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Manual Testing Interview Questions (0-5 years) - Practical situational questions

Updated: Aug 12, 2021


Welcome to the compilation of important manual testing interview questions.


Please consider the following note from the author -

  • Our aim is not only to give direct answers but also to make readers understand the basic and important concept of software testing, hence they can counter any questions asked during interviews.

  • In case any reader has any other questions, do leave a comment and we will try to explain the concept. :)



Following are important manual testing interview questions -


Software testing is a planned activity to ensure the quality of the software and it is bud-free before it delivers to the end-user. When the software is in the developing phase, the goal of testing is to identify the bugs, errors, and anomalies that are introduced in the code and stop them from reaching the end-user.


A failure in software could cause severe consequences such as financial loss, customer and reputation loss, or even loss of life. With software now being used in every sector and industry, be it in advanced medical treatments like robotic neurosurgery or surgical implements, a failure in the software or a minor glitch can cause catastrophic implications. Software that is used in online payments, investment banking, government systems that hold confidential data, needs to work bug-free to avoid any such events.


Benefits of software testing

  1. Quality of product- The most important function of software testing is delivering a quality product. A cheap quality product will never win customers or add value to the business.

  2. Cost-effectiveness- Earlier the bug you fix, the more the cost business will save. Fixing a defect early in the lifecycle of software costs a fraction when compared to fix the defect in production. There is an exponential increase in the cost to fix a bug as we move right in the software development life cycle. As per the estimates, it will cost you 30x more to fix a defect in the product than to fix the requirement or design level.

  3. To achieve competitive advantage - Now in the information age, where software is the defining growth of the economy, and testing has become a significant part of the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC). The software has to be tested for faults and discrepancies to ensure the desired outcome, quality product, and satisfactory user experience in turn allowing companies to have a competitive advantage over rivals.


Broadly software testing can be classified as -


4. What are the levels in software testing?

  1. Unit Testing

  2. Integration Testing

  3. System Integration Testing (SIT)

  4. User Acceptance Testing (UAT)


Levels in software testing
Levels in software testing


Test pyramid provides a way to test each of the tech tiers of the application under test. It helps the testing team to draft a plan to perform testing in the most optimal and cost-effective way by saving time and effort and yet increase coverage.


Test Pyramid states that testing can be divided into three different testing layers namely -


  1. Unit testing

  2. Service or Integration testing

  3. UI Testing


Test Pyramid (Layers of Software Testing)
Test Pyramid (Layers of Software Testing)



  1. Boundary Value Analysis (BVA)

  2. Equivalence Class Partitioning

  3. Decision Table Based Testing

  4. State Transition Testing

  5. Error Guessing Testing

Test case design techniques
Test case design techniques


Steps to approach manual testing

  1. Create a testing plan - A test plan document is prepared which acts as a guide in the testing process to have the complete test coverage.

  2. Requirement clarification - Testers review the requirements and raise queries with business analysts for requirement clarification.

  3. Write test scenarios - Post getting all queries resolved and understanding the requirements, the tester creates the high-level test scenarios ensuring all requirements are covered and maintains a requirement traceability matrix.

  4. Write test cases - Then detailed test cases are written, self-descriptive steps that testers will execute while testing. Please following an engineered approach to write test cases using Test Case Design Techniques. Test steps are written keeping in mind that they should be understandable to anyone who even doesn't have any prior knowledge of software functionality.

  5. Test case review - Test cases are reviewed by peers, dev, and BA ensuring no testing scenario is missed in the test cases.

  6. Execute tests -The tester then plays the role of an end-user whereby they test the application's features to ensure correct behaviour. The tester follows a written test plan that leads them through numerous test cases.

8. What is a requirement traceability matrix?


Difference between test cases and test scenarios
Difference between test cases and test scenarios


10. What is the V-model in testing?


11. Difference between Verification and Validation? or Static and dynamic testing?

Difference between Verification and Validation
Difference between Verification and Validation




13. What is risk-based testing?



Software Test levels are the stages of testing like Unit testing, Component testing, Integration Testing, System Testing, and User Acceptance testing a software goes through till it reaches the end-user.

Whereas software testing types are different ways we can test software. Examples of testing types are black box, white box, grey-box testing types. In general, a tester performs different types of testing within the same testing level. A testing level can have white-box and/or black-box and/or grey-box software testing types implemented to thoroughly test the system






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