An exploratory test charter is a high-level plan or mission statement for a time-boxed exploratory testing session. It guides what the tester should focus on during the session and may include the goal of the test, specific areas of the system under test, the risk or feature to explore, the type of persona to simulate (e.g., novice or expert user), and possibly known issues to watch out for.
Option A is correct because specifying a user persona (such as a novice user) helps the tester approach the system from that perspective. This supports the goal of exploratory testing: to simulate realistic usage and uncover issues that scripted tests might miss.
Option B is incorrect — although exploratory testing is adaptive, the charter is defined before the session starts, not elaborated during execution.
Option C is misleading — charters may refer to areas of interest, but not necessarily to a predefined list of activities.
Option D is incorrect — a test oracle (i.e., the mechanism for determining whether a result is correct) is not defined by the charter. It may exist already or be inferred from requirements, heuristics, or user expectations.
Exact Reference – ISTQB CTFL Acceptance Testing Syllabus (Section 3.1):
“Charters define the focus of exploratory testing sessions and may specify the tester’s role or perspective (e.g., novice user).”
