Top 30+ Software Testing Interview Questions and Answers

Prepare with Top 30+ Software Testing Interview Questions and Answers. Boost your confidence, understand key concepts, and crack your next testing interview.

1) Why do you want to pursue your career in the field of software testing?

Answer: Based on my research, it is compulsory for any product to be of good quality to sustain in a market. To gain satisfaction and confidence in the quality of services or products, from the end-user, we must verify that the product behaves as expected and outperforms the desired quality standards. To gain excellence and value for money spent, we should offer the best quality products and services to our clients. I strongly believe that software testing assures me of product quality and performance. As I always look for quality rather than features rich product, that do not perform as expected. That is the main reason why I decided to pursue in the software testing domain. 

2) Please explain your nature, habits, or likes that you think you are the right candidate for the testing?

Answer: From my childhood, I was curious about how things work, I used to ask many questions to my parents on why, how, and what about the things. During my school and college days, I was debating on many topics, reading books, and searching libraries and the internet to understand and find out reasons and Answers to many of my questions. I used to visit my mentors often to know and discuss my queries. Based on my knowledge-seeking nature and desire for perfection, I think I am right candidate for software testing 

3) Why should we test? 

Answer: It is essential to test to verify that the product or software built behaves as expected

By the customer meets or exceeds the expectations. Personal information shared by the end-user is secured while using the product, application, or services. The features provided in the application perform as per expectation and requirement. The product has no serious anomalies. By testing an application, any deviation from expected behaviour can be identified and reported to the stakeholders. 

4) What do you mean by testing?

Answer: Testing is a process of running an application to identify any defects that breaks the functionality, Features provided in software offer results as expected, System securely display output as quickly as possible. Software features should display same output and behave as expected every repeated instance of running it. The software can be tested manually by testers or can run automatically using a script and follow steps that tester execute to test the application. 

5) What are the features you check before you purchase the mobile?

Answer: Priority will be the price of a mobile, but various features to check before we make our choice for our dream mobile will be Display – Screen size, resolution, browser support, movable keypad, reliable network connectivity. 

Storage – capacity to store large files, images, documents, downloaded programs

Battery – long-lasting and quick charging batteries that should be easily available in the market. 
Processing power – for remote work situations should able to process design graphical images, presentations, a comfortable keypad, file sharing options. 
Ease of use – for the elderly or novice, helpful settings, and configuration. 
Camera– with high-quality picture, zoom effects, large pixel resolution. Accessories should include the charger, battery, hands free and screen guard The warranty should include any online help in case of difficulty to use mobile, re pair of mobile due to a hardware fault or replacement of mobile set.

6) What do you mean by quality? 

Answer: Quality of a product or service can be defined as a level of reliability that meets or exceeds the expectations of the end-user. For Example, the taste of Amul ice cream or any of the dairy products available in the market produced by Amul is reliable for the quality, new products introduced in market also exceed the expectations. 

7) What do you mean by performance? 

Answer: Performance of a product or service is a measure of achieving continuously preferred results in the most efficient and effective way. For Example, Toyota Motor Corporation produces cars that run more mileage with less fuel consumption and produce less pollution. 

8) Can you write possible test cases for a pencil? 

Answer: The Following are possible test cases for pencil 

1. Check the length of a pencil, the strength of the outer wood

2. Check the thickness and resilience of graphite material (one type of crystalline carbon black in color) 

3. Check readability after writing text using pencil 

4. Check if written on different types of paper, cloth, or wood. 

5. Check how many meters can be written with the available graphite material in single pencil.

 6. Check the written text on paper is erasable with a normal rubber eraser.

 7. Check if a normal sharpener can sharpen the pencil or not

 8. Check if you can write after graphite is dipped in water, oil or dust.

 9. Check if the name of the company written has correct spelling printed on pencil or not . 

10. Check if the graphite are not broken already or brittle.

9) What do you test in a One-Time Password (OTP) creation application? 

Answer: Before processing online financial transactions, a bank will send a Time password (OTP) to the registered mobile number of the customer trying to send money to the payee. OTP sent on mobile or an email address acts as a measure to verify that the person is genuine. The following are possible scenarios for OTP received on mobile. 
1. OTP should be received within the specific time period. 
2. OTP must only be received over the registered mobile number or email address provided 
3. Previously sent OTP if used, should not allow any transaction 
4. Expired OTP should not be used in any transaction 
5. Already used OTP cannot be reapplied for any other transactions. 
6. There should be a facility to receive OTP again. 
7. The resent OTP should not match with any of the previously sent or future OTP. 
8. OTP should be case sensitive and should not be accepted if not used exactly as received on mobile or email. 

10) What are the essentials of software testing?

Answer: The Following are important artifacts essential for testing any software application 

Test strategy- is a high-level document that defines test approach for the software, what features are essentials Test strategy is high-level document that defines test approach for the software, what features are essential to test (objective of testing), how to test (methodology), Types of testing to be carried out, and execution of tests. Test plan decides which tests are for manual testing and which one is for automated testing (distribution of testing task), Who will test what(test schedule), and when to start testing and end testing (duration within which testing should complete) Test cases are scenarios with steps to be carried out, mapped to requirements with the expected output, to be carried out during testing of an application with status for each scenario, based on the actual result. 
Test cases can be executed manually or converted into scripts to be executed with the help of tools like Selenium or QTP. Test Data is the valid values that are fed to an application as inputs while running an application in order to test it. It is mandatory to design valid test data as per the scenario that results in the expected output. In case the actual output differs from the expected output, the deviation is reported as a bug in the defect management system. Test Environment is a system configured that mimic or match to system specifications at the client, in order to run software on this system to verify how the system at client be have for the tests and use cases.

11) What is Unit Testing?

 Answer: Unit testing is primary test level, one way is static testing, where code is verified for syntax, rules followed by organization which is conducted by developer, second way is dynamic testing where small snippet of code is debug (tested) with sample test data to validate the output. Various tools for unit testing are JUnit, Hansel, and Testing are used to verify code coverage. 

12) What is sanity testing?

Answer: When the application build is released after bugs fixed from the developer, and or changes due to additional requirement, the testing carried out is called sanity test, to verify that bugs are fixed, still functionality is in place, and no new bugs or defects are observed. In case while running sanity tests, bugs still exists, testers can reject the build. An example of sanity test can be like remember me checkbox was installed against the bug raised, but forget password link stops working, then it is a new bug. 

13) What is smoke testing? 

Answer: When the software build is released, tester conducts primary tests like all the menus and submenus are clickable, and display the corresponding page, tester make sure that mod ules and feature are present in application, and there is absence of ‘Page Not found’ message while accessing any page, Forms and Pages have all usable web elements and display stable pages. Example, drop-down list in all the input form does not display it for user to select, due to any reason, this if found during the smoke test, then tester will stop testing and can reject the build by informing the short coming to development team.

14) What is exploratory testing? 

Answer: Testers use testing experience, while testing an application, explores the features and learn about how the application works, during testing, he makes note of how the application be have , and such tests are called exploratory testing. The requirement document is absent, and testers are exposed to the application first time, without any test cases created.

15) What is integration testing?

Answer: Integration testing is the second level of testing after unit testing, where different modules are combined together and then tested to verify that data flow is in sync between the modules and there is no broken page or failed functionality. Example –During integration testing, the IRCTC site can be checked, where after searching train, booking seats in a particular train, when the payment gateway, which is integrated into to application found not working.

16) What is system testing?

Answer: System testing is the third level of testing after integration testing, where the application under test is tested for an end-to-end functionality, to confirm that it works as desired. Example – matrimonial portal can be tested from registration, searching candidate, receiving contact details and meet or fix appointments with prospects.

17) What is Regression testing?

Answer: Regression testing is conducted on the build after bugs are fixed build, to validate that the code change to fix bug has not adversely affected functionality and there should not be another defect. 

18) What is Alpha testing? 

Answer: Alpha testing is a type of acceptance testing, where testers are employees of an organization who has built the application, these tests are conducted to verify that all the issues found have been resolved and have not reoccurred, before releasing to the client. 

19) What is Beta testing? 

Answer: Beta testing is tests conducted at the client’s site after the application is deployed and handed over to the client. These tests include usability, functionality, and reliability of the application.

20) What is performance testing?

Answer: Performance testing falls under the non-functional testing type, where latency (speed or delay in accessing or loading a page), responsiveness, and stability of the application, network, stress or load tests are carried out to check efficiency/performance of the application.

21) What is Load testing?

Answer: Load testing is one form of non-functional testing, in which the behavior of an application is observed when it is exposed to load. Example, verifying the behavior of the Netflix portal during movie streaming by viewers between 7 pm to 9 pm in any time zone. 

22) What is Stress testing?

Answer: This non-functional testing is conducted by subjecting an application to overload in order to verify till how long the system is sustain to the stress, hence the name – Stress testing. Example – during Amazon festive season sale, subjected to overload when users multifil times than expected will access the portal and book a newly arrived mobile, thereby by website server may fail to handle such a heavy load. 

23) What is Security testing? 

Answer: Security testing is a testing of an application against malicious attacks from hackers, how effective protective software like a firewall or antivirus is in data protection, and vulnerabilities of the login system by SQL injection.

24) What is Static testing?

Answer: Software or an application is tested without executing code, such as Code Review, and coverage that business logic is properly taken care of is called Static testing. Variable declared but not used in code, undefined variables, unreachable code, syntax violations, and code structure approved in the organization. Tools like Code Compare, Coverity, and Parasoft are used for static code analysis 

25) What is dynamic testing? 

Answer: For dynamic testing, the application should have compiled code and executed in order to run the application, various parameters such as CPU, memory, latency or time taken for output, are analyzed and recorded. Valid input values are prepared and expected output values are listed as a requirement. Main test types included in dynamic testing are functional and non-functional testing. test level included in dynamic testing are Unit, integration, system and acceptance testing. 

26) What is Compatibility testing?

Answer: Compatibility testing are conducted to verify that software runs on various environments, operating systems without any conflicts. Compatibility of an application is tested across different Hardware configurations, operating systems like Ubuntu, Linux, Windows, macOS, Network, Browsers like firefox, chrome, Opera, safari, various devices like desktop pc, laptop pc, mobile, etc. Answer: Software or an application is tested without exec

27) What is Reliability testing?

Answer: Reliability testing is carried out in order to confirm that software display reliable output that is same irrespective of test environment, operating system, browser etc.

28) What is Compliance testing? 

Answer: Compliance testing is a non-functional test that validates that the software designed meets all the prescribed standards as described in the requirement document. For example Vehicles in North America are made according to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act 1999 (CEPA 1999), under this act Environment Canada has the authority to regulate emissions from on-road engines. 

29) What is Localization testing?

Answer: Localization tests verify that the application can be used in a specific region. The test include user interface, language, currency format, date and time format for that specific continent or country having particular language dominance. For example, In case software is developed specifically for Middle East, language will be Arabic, the currency being the riyal and dirham for the united arab emirates. date format in Saudi Arabia is dd/mm/yyyy.

30) What is a test case?

Answer: A test case is a set of instructions and steps to be followed to validate particular feature fulfills the requirements specified in the software requirement document. test cases can be derived from the requirement traceability matrix, which is derived from requirement document.

31) What columns are present in the test case template?

Answer: test case template should have details common across test case such as test case created by, tested by, tested on, module name tested with their details. Test case template should contain columns as listed and explained below

Test case id – unique identification of test case. Requirement Traceability Matrix id – test case scenarios or conditions mapped with RTM id. 

Test scenario – short description of what should be tested eg. user should able to log i.n Pre-Requisite – assumption for test to carry out, such as the application log in page is already displayed in browser or desktop. 

Test steps – steps to follow in order to test the scenario, manually or using script automatically 

Test data used – valid test data created specific to the scenario 

eg. username – admin and password test123 to be used 

Expected Result – what is expected from the feature being tested 

e.g. welcome page with menus of other features should be displayed after user successfully logged in to the application. 

Actual Result- what is actual output or result after testing application, this is to be filled in by tester Status – If there is difference between actual and expected result test will fail, else test will pass

 Remarks – In case test fails, bug report details can be mentioned here.

32) What is black box testing?

Answer: When we test an application without worrying or having knowledge about the details of implementation, how the internal code structure is applied to the software to achieve the required output. it is called black box testing. This type of testing is carried out mainly by testers. Some of the testing techniques for black box testing are Equivalence Partitioning, Boundary Value Analysis, and Cause and Effect Testing.

33) What are the different levels of testing? 

Answer: In the Software Development Life Cycle, there are mainly four testing levels –starting from Unit testing, followed by Integration testing, System testing, and finally user Acceptance testing.

34) What is functional testing? 

Answer: Functional testing is test the working of web elements, drop down, buttons, check box or radio buttons, and features of an application. Functional testing is categorized into various types such as unit test, integration tests, GUI tests, localization tests, usability tests, regression tests, sand ystem tests. Example: on clicking the print button, a pop menu should display showing the existing page and print configuration window, with print button. On clicking on print button, contents such as text, images or spreadsheets on selected page should be sent for printing.

35) What is non-functional testing? 

Answer: Non-functional testing deals with testing parameters other than features of an application; these include performance, reliability, security, integrity, scalability, portability, etc. Example: In the case of desktop software, say a calculator, how quickly it display an output forthe  multiplication of four digit numerals? In web web-based application, how quickly an image is rendered on the webpage, or if site is available 24×7 or is subjected to frequent maintenance, making it unavailable to end users.

36) Give an Example of an Equivalence Class Partition.

Answer: Test Scenario- In order to get a driving license the age of applicant should be between 18 to 49 years. There will be 3 (three) partitions where the tester should check the possibility 
i) If the applicant’s age is less than or equal to 17 years – Invalid 
ii) If the applicant’s age is between 18 to 49 years. – Valid 
iii) If the applicant’s age is greater than or equal to 50 – Invalid So there will be 3 possible scenarios where only one valid group of applicants having age is between 18 to 49 years will get a driving license.

37) Give an Example of Boundary value analysis

 Test Scenario- In order to get a driver’s license, the age range should be between 18 to 49 years

Boundary values to be verified here is First Boundary value Minimum age – 1 i.e. 18-1 = 17 years – invalid age Second Boundary value Minimum i.e. 18 years, minimum +1 i.e. 19 years, maximum -1 i.e. 48 years, and maximum i.e. 49 years (18, 19, 48, 49) – Valid values for age criteria Third Boundary value Maximum +1 = 50 years – invalid age

38) Can you explain the Defect Life Cycle? 

Answer: When tester finds a defect while testing application, he will confirm deviation with expected result, registers defect (bug) in bug management tool like Bugzilla or JIRA. Bug status will be ‘New’, If defect is not agreed by product team or developer, its status will become ‘Rejected’. When developer agrees with the defect in application, when assigned to developer, bug status will be ‘Open’, If Developer does not agree to the defect; its status will be ‘Deferred’. ‘Open’ bugs when resolved by developer its status becomes ‘Fixed’, once the bugs are fixed and build is retested for regression testing, defect is verified, i f defect is not resolved, bug will be ‘Reopen’, which will be reassigned to the developer for fixing. if the defect is resolved and confirmed by tester then Bug status will be ‘Closed’.

39) What is the Software Testing Life Cycle?

Answer: Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC) is a sequence of activities performed by testers such as Requirement & Analysis – Understanding the client’s requirement and what actually requires, How to test the requirements, Test Planning – what should be tested in an application, How and who will test the application Test Case Design – test scenarios, mapping with requirement traceability matrix, test case creation, and test data used Test Environment Setup – what hardware and software need to install or configure to build test environment. Test Execution – running the application in order to verify features as per test case designed, reporting bugs, track the bugs and regression test till it gets resolved. Test Closure – Creation of test reports, total bugs pending, critical bugs if any, and justification for releasing the application to client.

40) What is Defect priority? 

Answer: Priority gives a need of urgency to fix or resolve the defect, 

Example can be if a reputed pen manufactures company while printing the pen model or company name will wrong spellings, then such bugs should be fixed on priority basis. Defect priority are categorized into following levels 
Urgent – this must be fixed immediately e.g. payment gateway pages not displaying, or conformance of order processed not sent via email or sms, or transaction records not printed in account details in banking software. High – this should be resolved in subsequent releases, e.g. presentation or video does not have company logo or has written content, but does not have voice that narrates above content. 
Medium – should be fixed based on the level of severity- eg. Error occurring while user updates his mobile number, while communication has options such as his email and mobile. 
Low – May or may not be fixed e.g. spelling or grammar mistake in introductory page of

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Author:-

Laxmi Kamble