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Software testing is the way to ensure that an application runs with quality and works as it is supposed to, either with manual or automated testing. There are over 14,000+ job openings all over the world in this field. The average salary for a professional in the software testing field ranges from ₹6 to ₹14 lakhs per year. Here, we will also provide some of the crucial software testing interview questions to help you with the preparation.
Table of content
Most Frequently Asked Software Testing Interview Questions
Q1. Compare Software Testing Vs. Debugging
Q2. Explain Monkey testing.
Q3. What is the difference between baseline and benchmark testing?
Q4. Explain bug life cycle.
Q5. How can we perform Spike testing in JMeter?
Q6. What is Silk Test?
Q7. Define Requirements Traceability Matrix.
Q8. What is elementary process?
Q9. Highlight the role of QA in project development.
Q10. What are the tools of performance testing?
This comprehensive blog on Software Testing Interview Questions consists of the interview questions that are collected after doing extensive research. These questions are gathered after consulting with experts from the industry of Software Testing. To brush up your knowledge and skills in Software Testing and prepare yourself for job interviews, you must get acquainted with the following Software Testing interview questions.
Software Testing Basics Interview Questions
1. Compare Software Testing Vs. Debugging
| Criteria |
Software testing |
Debugging |
| Process |
Known conditions, predefined methods and expected outcome |
Unknown conditions, not preset method and unpredictable outcome |
| Prerequisite |
No need of design knowledge |
Need full design knowledge |
| Goal |
Finding error or bug |
Finding a cause for the error or bug |
2. Explain Monkey testing.
A technique of software testing where the application is tested by ingesting inputs randomly. This test does not follow any pre-defined set of rules. It is carried out to check the behavior of the application.
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3. What is the difference between baseline and benchmark testing?
While Baseline testing runs a set of tests to determine the performance, Benchmark testing compares the application performance with industry standards. Baseline testing strives to improve performance with the help of collected information, on the other hand, benchmark testing seeks to improve application performance by matching it with benchmarks.
4. Explain bug life cycle.
The bug life cycle, also known as a defect life cycle, refers to the different stages through which a defect goes during its lifetime. It begins when the defect is discovered or reported by the tester and concludes when the tester verifies that the defect has been resolved and won’t happen again.
- When a tester finds a bug, the bug is assigned NEW or OPEN with status.
- The bug is either assigned to Development Project Managers or is given to Bug Bounty Program. They will check whether it is a valid defect. If not valid, the bug is rejected, and its new status is REJECTED.
- Now, the tester checks whether a similar defect was raised earlier. If yes, the defect is assigned a status ‘DUPLICATE’
- Once the bug is fixed, the defect is assigned a status ‘FIXED’
- Next, the tester will re-test the code. In case, the test case passes, the defect is CLOSED
- If the test case fails again, the bug is RE-OPENED and assigned to the developer.
5. How can we perform Spike testing in JMeter?
JMeter comes with a synchronizing timer which can handle the requests of multiple threads. It is able to get the required number of threads and release them at once to cause a spike.
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Software Testing Interview Questions for Freshers
6. What is Silk Test?
Silk Test is a tool developed for performing regression and functionality testing of the application. Silk Test is a tool, used when we are testing applications based on Windows, Java, Web, or traditional client/server. Silk Test helps in preparing the test plan and managing those test plans to provide direct access to the database and field validation.
7. Define Requirements Traceability Matrix.
The Requirement Traceability Matrix (RTM) is a bi-directional matrix that captures the details of requirements and their traceability. Created at the initial steps of a project, RTM tracks the requirement by analyzing the deliverables and business requirements
8. What is elementary process?
Software applications are made up of several elementary processes. There are two types of elementary processes:
Dynamic elementary Process: The dynamic elementary involves the process of moving data from one location to another. The location can be either within the application or outside it.
Static elementary Process: It involves maintaining the data of the application.
9. Highlight the role of QA in project development.
QA plays a crucial role in project development. Some of them are outlined here-
- Reduce the defects and errors
- Preventing defects from occurring
- Maintain the system quality as per the specifications
- Test the projects on failure parameters to check its fault tolerance
10. What are the tools of performance testing?
The following are the tools of performance testing:
- LoadRunner(HP): This testing tool contains a wide array of application environments, platforms, and databases. It is typically suitable for web applications and others.
- QA load(Compuware): This tool is used for load testing of web, database, and char-based systems.
- WebLoad(RadView): It is used to compare running tests with test metrics.
- Rational Performance Tester (IBM): It allows finding out the presence and cause of bottlenecks.
- Silk Performer (Borland): This testing tool lets you predict the behavior of e-business environment.
Software Testing Interview Questions for Experienced (2-5 years)
11.Explain the concepts of Test Fusion Report of QTP.
- Test Fusion report displays different aspects of the test run, soon after the tester runs a test. The Test Fusion report is used to display all the aspects of test run, it specifies where the application failures occurred, the test data used, and the detailed explanation of every checkpoint stating pass or failure and the application screenshots of every step by highlighting the discrepancies.
- Test Fusion Report is a compilation of the entire testing process. It includes an overview of where the failures occurred, the test data that was used in testing, screenshots to support inconsistencies and a detailed view of checkpoints.
12. What is the difference between a test case and a test scenario?
- A test case is detailed documentation that describes the steps, input, configurations, expected results, and output for testing a particular functionality.
- A test scenario is a high-level description of the documentation that needs to be tested. A test case is more specific to the module, and a test scenario is more general.
13. What is the difference between severity and priority in bug tracking?
- Severity refers to the impact or seriousness of a defect or bug on the software’s functionality, performance, or user experience. It helps prioritize defects based on how critical they are to the overall system.
- Priority refers to how urgently the defect needs to be fixed, based on business needs or customer impact.
14. What is the difference between smoke testing and sanity testing?
- Smoke Testing is a preliminary test to check if the basic functionalities of the software are working. It is often referred to as a “Build Verification Test.”
- Sanity Testing is performed to check the specific functionality or bug fixes work as expected after a change or update.
15. What is the difference between regression testing and retesting?
- Regression Testing involves testing the entire application to check the new changes do not affect existing functionality.
- Retesting focuses on testing a specific defect or issue after it has been fixed to verify if the issue is resolved.
16. What is the purpose of user acceptance testing (UAT)?
User Acceptance Testing (UAT) is performed by the end users to verify whether the system meets the specific business requirements and is ready for deployment. It checks the software is functional and ready for real-world usage.
Manual Software Testing Interview Questions
17. What are the advantages and disadvantages of manual testing?
Advantages:
- Manual testing is flexible, and testers can quickly adapt to changing requirements.
- It is effective for exploratory and ad-hoc testing.
- It does not require initial data in automation tools.
Disadvantages:
- It is time-consuming and less efficient for repetitive tasks.
- It is likely to have human error and inconsistencies.
- Large-scale regression testing is not feasible with manual testing.
18. What is exploratory testing, and when should it be used?
Exploratory Testing is a type of testing where the tester actively controls the design of the test and the test execution, based on their knowledge, experience, and intuition. It is useful when you have limited documentation or need to quickly find defects in an application. It is typically used in the early stages of development or when time constraints exist.
19. What is the importance of test data in manual testing?
Test data is essential because it checks whether the test cases cover a wide range of possible scenarios or not. Without proper test data, it’s difficult to verify the application’s behavior for testing the edge cases or invalid inputs. Well-defined test data helps can able to test coverage and check the application works correctly under various test conditions.
20. What is the difference between ad-hoc testing and exploratory testing?
- Ad-hoc Testing is informal testing where the tester does not follow any structured test cases or documentation. It is typically random and is performed without planning.
- Exploratory Testing is more planned in comparison to ad-hoc testing, where the tester explores the application and designs tests based on the findings as they proceed.
Scenario Based Software Testing Interview Questions for Experienced
21. How to ensure the quality of the test cases during manual testing?
The following quality of the test cases can be ensured while performing the manual testing:
- Clear, concise, and easy to understand.
- Cover all functional and non-functional requirements.
- Have traceability to the original requirements.
- Must include positive, negative, boundary, and edge cases.
- Have defined pass/fail criteria and expected results.
22. The software application works fine with a single user, but when multiple users access it simultaneously, the system crashes. How would you troubleshoot this issue?
I would perform stress and load testing and simulate for multiple users by using the application simultaneously. I would use tools such as JMeter or LoadRunner to identify performance bottlenecks, like database overloads or server crashes. Once identified, I would work along with developers and suggest them to resolve scalability issues, such as optimizing database queries or improving server capacity.
23. Your task is to test the login functionality of a web application. What are the critical test scenarios you would cover?
To test the login functionality comprehensively, I would consider and check for the following scenarios:
-
-
- Login with a valid username and password.
- Login after password recovery.
- Login on the different browsers and devices.
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- Attempt to log in with an incorrect password.
- FiIll with an invalid email format in the username field.
- Try logging in without filling in any fields.
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- Test the password field with minimum and maximum allowable characters.
- Test login with special characters in the username or password.
- Security Scenarios
- Check for SQL injection vulnerabilities.
- Verify that passwords are encrypted while submitting the form.
- Test multi-factor authentication if implemented.
24. You are testing a mobile application, and you discover that it crashes when you perform an action under a weak network connection. How would you handle this?
I would like to simulate the different network conditions, like 3G, 4G, 5G, and poor Wi-Fi, using tools like Charles Proxy or Network Link Conditioner. Then, I would document the issue and report it to the development team. Additionally, I would suggest testing and improving the app’s behavior under different network conditions, such as implementing better error handling, retries, or caching.
25. You are working on a project with tight deadlines, and a defect is discovered just before the release. How would you prioritize testing the defect fix?
I would evaluate the severity and impact of the defect. If it is a high-severity, high-priority issue, then I would focus on verifying the issue and fixing it immediately, and test only the affected functionality. If the module works properly and provides the expected output based on the test cases, then again I will check whether the module is compatible with the rest of the project and give the expected result. If it is a low-priority issue, I would suggest deferring the fix to the next release, depending on the project’s timeline and business requirements.