What are common examiner traps in COCOMO Model?

Expressing development time D directly as a power function of KLOC rather than as a function of Effort E. Swapping the dependent and independent variables between effort and time (e.g., calculating E as a function of D). Confusing the multiplicative constants (ab, cb) with the exponential scaling factors (bb, db).

GATE CSE COCOMO Model PYQs

Standard yield6.3% of Software Engineering

In GATE CS, the COCOMO (Constructive Cost Model) topic tests foundational knowledge of empirical software cost estimation models. The exam focuses on the mathem… Read the guide

Take topic test

Questions: 1
Asked: 2015
Total marks: 1
Marks / paper: 0.1

1 GATE CSE COCOMO Model PYQs with solutions, from Software Engineering. Browse all GATE CSE PYQs.

Questions

Every official paper that asked this topic, newest first.

GATE CSE 2015 Set 2 · Q12Consider the basic COCOMO model where $E$ is the effort applied in person-months, $D$ is the development time in chronological months, $KLOC$ is the estimated number of delivered lines of code (in thousands) and $a_b, b_b, c_b, d_b$ have their usual meanings. The basic COCOMO equations are of the formMCQ1 markEasySolve

What GATE tests in COCOMO Model

Concepts, patterns, formulas and traps distilled from past papers.

In GATE CS, the COCOMO (Constructive Cost Model) topic tests foundational knowledge of empirical software cost estimation models. The exam focuses on the mathematical formulation connecting software size (KLOC), development effort (person-months), and nominal development schedule/time (months). Questions evaluate whether candidates understand the power-law dependencies and parameter roles in the Basic COCOMO model.

Core concepts

Basic COCOMO model equations
Effort estimation in Person-Months (E)
Development time / schedule estimation in Chronological Months (D)
Source code sizing in KLOC (Thousands of Lines of Code)
COCOMO empirical constants and power-law parameters (ab, bb, cb, db)

Recurring question patterns

Standard Equation Identification for Basic COCOMO
RareMCQ1 marks2015
Identifying the correct algebraic forms for Effort ( $E$ ) as a power function of size (KLOC) and Development Time ( $D$ ) as a power function of Effort ( $E$ ).

Formulas GATE uses

Basic COCOMO Effort Equation

E = a_b (\text{KLOC})^{b_b}

Used to estimate total effort in person-months given the software size in thousands of lines of code (KLOC).

Basic COCOMO Development Time Equation

D = c_b (E)^{d_b}

Used to estimate the chronological project duration (schedule) in months using the estimated effort $E$ .

Examiner traps in COCOMO Model

Expressing development time D directly as a power function of KLOC rather than as a function of Effort E.
Swapping the dependent and independent variables between effort and time (e.g., calculating E as a function of D).
Confusing the multiplicative constants (ab, cb) with the exponential scaling factors (bb, db).

How questions are asked

Identify standard equation formulation
Parametric relationship identification

Paper trends

Appeared as a direct, recall-based 1-mark MCQ testing standard equation forms under the Basic COCOMO specification.
2015

Difficulty notes

Easy questions test direct recall of the functional forms of the Basic COCOMO formulas ( $E$ from KLOC, $D$ from $E$ ). Medium questions require numerical computation of effort, duration, or average staff size ( $SS = E / D$ ) given empirical constants for specific project modes (Organic, Semidetached, Embedded).