User Stories18% of the exam
Writing testable acceptance criteria
What acceptance criteria are, how to write each one as a single pass/fail statement of intent, how they differ from the team's definition of done, and how they decide whether a story is ready and whether it is accepted.
Demonstrate how to write acceptance criteria that convey the requirements and are ready for development.
~8 min read · 20 practice questions ·
What the exam expects
- Define acceptance criteria and pick well-formed criteria for a given story.
- Rewrite criteria that are vague, bundle several outcomes, describe the UI, or belong to another persona.
- Use the if/then form and add criteria for edge and negative cases agreed with the business.
- Separate story-specific acceptance criteria from the team-wide definition of done.
- Decide when a story is ready (at least one testable criterion) and when it is accepted (criteria pass and definition of done met).
Key terms:
- Acceptance criteria: statements added to a story, each with a clear pass/fail result, that specify when the story is fulfilled.
- Definition of done: the completion standard the team agrees together and applies to its work.
- If/then criterion: a precondition paired with an expected result.
- Intent vs solution: what the user can do, not how the system is built to do it.
Key facts
Definition
- Detail
- Statements added to a story, each with a clear pass/fail result
Minimum per story
- Detail
- At least one acceptance criterion
Each criterion
- Detail
- Independently testable; true or false
Language
- Detail
- Simple, no ambiguity about the expected outcome
Focus
- Detail
- Intent, not solution: the what, not the how
Alternative format
- Detail
- If/then statements
Who benefits
- Detail
- Project team (scope), delivery team, testers
Definition of done
- Detail
- Decided together by the team
Conditions of satisfaction
- Detail
- Drafted during backlog refinement
- Why should a criterion describe intent rather than a button?
- When is a story ready to enter a sprint, at minimum?
- What does the if/then form pair together?
- Why is "code peer reviewed" not an acceptance criterion?
The questions are free to read. Answers with their sources and self-grading are included with the pack.
Keep reading with the Business Analyst pack
- Core concepts
- Exam traps
- Worked scenario
The pack includes:
- All 22 lessons of the Business Analyst guide, with reading progress
- Interactive decision walks and step-by-step sequence steppers
- Inline practice questions and one-click topic practice (20 questions for this lesson)
- An official source cited for every claim
- An AI tutor that answers from the guide
- Unlimited timed practice exams