Chapter 4 – Test Analysis & Design
Three-Value Boundary Value Analysis – ISTQB Definition
Last Updated: July 12, 2026 · SoftwareTestPilot QA Team
Official ISTQB Definition
A boundary value analysis technique in which the boundary value and both its neighbors (one value on each side of the boundary) are used for test case design.
In simple words
Pick three values at each boundary: the value just below, the boundary itself, and the value just above. Catches off-by-one bugs on either side.
Exam tip
Three-value BVA finds more defects than two-value BVA at the cost of more test cases.
Related terms
- Boundary Value AnalysisBugs cluster at the edges of allowed ranges. So if a field accepts 1–100, you test 0, 1, 100, and 101 instead of only picking a value from the middle.
- Two-Value Boundary Value AnalysisPick exactly two values at each boundary: the boundary itself and the one just past it. Cheaper coverage than the three-value variant.
- Equivalence PartitioningGroup inputs that the system should treat identically, then pick one value from each group. That way you cover behaviour without testing every possible value.
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