LESSON 24 — Bug Prioritization 🐞

Level: A2–B1
Student: Adult QA Tester
Format: Individual online lesson
Main goal: Talk about bugs, explain their priority, and communicate decisions clearly in English.

2. VOCABULARY

3. UNDERSTANDING THE VOCABULARY

A. Blocker

A blocker is a bug that stops testing or stops users from doing something important.

Examples:

Users cannot log in.
The application crashes immediately.
The payment system doesn't work.
The test environment is completely unavailable.

Useful sentence:

This is a blocker because we cannot continue testing.

B. Major bug

A major bug is serious, but it does not necessarily stop the entire application.

Examples:

Users cannot change their password.

The payment sometimes fails.

Important information disappears after saving.

Useful sentence:

I would classify this as a major bug.

C. Minor issue

A minor issue doesn't seriously affect functionality.

Examples:

Small spelling mistake
Wrong font
Slight alignment problem
Small UI inconsistency

Useful sentence:

It's a minor issue, so I don't think we need to fix it immediately.

D. Reopen

If a developer says a bug is fixed, but you test it and discover that it still exists, you can reopen the ticket.

QA:

I tested the fix, but the problem still exists.

I'm reopening the ticket.

E. Duplicate ticket

A duplicate ticket reports the same problem as another existing ticket.

Example:

Ticket #245 describes the same problem as Ticket #198, so #245 is a duplicate.

Useful sentence:

This ticket is a duplicate of another bug.

F. Rejected

A ticket can be rejected when the team decides that it isn't actually a bug or doesn't need to be fixed.

Example:

The developer rejected the ticket because the behavior is expected.

Useful sentence:

The bug was rejected because it is working as designed.

4. QUICK CHECK

5. GRAMMAR PRACTICE (Past simple, present simple)

Choose the correct form.

1.

I ______ the login page yesterday.

a) test
b) tested

2.

The application ______ when I click “Submit.”

a) crashes
b) crashed

3.

I ______ the bug again this morning.

a) reproduced
b) reproduce

4.

The system ______ an incorrect error message.

a) shows
b) showed

5.

We ______ the ticket because the bug still exists.

a) reopened
b) reopen

6.

Users ______ access their accounts.

a) cannot
b) could not

6. REAL QA LANGUAGE — BUG REPORT SENTENCES

Teach these as ready-to-use professional phrases.

Reporting a bug

I found a major bug in the payment system.

I found an issue on the login page.

The application crashes when I click the button.

Users cannot complete the payment.

Explaining priority

I would mark this as a blocker.

I think this is a major bug.

This is only a minor issue.

I don't think this needs to be fixed immediately.

This bug has a high priority.

Reopening a ticket

I'm reopening the ticket because the bug still exists.

I tested the fix, but the issue is still reproducible.

The problem wasn't completely fixed.

Duplicate

This is a duplicate ticket.

The same issue has already been reported.

This ticket duplicates an existing bug.

Rejected

The ticket was rejected.

The developer rejected the bug because the behavior is expected.

According to the requirements, this is working as designed.

7. CHALLENGE — “YOU ARE THE QA LEAD” 👩‍💻

It's Friday afternoon. The product is going live on Monday.
You have 7 open tickets.

Ticket 101

The application crashes after login.

Ticket 102

The text “Password” is written as “Passwrod.”

Ticket 103

The payment sometimes fails.

Ticket 104

The same payment problem was already reported.

Ticket 105

The developer fixed the login problem.

You test it again and the application still crashes.

Ticket 106

The background color is slightly different from the design.

Ticket 107

The developer says the reported behavior follows the requirements.

task

For every ticket:

1. Classify it.
2. Decide what to do.
3. Explain why.

Example:

Ticket 101 is a blocker because the application crashes after login. I would give it the highest priority.

8. SPEAKING — PRIORITY DISCUSSION

Is every blocker more important than every major bug?
Can a minor issue become a major bug?
When should a QA tester reopen a ticket?
Can a developer reject a bug?
What should QA do if they disagree with the rejection?
Is a duplicate ticket always useless?
Who should decide the priority of a bug?
What information should a QA tester give when reporting a serious bug?
Should spelling mistakes be fixed before a release?
What kind of bug would make you stop a release?

15. FINAL TASK — CREATE A BUG DISCUSSION

Give the student this situation:

You tested a new food delivery application.
You found three problems:
1. Users cannot place orders.
2. The restaurant name is slightly misaligned.
3. The same ordering problem has already been reported by another QA tester.

The student must give a 30–60 second report to the QA Lead.

They should use at least 5 target words/phrases.

Model answer

I found three issues in the application. The first one is a blocker because users cannot place orders. The second one is a minor issue because the restaurant name is slightly misaligned. The third ticket is a duplicate because another QA tester has already reported the same ordering problem. I think we should focus on the blocker first.