What is a user story, and what are acceptance criteria?
AgileJunior
In shortA user story describes a feature from the user's point of view ("As a..., I want..., so that..."); acceptance criteria are the testable conditions that must be met for the story to be done.
Model answer
A user story is a short description of a feature from the user’s perspective:
As a shopper, I want to save products to a wishlist so that I can buy them later.
It describes who, what and why, and is a starting point for a conversation, not a full specification.
Acceptance criteria (AC) are specific, testable conditions the story must meet to be accepted. They are often written as Given / When / Then:
- Given I am logged in, when I tap the heart icon on a product, then it is added to my wishlist and the heart turns red.
- Given a product is in my wishlist, when I tap the red heart, then it is removed.
- Given I am logged out, when I tap the heart, then I am asked to log in.
- The wishlist is kept after logging out and back in, and is the same on app and website.
How testers use them:
- Each criterion becomes one or more test cases.
- While reviewing them, testers spot gaps: What happens when an out-of-stock product is in the wishlist? Is there a maximum number of items? Does it work offline?
- Good AC are clear, testable and measurable. “The wishlist loads fast” is vague; “the wishlist loads in under 2 seconds on 4G” is testable.
Learn more: User Stories and Acceptance Criteria
What they're looking for
The user story format, good testable acceptance criteria (often Given/When/Then), and how a tester uses them to design tests and spot gaps.
Common mistakes
- Writing vague acceptance criteria like "it should work well".
- Not mentioning that testers help write and review acceptance criteria.