salespeople, software engineers, stockholders and accountants. Each type of customer will have his or her own slant on quality. The accounting department might define quality in terms of profits, while an end- user might define quality as user friendly and bug free. Q13. What is an Inspection? Ans. An inspection is a formal meeting, more formalized than a walkthrough and typically consists of 3-10 people including a moderator, reader (the author of whatever is being reviewed) and a recorder (to make notes in the document). The subject of the inspection is typically a document, such as a requirements document or a test plan. The purpose of an inspection is to find problems and see what is missing, not to fix anything. The result of the meeting is documented in a written report. Attendees should prepare for this type of meeting by reading through the document, before the meeting starts; most problems are found during this preparation. Preparation for inspections is difficult, but is one of the most cost-effective methods of ensuring quality, since bug prevention is more cost effective than bug detection. A14. What is Six Sigma? Ans. â€Å"Six Sigma† means Six Standard Deviations from the mean. It is a methodology aimed to reduce defect levels below 3. 4 Defects Per one Million Opportunities. Six Sigma approach improves the process performance, decreases variation and maintains consistent quality of the process output. This leads to defect reduction and improvement in profits, product quality and customer satisfaction. Q15. What is difference between CMM and CMMI? Ans. â€Å"CMM† means â€Å"Capability Maturity Model† developed by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI). It is a process capability maturity model, which aids in the definition and understanding of an organization’s processes. CMM is intended as a tool for objectively assessing the ability of government contractors’ processes to perform a contracted software project. Whereas â€Å"CMMI† means â€Å"Capability Maturity Model Integration† it has superseded CMM. The old CMM has been renamed to Software Engineering CMM (SE-CMM). Q16. What is Verification? Ans. Verification ensures the product is designed to deliver all functionality to the customer; it typically involves reviews and meetings to evaluate documents, plans, code, requirements and specifications; this can be done with checklists, issues lists, walkthroughs and inspection meetings. Q17. What is Validation? Ans. Validation ensures that functionality, as defined in requirements, is the intended behavior of the product; validation typically involves actual testing and takes place after verifications are completed. Q18. What is a Test Plan? Ans. A software project test plan is a document that describes the objectives, scope, approach and focus of a software testing effort. The process of preparing a test plan is a useful way to think through the efforts needed to validate the acceptability of a software product. The completed document will help people outside the test group understand the why and how of product validation. It should be thorough enough to be useful, but not so thorough that none outside the test group will be able to read it. Q19. What is a Walkthrough? Ans. A walkthrough is an informal meeting for evaluation or informational purposes. A walkthrough is also a process at an abstract level. It’s the process of inspecting software code by following paths through the code (as determined by input conditions and choices made along the way). The purpose of code walkthroughs is to ensure the code fits the purpose. Walkthroughs also offer opportunities to assess an individual’s or team’s competency. Q20. What is Software Life Cycle? Ans. Software life cycle begins when a software product is first conceived and ends when it is no longer in use. It includes phases like initial concept, requirements analysis, functional design, internal design, documentation planning, test planning, coding, document preparation, integration, testing, maintenance, updates, re-testing and phase-ou Q21. What is the Difference between STLC SDLC? Ans. STLC means † Software Testing Life Cycle†. It starts with activities like : 1) Preparation of Requirements Document 2) Preparation of Test Plan 3) Preparation of Test Cases 4) Execution of Test Cases 5) Analysis of Bugs 6) Reporting of Bugs 7) Tracking of Bugs till closure. Whereas SDLC means † Software Development Life Cycle† is a software development process, used by a systems analyst to develop an information system. It starts with activities like : 1) Project Initiation 2) Requirement Gathering and Documenting 3) Designing 4) Coding and Unit Testing 5) Integration Testing 6) System Testing 7) Installation and Acceptance Testing 8) Support or Maintenance Q22. What is the Difference between Project and Product Testing? Ans. If any organization is developing the application according to the client specification then it is called as project. Accordingly its testing is known as â€Å"Project Testing† Whereas If any organization is developing the application and marketing it is called as product. Hence its testing is known as â€Å"Product Testing† Q23. How do you introduce a new software QA process? Ans. It depends on the size of the organization and the risks involved. For large organizations with high-risk projects, a serious management buy-in is required and a formalized QA process is necessary. For medium size organizations with lower risk projects, management and organizational buy-in and a slower, step-by-step process is required. Generally speaking, QA processes should be balanced with productivity, in order to keep any bureaucracy from getting out of hand. For smaller groups or projects, an ad-hoc process is more appropriate. A lot depends on team leads and managers, feedback to developers and good communication is essential among customers, managers, developers, test engineers and testers. Regardless the size of the company, the greatest value for effort is in managing requirement processes, where the goal is requirements that are clear, complete and testable. Q24. What is configuration Management? Ans. Configuration Management (or CM) is the processes of controlling, coordinating and tracking the Standards and procedures for managing changes in an evolving software product. Configuration Testing is the process of checking the operation of the software being tested on various types of hardware. Q25. What is the role of QA in a software producing company? Ans. QA is responsible for managing, implementing, maintaining and continuously improving the Processes in the Company and enable internal projects towards process maturity and facilitate process improvements and innovations in the organization. Tester is responsible for carrying out the testing efforts in the company. In many companies QA person is responsible both the roles of Testing as well as creating and improving the processes. Q26. What is Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA)? Ans. Failure Mode and Effect Analysis is a systematic approach to risk identification and analysis of identifying possible modes of failure and attempting to prevent their occurrence. Q27. What is Test Maturity Model or TMM? Ans. Test Maturity Model or TMM is a five level staged framework for test process improvement, related to the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) that describes the key elements of an effective test process. Q28. What is the difference between API ABI? Ans. Application Programming Interface (API) is a formalized set of software calls and routines that can be referenced by an application program in order to access supporting system or network services. Whereas Application Binary Interface (ABI) is a specification defining requirements for portability of applications in binary forms across different system platforms and environments. Q29. What is I V V? Ans. I V V means Independent Verification and Validation. Verification typically involves reviews and meetings to evaluate documents, plans, code, requirements, and specifications. Verification can be done with the help of checklists, issues lists, walkthroughs, and inspection meetings. Whereas Validation typically involves actual testing and takes place after verifications are completed. Q30. What are the benefits of Software Validation? Ans. Software validation is an important tool employed to assure the quality of the software products. Few benefits are as under: 1) It increases the usability and reliability of the device software, resulting in reduced failure rates, less recalls and corrective actions, less liability to device manufacturers. 2) It reduces the long term costs by making it easier and less costly to reliably modify software and revalidate software changes. 3) It helps to reduce the long-term cost of software by reducing the cost of validation for each subsequent release of the software. Q31. What is the role of Design Reviews in Software Development Life Cycle? Ans. Design review is a primary tool for managing and evaluating software development projects. Design reviews allow management to confirm that all goals defined in the software validation plan have been achieved. Formal design reviews are more structured and include participation from others outside the development team. Design reviews are documented, comprehensive, and systematic examinations of a design to evaluate the adequacy of the design requirements, to evaluate the capability of the design to meet these requirements, and to identify problems. Design reviews include examination of development plans, requirements specifications, design specifications, testing plans and procedures, all other documents and activities associated with the project. Q32. What is the need of Software Validation after a change? Ans. When any change even a small one is made to the software, following activities need to be performed: 1) Re-establishment of the validation status of the software. 2) Conducting necessary validation analysis – not for the sake of validation of the individual change, but o to know the effect of the change on the entire software system. ) Conducting suitable level of regression testing to show that unchanged but vulnerable portions of the system have not been adversely affected. Regression testing is meant to provide a confidence that the software has been validated after the change. Q33. How would you convince upper management that company needs a formal QA testing team? How would you explain that Software quality would not improve if the company get rid of QA team? Ans. Developing amazing applications isn’t the same as testing them, ut a experienced QA tester, I would rather have a developers testing application than the testers who can just plainly submit bug reports. QA team needs to build quality into software development life cycle. The bug in software design is 15times cheaper than a bug in code. QA productivity is really hard to measure. If QA team is doing testing right, , everything just happens smoothly, but if testers mess up even a little, everyone knows about it. To be successful, QA team must create test plans, create test harnesses, create test cases and use testing tools. QA should ensure whether the application code is effectively delivering on the business requirements provided. The developers should unit test their own code and deliver ‘perfectly good code’ , while QA testers should deliver ‘code that actually addresses business needs’. For a company that make software applications, a rock-solid QA department is absolutely irreplaceable. Q34. WhatQuality Assurance and Quality Control activities are done differently for COTS / GOTS project than for a traditional custom development project? | Ans. The activities themselves are broadly the same, but with different stakeholders, and different detailed procedures for verification and validation. Often the challenge for SQA is to pin down the ownership of the requirements, which may be represented by a complex debate between marketing departments, technical eggheads, user groups, customer focus groups and other interested parties. | | Q35. What in your opinion is the role of SQA personnel with respect to inspections or testing? | Ans. Formally, the role is to make the inspection process or testing process visible, both to the participants (so they can see what they are achieving, how effective they are being) and to management (so that they can assess progress and risk). In practice, SQA personnel often need to act as facilitators or coaches. They are often regarded (wrongly) as the owners or custodians of the inspection or testing process, or even as the owners/custodians of the whole software process. Part of the training and mentoring for SQA personnel should address the difficult dilemma of how to be adequately engaged in the software process without being landed with the responsibility for it. | | Q36. What are the most likely quality consequences of choosing an inappropriate life cycle model for a software project? | Ans. The most likely consequence is that the project will not deliver anything at all. Not because the lifecycle couldn? t be made to work technically, but because it will fail to contain the political tensions between stakeholders. | | Q37. What in your opinion, are the most important changes that occurred in the role of Software Quality Assurance during the last 5 to 10 years? Ho| Ans. rowing awareness and importance of public domain models such as SEI SW CMM, BOOTSTRAP and SPICE. Changing nature of software development, especially model-based development (CASE) and component-based development (CBD). Growing need to connect software of different ages and sources. Software projects not pure software development, but including maintenance, package selection and implementation, and other software activities. (Perhaps software projects never were pure development, but such topics as project management, quality management and configuration management used to be taught as if they were. )   Faced with these changes, SQA needs to be both reductionist (giving close attention to the quality of components from various sources) and holistic (giving broad attention to the emergent properties of the whole assembled system, in terms of its overall fit to business requirements). As I see it, the mandate of SQA is to make defects in software products and processes visible to management. SQA fits into a context of software quality management where this visibility leads to corrective and preventative action (not itself part of SQA), and to general software process improvement. | Q38. Someone complains that during system testing the application often crashes. What likely process problem does that indicate? | Ans. Systematic failure to carry out proper unit testing. OR inconsistency between the development/unit test environment and the system test environment. AND ALSO management failure to respond promptly to the situation with corrective and preventative action. | | Q39. What exposure have you had to auditing? Internal? External? Certification related? | Ans. I have been trained as a lead assessor for ISO 9000 and also as an examiner for the European Quality Award. I have conducted internal audits and informal external assessments but not formal external audits. I have advised organizations on steps towards certification. | Q40. What in your opinion are the most significant fundamental differences between SEI SW-CMM and ISO 9000-3? | Ans. The main difference is what the two models tell you. ISO 9000-3 gives you a yes/no answer, whereas SEI SW-CMM gives you a more complex assessment. This implies different ways of using the models for SQA and process improvement. | 1. Difference is ISO is a standard and CMMI is a model with framework. 2. Other one is Specific practices should be determinded in ISO and where as CMMI model having predefined useful specific and general practices. | Q41. In your experience, who are the most important allies of SQA within an organization? | Ans. SQA is a form of risk awareness, and is therefore potentially allied to any senior management with a risk management focus. Within some companies/industries (e. g. insurance), software risks are seen as having mainly financial consequences, and so the main ally might be the financial director. Within other companies/industries (e. g. retail), software risks are seen as having mainly customer service implications, and so the main allies may be in marketing roles. In one client, we had useful conversations with the Company Secretariat, because of the due diligence implications of some software risks. These conversations were triggered by Y2K issues, but ranged much more widely. In practice, SQA often fails to make these alliances, because it gets bogged down in obscure software technicalities and trivialities, which it is incapable of communicating effectively even to software engineers, let alone anybody else. | Q42. A company recruits its first and only SQA â€Å"specialist†. The person is new to the area. The company is relatively young, operates in a competitive commercial domain and has no previous SQA presence. The SQA specialist feels he needs to show some results during the next 6 to 9 months. What advice will you give him? | Ans. Start with a risk assessment, to identify the significant software risks and their business implications. Identify managers directly affected by these implications, who may be recruited as allies. Select a small number of issues to address in the initial phase. Try to include some quick wins, as well as some improvements that could be achieved within 3-6 months. Don? t try to do everything at once. At this stage, use whichever model you prefer (ISO 9000-3 or TickIT or SW-CMM or SPICE) merely as a framework, so that you know how what you? re doing fits into a larger picture. | Q43. What advice would you give to someone who asked you where to start to introduce to their company a metrics and quality reporting program? | Ans. Use the GQM approach to derive relevant metrics from personal and corporate goals. Select a small number of key metrics that will be directly relevant to project managers and/or software engineers. Put the metrics into the hands of the workers, as a tool for personal performance improvement. | | | | Q44. What is Total Quality Management? Ans. A company commitment to develop a process that achieves high quality product and customer satisfaction. Q45. What is Quality Circle? Ans. A group of individuals with related interests that meet at regular intervals to consider problems or other matters related to the quality of outputs of a process and to the correction of problems or to the improvement of quality. | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | How to cite Quality Assurance Question Bank, Papers

Science Rules Essays - Fathom, Book Of Job, , Term Papers

Science Rules If everyone had known the importance of their future, they could have comprehended better the value of preparation in early life. A college education may have seemed out of reach for some individuals, who struggled in high school. A factory job or assembly line position was a more realistic goal to achieve. Throughout their childhood there was a dream of having a mansion, or a fancy car. Money was the center of their interests. They learned as they got older that these things were harder to accomplish than they imagined. People had to work long, tedious hours when they were young to get ahead for the future. There was the reality of a price to be paid in early life, but what they benefited later would be more than they could ever fathom. They would have to remember to work hard, and prove to others that they were a worthy people to take note of. This was only the beginning, however. They had to strive to do well in the community and in their place of employment. Even the little things that seemed insignificant made a bigger difference in later life. There were times when that nothing job they had meant something more later on. They could have never known when that past job supervisor could have been a place of reference for a job opportunity or an advancement. There should be a certain part of people that is devoted to their education. This will be something that will be noted later in college, or sometimes in the job that was so important for them to have. The studying may have been a little stressful at times, but if people had not learned to balance their schedule at a young age how would they cope as adults with a family, and occupation? It was a long hard road, however, the fruits of labor would be endless. Their education had much worth, and was the foundation of their future.

Early Decision Schools Complete List of ED Colleges

Early Decision Schools Complete List of ED Colleges SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Did you know that early decision isn't necessarily early? "Binding decision" might be a better name for it, since some schools now offer "early" decision deadlines in January as well as in November. Either way, applying early decision is a big commitment. If you apply this way, you should be totally sure you want to attend that school. Let's review the pros and cons of early decision and look at all the schools that currently offer early decision admission. What Is Early Decision? Early decision is a binding admission plan. When you apply early decision, you sign a statement agreeing to enroll in that college if you're accepted. Because of this binding agreement to enroll, you can only apply to one school early decision. Applying this way is a great choice if you've done your research, weighed your options, and have zeroed in on your dream school. You should, however,make sure you can attend the school regardless of the financial aid package it offers you. Since early decision requires commitment, it might not be an option that's accessible to everyone. This financial factor has been a point of controversy, causing some schools to switch from early decision to non-binding early action plans.That said, many schools still offer early decision, as you'll see below, perhaps to remain competitive and gain a more accurate sense of enrollment numbers. Rather than offering spots to students who might or might not attend, colleges can be sure that early decision applicants will enroll the following fall. Some schools appear to accept a higher percentage of early decision candidates than they do regular decision candidates. Since you're committing to a school when you apply this way, your enthusiasm for the institution is likely to make a good impression on admissions officers. However, early decision doesn'tnecessarily give you a better chance of getting accepted. Thus, your first priority should always be tosubmit the best application you can. As mentioned above, not all early decision deadlines are actually early. Traditionally, early decision deadlines are in November.You'll get notified by mid-December, meaning you could potentially have your college plans finalized before the new year! Some schools now also offer Early Decision II. Early Decision II has the same stipulations as Early Decision I, but its deadline is typically in January. Early Decision II is a good option for students who are ready to sign a binding agreement but could benefit from a couple more months to prepare their applications. Applying later also gives you the opportunity to retake the SAT/ACT and send mid-year grades from your senior classes. When you apply early decision in November, you will get eitheraccepted, denied, or deferred. Getting deferred means that your application will be pushed into the regular applicant pool to be reviewed again in February or March. If this happens, you're no longer bound to the enrollment agreement you made and can therefore apply to any other schools under regular decision. You might also consider sending along other information, such as a recommendation letter or mid-year grades, that could help make your application stronger. Popular schools with early decision policies include the following: Brown Cornell Dartmouth Duke Johns Hopkins Northwestern University of Pennsylvania Some schools that offer both Early Decision I and Early Decision II deadlines are as follows: American University Boston University Bowdoin Brandeis Colby NYU Pomona Smith Tufts Vanderbilt Wesleyan There are lots of other early decision schools besides these well-known, competitive schools. You'll find the full list below. Complete List: Schools Offering Early Decision Here's the full list of schools with early decision, organized alphabetically by state. Starred schools offer both Early Decision I and Early Decision II. Scroll through the list or hit ctrl + F to find specific schools you're interested in! *School offers both Early Decision I and II Arizona Elmira College* Prescott College Five Towns College California Fordham University Claremont McKenna College* Hamilton College* Harvey Mudd College* Hartwick College Loyola Marymount University Hobart and William Smith Colleges* Occidental College* Ithaca College Pitzer College* Jewish Theological Seminary* Pomona College* Manhattan College Santa Clara University Marist College* Scripps College* Nazareth College* University of San Francisco New York University (NYU)* Colorado Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI)* Colorado College* Rochester Institute of Technology Connecticut Sarah Lawrence College* Connecticut College* Siena College Fairfield University* Skidmore College* Lyme Academy College of Fine Arts St. John Fisher College Mitchell College St. Lawrence University Quinnipiac University SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) Sacred Heart University SUNY Fredonia Trinity College* SUNY Geneseo University of New Haven SUNY Maritime College Wesleyan University* SUNY Old Westbury District of Columbia SUNY Oswego American University* Syracuse University Catholic University of America* Union College* George Washington University* University of Rochester Florida Utica College Flagler College Vassar College* Florida Southern College Webb Institute Rollins College* Wells College University of Miami* North Carolina Georgia Davidson College* Agnes Scott College Duke University Emory University* Elon University Morehouse College High Point University* Spelman College Meredith College Wesleyan College Wake Forest University* Illinois Warren Wilson College Augustana College Ohio Governors State University Case Western Reserve University* Lake Forest College College of Wooster* Moody Bible Institute Denison University* Northwestern University Kenyon College* Indiana Miami University DePauw University Oberlin College and Conservatory* Earlham College* Ohio Wesleyan University Saint Mary's College Wittenberg University Wabash College Oregon Iowa Lewis Clark College Cornell College* Reed College* Grinnell College* Pennsylvania Kentucky Allegheny College* Centre College Bryn Mawr College* Maine Bucknell University* Bates College* Carnegie Mellon University Bowdoin College* Dickinson College* Colby College* Drexel University College of the Atlantic* Duquesne University Maryland Franklin Marshall College* Goucher College Gettysburg College* Johns Hopkins University Grove City College Loyola University Maryland Haverford College* Maryland Institute College of Art Juniata College* McDaniel College* Lafayette College* Salisbury University Lebanon Valley College Washington College* Lehigh University* Massachusetts Lycoming College Amherst College Muhlenberg College Babson College Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts Becker College Susquehanna University Bentley University Swarthmore College* Boston University* University of Pennsylvania (Penn/UPenn) Brandeis University* Ursinus College* Clark University Washington Jefferson College College of the Holy Cross Rhode Island Gordon College Brown University Hampshire College* Bryant University* Merrimack College Providence College* Mount Holyoke College* Rhode Island School of Design Northeastern University South Carolina Smith College* Furman University Springfield College* Presbyterian College Stonehill College Wofford College Tufts University* Tennessee Wellesley College Rhodes College* Wheaton College* Sewanee: University of the South* Williams College Vanderbilt University* Michigan Texas Hillsdale College Austin College Kalamazoo College* Rice University Minnesota Southern Methodist University* Carleton College* Texas Christian University Hamline University Texas Lutheran University Macalester College* Trinity University* St. Olaf College* Vermont Missouri Bennington College* Cox College Champlain College* Washington University in St. Louis Marlboro College Nebraska Middlebury College* Nebraska Wesleyan University Sterling College New Hampshire Virginia Dartmouth College Christopher Newport University New Jersey College of William and Mary Drew University* Emory Henry College Ramapo College of New Jersey Hampden-Sydney College Stevens Institute of Technology* Hollins University The College of New Jersey* Lynchburg College New York Roanoke College Albany College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences University of Richmond* Alfred University Virginia Military Institute Bard College Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) Barnard College Washington and Lee University* Clarkson University Washington Colgate University* University of Puget Sound* College of New Rochelle Whitman College* Columbia University Wisconsin Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art Beloit College* Cornell University Lawrence University *School offers both Early Decision I and II Should You Apply Early Decision? Now that you've had a chance to look over the chart, let's look at themain factors you'll want to considerbefore deciding whether to apply early decision to a school. Ask yourself the following questions: Have you done a lot of research on your top school? Have you visited and explored its campus? Do you have solid reasons for wanting to attend this school? And have you felt this way for at least several months? If you answered yes to these questions, it sounds as though you've been thorough in deciding on your top school.If you're unsure, tend to change your mind, or aren't excited about attending the school, then early decision probably isn't a good choice for you. Remember, when applying early decision, you're making a binding commitment. In other words, you're agreeing to enroll in that school if accepted- regardless of whatever financial aid offer you receive. Now, some schools claim to meet all demonstrated financial need, but there's no guarantee that your package will be what you want (or need) it to be. Therefore, in addition to learning all about your school of choice, make sure toconsider this financial piece when applying early decision. If you have any questions or concerns, try calling your school's financial aid office for advice. Finally, make sure you're sending off your strongest application possible.Months of planning and prep will likely be needed to achieve yourtarget SAT/ACT scores, gather quality letters of recommendation from teachers, and write yourpersonal statement. Up next, we give you suggestions for scheduling your college planning in advance of your early decision deadline. College-Planning Schedule for Early Decision Applicants Because applying to college has a lot of components that require time and help from your teachers and counselor, it's critical tostart early and keep track of relevant information and materials. Write down all the requirements for your early decision school, check your progress, and set deadlines to make sure you get everything done in time. The application requirement you should start preparing the earliest is the SAT/ACT, both in terms of test prep and taking the actual tests. For early decision deadlines, the latest you can take the SAT/ACT is typically September or October. Since you want to have enough opportunities to take the test and improve your scores, it's best to follow one of these two schedules: Schedule Option #1 Take the SAT/ACT for the first time in the spring of your sophomore year Take the SAT/ACT a second time in the fall of your junior year Take the SAT/ACT a third time in the spring of your junior year Schedule Option #2 Take the SAT/ACT for the first time in the fall of your junior year Take the SAT/ACT a second time in the spring of your junior year Take the SAT/ACT a third time in the fall of your senior year Your goal might be to have your SAT/ACT scores all set by the end of your junior year so you don't have to worry about achieving your target scores on that last test date your senior year. If you're applying Early Decision II with a January deadline, you'll have a little more wiggle room in terms of available SAT/ACT test dates. In addition, be sure to plan out your recommendation letters and personal essay. Ask for your rec letters (and any other documents you need the school to send such as your transcript) at least a month in advance of your deadlines- typically by October. You might also ask junior-year teachers at the end of your junior year. Asking at this time can be a good idea regardless of your college deadlines since your junior-year teachers will remember you most clearly then. Finally, work on your personal essay over the summer,leaving several months to brainstorm ideas and work through drafts and revisions. Your personal essay is your chance to share your voice with the admissions committee, so give yourself time to say exactly what you want to say. Try to work on your Common Application or school application in the fall, proofreading for errors and gathering all theimportant informationyou'll need such as extracurriculars. Make sure to discuss with your counselor your reasons for applying early decision,and finally have your parents and counselor sign the early decision agreement form for you. Applying this way will signal your commitment and excitement about a school to admissions committees. You can impress them even further with a thoughtful, thorough application that demonstrates exactly why you'd be a great fit at their college. What's Next? Now that you know all the schools that offer early decision, check out their Early Decision I and Early Decision II deadlines. Interested in schools that offer the less binding option of early action?This article has the full list of early action schools and their deadlines. Are you aiming to get into a competitive Ivy League-level school? Our in-depth guide offers valuable insight into the admissions procedures of selective colleges as well as advice on how to build a highly impressive college application. Want to improve your SAT score by 160points or your ACT score by 4 points?We've written a guide for each test about the top 5 strategies you must be using to have a shot at improving your score. Download it for free now:

How to Prepare for the PSAT 5-Step Guide to PSAT Prep

How to Prepare for the PSAT 5-Step Guide to PSAT Prep SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Many juniors and even sophomores take the PSAT every fall to prepare for the SAT. But the PSAT isn’t a college admission test, so do you actually need to prep for it?The reality is,PSAT prep can strongly benefit you, especially if you're hoping to naba National Merit scholarshipor get a high score on the SAT. In this article, we explain why PSAT prep is important and go over how to prepare for the PSAT using five simple steps. In addition, we discuss what kinds of resources are ultimately unnecessary for quality PSAT preparation as well as how PSAT prep differs from SAT prep. Why You Should Prep for the PSAT Most juniors take the PSAT, but in truth PSAT scores aren't nearly as important as SAT (or ACT) scores.Why? You see, because the PSAT isn't used for college admission, schools won't even so much as glance at your PSAT score. But if that’s the case, then, why bother prepping for the PSAT at all? As it turns out, there are a few reasons PSAT test prep may be worth the effort. For one, the PSAT is essentially a gateway to doing well on the SAT. Because theprimary aim of the PSAT is to prepare you for the SAT (hence its name, "Preliminary SAT"),the two testsshare several similarities. As a result,preppingfor the PSAT can give you an early sense of what SAT content areas you'll need to strengthen and what strategies and approaches work well for you. Even if you're planning ontaking the ACT instead of the SAT, the PSAT can still help you get used to the kinds of questions and content you'll need to know since there are so many similarities between the redesigned SAT and ACT. What's more, your PSAT score can predict your SAT score. Though the PSAT and SAT scoring scales differ (the maximum score is 1520 on the PSAT and 1600 on the SAT), each PSAT score directly corresponds to the same score on the SAT. So a 1300 on the PSAT indicates the same level of ability as a 1300 on the SAT does. The PSAT essentially shows you how well you’d perform on the SAT if you were to take it at that exact moment in time.Without any PSAT prep, however, you’re glimpsing what your SAT score would be without any SAT prep as well. Such a score isn’t particularly helpful, as you’ll most likely want tostudy for the SAT, so to get a more accurate SAT prediction, you'll definitely want to engage in some PSAT prep. Lastly, PSAT test prep is essential if you’re hoping to qualify for National Merit. All juniors who take the PSAT are automatically entered into the National Merit Scholarship Program, which awards annual $2,500 scholarships to top scorers. To qualify as a Semifinalist, you must reach or exceed your state’s PSAT cutoff score. Sothose aiming towin scholarship moneyshould study for the PSAT as diligently as they would for the SAT or ACT. Nonetheless, not everyone needs to prep for the PSAT or even take it.If you're not trying to hit National Merit, don't bother committing to lengthy prep sessions or long-term study plans. Likewise, if you're set on taking the ACT instead of the SAT, the PSAT won't be as helpful or as relevant to your studies, so feel free to forgo PSAT prep (and even the PSAT itself, if not required by your school). How to Prepare for the PSAT: 5-Step Plan Now that we’ve gone over why you should study, let’s look closely at how to prepare for the PSAT. Below are the five major steps you'll need to take in order to get the most out of your PSAT test prep. Step 1: Learn the PSAT Format The easiest and most fundamental way to prepare for the PSAT is to learn the format of the test. This is a great place to start, even for those who aren’t intending to aim for National Merit. As you may remember, the PSAT is very similar to the SAT, so if you’re at all familiar with the SAT format, know that the PSAT is strongly tied to it. The only major differences between the PSAT and SAT are that the PSAT: contains fewer questions lacksan essay component is slightly easier Here is an overview of the PSAT format: Reading Writing and Language Math No Calculator Math Calculator Order 1st 2nd 3rd 4th Time 60 mins 35 mins 25 mins 45 mins # of Questions 47 44 17 31 Question Types Multiple choice Multiple choice Multiple choice, grid-ins Multiple choice, grid-ins Topics/Skills Tested Vocabulary Ability to find evidence for answers in passages Data interpretation Ability to improve flow and style of passages (Writing only) English grammar and punctuation (Writing only) Algebra (linear equations, functions, inequalities, etc.) Nonlinear expressions Data analysis (rates, ratios, percentages, graphs, etc.) Geometry Trigonometry Complex numbers Scoring One Evidence-Based Reading and Writing (EBRW) score on a scale of 160-760 One Math score on a scale of 160-760 In addition, I suggest reading our basic guide to the PSAT for answers to any general questions you might have about the PSAT, such as what it tests, how it’s scored, how much it costs, and how to register for it. Next up, set a goal score! Ideally, one higher than 17. Step 2: Set a PSAT (or SAT) Goal Score A PSAT or SAT goal score can help you determinewhat PSAT score to aim for on test day. If you want to qualify for National Merit,your PSAT goal score should be equal to or higher thanyour state’s cutoff score.(Note that cutoff scores are usually reported as Selection Index scores, but you can find estimated PSAT score conversions in our article on the PSAT score range.) In general, you must score around1400-1480on the PSAT to qualify for National Merit. As previously mentioned, the exact score you'll need varies depending on the state. Regardless, you'll have to aim high! If you plan on eventually taking the SAT, you could also set a combination PSAT/SAT goal score. To do this, you must have a rough idea as to what colleges you want to apply to as a senior. Once you've got your list of schools ready (you can use our handy chart), find the 25th and 75th pecentile SAT scores of admitted students to each of your schools. After, look for the highest 75th percentile score on your chart.This score will be your goal score for both the PSAT and SAT,as it's the score most likely to get you into all of the schools to which you're applying. Ultimately, if you can hit on or around this goal score on the PSAT, you should have little trouble getting the same score on the SAT. And even if you don't hit it on the PSAT, you'll know exactly what to work on during your SAT prep so that you can raise your score by the time you sit for the SAT. Step 3: Take PSAT Practice Tests If you really want to do well on the PSAT, one of the best ways to prepare for it is to take at least one official PSAT practice test. You can download thesefree, full-length tests by going directly to the College Board website. Of all possible PSAT study materials, practice tests are arguably the best resources available. With practice tests, you’re getting authentic PSAT questionswrapped up in a complete test-taking experience. Unfortunately, since the PSAT only recently underwent changes in 2015, there aren’t a ton of practice tests to choose from. Here is what you can currently access: Official PSAT Practice Test #1 - Scoring Your Test - Answer Explanations Official PSAT Practice Test #2 - Scoring Your Test - Answer Explanations Other solid options for PSAT practice includeIvy Global’s PSAT practice test PDF- a high-quality, albeit unofficial, practice test- and official SAT practice tests (which we'll discuss more in Step 5). The Ivy Global practice test is a full-length test that's extremely similar to the official PSAT practice tests.The only downside is that its scoring guide uses the SAT scale (out of 1600) instead of the PSAT scale (out of 1520), making it a slightly less accurate representation of the PSAT. Practice tests are excellent tools for tracking your progress.What you'll want to do is take one practice test at the beginning of your studies to get yourbaseline score (i.e., the score you start with). Then, follow Step 2 above to set a PSAT/SAT goal score.Once you've completed some PSAT prep, take another practice test to see whether you're closer to hitting your goal score. As you take these PSAT practice tests, always simulate real testing conditions as closely as possible.This means taking the test in a quiet room without distractions and timing yourself on each section as you'll be timed on the actual PSAT. Doing all of this ensures you'll have a clearer and more accurate sense of where your strengths and weaknesses lie. Step 4 is all about mistakes. My mistake? Following Donkey Kong. Step 4: Analyze Your Mistakes When studying, tryto understand why the incorrect answer choices you’ve chosen are in fact wrong.This means you'll need to go through all practice tests and questions you’ve used for PSAT prep, mark the ones you answered incorrectly, and spend time figuring out where your logic or calculations went wrong. Look to see whether there are any patterns in your mistakes. For example, are you consistently getting tripped up on certain question types? Do you tend to guess randomly instead of strategically? Do you struggle with certain skills or content areas, such as algebra or reading comprehension? Being able to pinpoint your mistakes and understand what you can do to fix them allows you to avoid making these same mistakes on the PSAT and even the SAT or ACT. Step 5: Use SAT Questions Tests for Extra Practice Other than the PSAT practice tests above, there aren’t many resources for PSAT practice questions. That said, there are tons of free SAT resources, with questions nearly identical to (though possibly harder than) those on the PSAT. Therefore, I suggest incorporating SAT materials into your PSAT prep if you're dissatisfied with the breadth of questions in PSAT practice tests. Like the PSAT, the best resource for SAT practice questions is the College Board, which offers dozens of free questions for the three SAT sectionson its website. All in all, there are: 24 Reading questions 22 Writing and Language questions 18 Math No Calculator questions 30 Math Calculator questions For additional practice, take afull-length SAT practice test.These tests are nearly identical to the PSAT practice tests, differing only in length (i.e., number of questions) and difficulty. Each SAT practice test also comes with an Essay section, which you can skip since there are no essays on the PSAT. While SAT questions and practice tests can be helpful for PSAT prep, remember that these resources arethe best free resources for SAT prep as well. Therefore, you may want to reserve some of these questions for future SAT prep (unless, of course, you’ll be taking the ACT- in that case, go ahead and use all SAT resources for your PSAT preparation!). Ready to open up your wallet? Or nah? Should You Hire a PSAT Tutor? Sign Up for Classes? Because the PSAT isn’t as important as the SAT or ACT,you generally shouldn't need to hire a PSAT tutor or sign up for PSAT classes. Remember, thePSAT is essentially just a practice test- it has no effect on your GPA or your chances of admission to college. So throwing a bunch of cash at a PSAT tutor or prep course will likely only waste time and money in the end. The only cases in which PSAT prep courses and tutoring sessions are useful is when you want to qualify for National Merit or get a super high SAT score. In these cases, additional PSAT guidance can shed some much-needed light on critical concepts and skills you need to work on in order to get the score you want. For most students, though,light prep and a self-guided study plan using free, high-quality resources is typically all you need to prepare effectively for the PSAT. Even just knowing the PSAT format can give you a leg up on test day! So try not to feel obligated to spend money on resources you may not actually need in the end. If you do decide to invest in tutoring sessions or prep courses, just make sure the price doesn't bother you and that you can apply what you're learning to the SAT as well. Bonus: Aiming for a National Merit Scholarship? If you're not sure you can self-study your way to a qualifying PSAT score, you'll love our PSAT prep program, PrepScholar. We designed our program around the concepts in this article, because they actually work. When you start with PrepScholar, you’ll take a diagnostic that will determine your weaknesses in over forty PSAT skills. PrepScholar then creates a study program specifically customized for you. To improve each skill, you’ll take focused lessons dedicated to each skill, with over 20 practice questions per skill. This will train you for your specific area weaknesses, so your time is always spent most effectively to raise your score. We also force you to focus on understanding your mistakes and learning from them. If you make the same mistake over and over again, we'll call you out on it. There’s no other prep system out there that does it this way, which is why we get better score results than any other program on the market. Check it out today with a 5-day free trial: PSAT vs. SAT: How Is Test Prep Different? There's no denying that the PSAT and SAT are undoubtedly similar- but they're certainly not identical, and thus neither is their test prep. Below, we go over the three key ways in which PSAT prep differs from SAT prep. Intensity PSAT prep is generally far lighter than SAT prep. This is primarily due to the fact that the PSAT is just a practice SAT and therefore a far less important test. Specifically, SAT (and ACT) scores are a significant college admission factor, whereas PSAT scores are not.(That said, being named a National Merit Scholar can certainly give a boost to your college application, especially in regard to financial aid.) Availability of Resources Since the SAT is a more popular and ubiquitous test, you'll find that there aremany more resources available for SAT prep than there are for PSAT prep. This means you’ll have a broader range of materials to choose from when studying for the SAT- from prep books and apps to questions and practice tests- than you will for the PSAT. Essay Section Unlike the SAT, which includes an optional Essay,the PSAT does not include an Essay section.So if you’re taking the SAT with the optional Essay, you’ll need to make sure you adequately hone your writing skills prior to the exam.In other words, without having to practice composition, the PSAT is a slightly easier test to prepare for. Once you finish the PSAT, do a happy dance- ideally, with a frilly umbrella. Key Takeaways: The Importance of PSAT Prep If your goal is to perform well on the PSAT- whether because you hope to qualify for National Merit or simply want a better chance of scoring highly on the SAT- you’ll need to engage in some PSAT test prep.But if you're not aiming for National Merit or don't plan to take the SAT, you don't need to prep for the PSAT (or even take the test at all, if your school allows students to opt out). The best way to get started on PSAT preparation is to learn the format of the test, including what questions it’ll ask and what concepts it'll test you on. Setting a PSAT or SAT goal score, too, can help guide your studies. Finally, it's a good idea to spend some time analyzing your mistakes and practicing with high-quality PSAT practice tests and SAT resources. Most students shouldn't need to hire tutors or enroll in PSAT prep courses to do well on the PSAT. Because the PSAT isn’t a college admission test, scoring highly on it isn’t nearly as important as scoring highly on the SAT or ACT; therefore, there’s no point in spending money on PSAT prep unless you really want to qualify for National Merit and believe the resource will help you eventually get a high score on the SAT, too. As for test prep, PSAT test prep is typically less intense than SAT test prep, as the PSAT isn't as important as the SAT. Moreover, there is no Essay section on the PSAT and only a small number of PSAT resources available, making PSAT prep overall simpler than SAT prep. What’s Next? You now know how to prep for the PSAT- but do you know how to register for it?Our comprehensive guide walks you through the three critical steps you must take to sign up for this year's PSAT! What's a good PSAT score overall? For sophomores? For juniors?Learn what constitutes a good PSAT score in general as well as how the definition of a "good" PSAT score can differ depending on your grade level. Running out of PSAT prep time?Never fear!Follow our10 last-minute tips to help you get the PSAT score you want on test day. Want to improve your SAT score by 160 points?We have the industry's leading SAT prep program. Built by Harvard grads and SAT full scorers, the program learns your strengths and weaknesses through advanced statistics, then customizes your prep program to you so you get the most effective prep possible. Check out our 5-day free trial today: