Question 1

What is software testing and why is it important in the software development lifecycle?

Accepted Answer

Software testing is the process of evaluating a software application to identify differences between the expected behavior and the actual behavior. It involves executing the software under controlled conditions and examining the results to detect defects, ensure functionality, and validate that the product meets the specified requirements.

Testing is important for several key reasons. First, it helps detect bugs early in the development process. A defect found during development is significantly cheaper to fix than one discovered in production. Studies have shown that the cost of fixing a b

Question 2

What are the key principles of the ISTQB Foundation Level, and how do they apply to everyday testing work?

Accepted Answer

The ISTQB, or International Software Testing Qualifications Board, defines seven fundamental testing principles that every tester should understand. These principles capture decades of testing experience and guide practical decision-making in everyday work.

Principle one: Testing shows the presence of defects, not their absence. No matter how many tests you run, you cannot prove that software is completely free of bugs. Testing reduces the probability of undiscovered defects, but zero defects is never guaranteed. In practice, this means you should report your testing results honestly and ne

Question 3

What is a test case and what are its essential components?

Accepted Answer

A test case is a documented set of conditions, inputs, actions, and expected results that a tester uses to verify whether a specific feature or functionality of the software works correctly. It serves as a detailed instruction manual for testing a particular scenario.

The essential components of a well-written test case include the following elements.

Test Case ID is a unique identifier that makes the test case easy to reference and track. It typically follows a naming convention like TC-LOGIN-001 that indicates the module and sequence number.

Title or Summary is a brief, descriptive

Question 4

What is the difference between positive testing and negative testing?

Accepted Answer

Positive testing and negative testing are two complementary approaches to verifying software behavior. Together, they provide comprehensive test coverage by examining both the expected and unexpected usage of the application.

Positive testing, also called happy path testing, verifies that the software works correctly when given valid inputs and when the user follows the expected workflow. The goal is to confirm that the application does what it is supposed to do under normal conditions. Examples include entering a valid email and password to verify successful login, adding an item to the sh

Question 5

What is the difference between bug severity and bug priority?

Accepted Answer

Severity and priority are two separate dimensions used to classify bugs, and understanding the difference is essential for effective defect management. They are often confused, but they serve distinct purposes in deciding how and when bugs should be fixed.

Severity measures the technical impact of the bug on the system. It describes how badly the defect affects the software's functionality. Severity is typically assigned by the QA team based on their technical assessment. Common severity levels include Critical, where the system crashes, data is lost or corrupted, or a core feature is compl

Question 6

What are the essential elements of a good bug report?

Accepted Answer

A good bug report provides all the information a developer needs to understand, reproduce, and fix the defect efficiently. Writing clear bug reports is one of the most important skills for a QA engineer because poor reports waste time and can lead to bugs being closed without resolution.

The essential elements of a good bug report include the following.

Title should be a concise summary that describes the problem clearly. A good title like "Login button unresponsive after entering invalid email format on Chrome" is far more useful than "Login broken." The title should help anyone scannin

Question 7

What are the main HTTP methods used in REST APIs, and what is each one used for?

Accepted Answer

REST APIs use HTTP methods, also called HTTP verbs, to indicate the type of action being performed on a resource. Understanding these methods is fundamental for API testing because each method has different behavior, different expectations for request and response bodies, and different implications for the server state.

GET is used to retrieve data from the server. It is a read-only operation that should not modify any data. For example, GET /api/users retrieves a list of users, and GET /api/users/123 retrieves the details of user 123. GET requests do not have a request body. The response t

Question 8

What are HTTP status codes and what do the main categories mean?

Accepted Answer

HTTP status codes are three-digit numbers returned by the server in response to a client request. They indicate whether the request was successful, failed, or requires additional action. Understanding status codes is essential for API testing because they are the first thing you check to determine if a request worked as expected.

Status codes are organized into five categories based on the first digit.

The 1xx Informational category indicates that the request was received and processing is continuing. These are rarely encountered in API testing. 100 Continue means the server received the

Question 9

How do you decide what to automate and what to keep as manual testing, and what factors influence this decision?

Accepted Answer

Deciding what to automate is one of the most important strategic decisions in QA. Automating the wrong tests wastes effort, while keeping the wrong tests manual wastes time. The decision should be based on several key factors.

Return on investment is the primary consideration. Automation has an upfront cost in writing and maintaining scripts. This investment pays off only if the test will be executed many times. A test that runs once has no ROI from automation. A regression test that runs with every sprint has enormous ROI. Calculate the break-even point: if writing a test takes 4 hours and

Question 10

What is Selenium WebDriver and why is it widely used for test automation?

Accepted Answer

Selenium WebDriver is an open-source tool for automating web browser interactions. It provides a programming interface that allows you to write scripts that control a browser just as a human user would, including clicking buttons, filling in forms, navigating between pages, and verifying content on the screen.

Selenium WebDriver is widely used for several important reasons. First, it is open-source and free. Unlike commercial tools that require expensive licenses, Selenium can be used by any team regardless of budget. This has led to massive community adoption and extensive documentation.

QA / Test Engineer

Topics

Testing Fundamentals

Manual Testing & Test Cases

Bug Reporting & Tracking

API Testing Basics

Basic Test Automation

Mock Interview

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