---
title: "Using Explicit Arrange,Act,Assert scopes in tests – thoughts?"
url: "https://osherove.com/blog/2009/6/2/using-explicit-arrangeactassert-scopes-in-tests-thoughts.md"
canonical: "https://osherove.com/blog/2009/6/2/using-explicit-arrangeactassert-scopes-in-tests-thoughts.html"
published: "2009-06-02T17:55:11"
updated: "2009-06-02T17:55:11"
tags: [".NET", ".Net 2.0", "Agile", "Art Of Unit Testing", "Silverlight"]
author: "Roy Osherove"
description: "What are your thoughts on this style of writing? Specifically the “Explicit” way of defining arrange, act and assert scopes. also, given the name of the test, where should the call to “OnApplyTemplate” be (if you’ve…"
usage: "Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page)."
license: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"
---

# Using Explicit Arrange,Act,Assert scopes in tests – thoughts?

By Roy Osherove June 2, 2009 In [.NET](https://osherove.com/blog/category/net), [.Net 2.0](https://osherove.com/blog/category/net-2-0), [Agile](https://osherove.com/blog/category/agile), [Art Of Unit Testing](https://osherove.com/blog/category/art-of-unit-testing), [Silverlight](https://osherove.com/blog/category/silverlight)

**Historical article** · Originally published June 2, 2009; technical details may be outdated.

What are your thoughts on this style of writing?

- Specifically the “Explicit” way of defining arrange, act and assert scopes.
- also, given the name of the test, where should the call to “OnApplyTemplate” be (if you’ve never seen the code)?
- which version makes more sense to you? A, or B?

version A:

![image](https://osherove.com/img/wb/e929be7f_weblogs.asp.net_blogs_rosherove_image_thumb_6AC9F7F5.png)

version B:

![image](https://osherove.com/img/wb/88c4c113_weblogs.asp.net_blogs_rosherove_image_thumb_062EAE5F.png)

## More in .NET

[All posts in .NET](https://osherove.com/blog/category/net)

- Jun 25, 2009

    ### [TDD Master Class almost full](https://osherove.com/blog/2009/6/25/tdd-master-class-almost-full.html)

- Jun 6, 2009

    ### [Art Of Unit Testing available at Amazon](https://osherove.com/blog/2009/6/6/art-of-unit-testing-available-at-amazon.html)

- Jun 1, 2009

    ### [Review: CryptoLicensing for .NET](https://osherove.com/blog/2009/6/1/review-cryptolicensing-for-net.html)

- May 31, 2009

    ### [Daily news blogs about .NET and related creatures](https://osherove.com/blog/2009/5/31/daily-news-blogs-about-net-and-related-creatures.html)


---

## About the author

**Roy Osherove**: Senior Solutions Architect at AWS working on AI for production and AI-driven development; author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership, with about 20 years of consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery.

### Sites

- [RobotPaper](https://robotpaper.ai/): This blog: AI patterns and anti-patterns, AI and coding agents, and engineering leadership.
- [osherove.com](https://osherove.com): Roy's personal site. Author of The Art of Unit Testing and Elastic Leadership; consulting and training on unit testing, TDD, team leadership and continuous delivery, plus about 20 years of blog posts.
- [The Art of Unit Testing](https://www.artofunittesting.com): The Art of Unit Testing, 3rd Edition (Manning): readable, maintainable, trustworthy unit tests, plus TDD workshops in C#, JavaScript, Java and Kotlin.
- [5whys.com](https://www.5whys.com): Roy's writing on software team leadership: self-organizing teams, surviving chaos, learning mode and the Elastic Leadership model.
- [Pipeline Driven](https://pipelinedriven.org): Continuous delivery and DevOps practices: build patterns, pipeline-friendly testing, DevOps metrics and enterprise DevOps.
- [Elastic Leadership](https://www.elasticleadership.com): Elastic Leadership, Roy's framework for software team leaders (survival, learning and self-organizing modes).

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### License

Licensed under CC BY 4.0 — reuse, quote and adapt with attribution (Roy Osherove, link to the original page). License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/