Functional Testing Interview questions …….

What do you understand by software testing?

Software testing is a validation process which confirms that a system works as per
the business requirements. It qualifies a system on various aspects such as
usability, accuracy, completeness, efficiency, etc.

How to handle a situation when you don’t have time for complete
testing?

When we do not have enough time to test, you might want to perform a Risk
Analysis and determine which modules/areas of your AUT are prone to the
highest risk and are critical to the success of the product and handle them first.
Going the exploratory route instead of documenting the test cases is another
way, but it is risky for sure.

What is the pesticide paradox? How to overcome it?

According to the pesticide paradox , if the same tests are carried out
over and over again, then an outcome of this, the same test cases will
no longer be able to find new bugs. Developers will be extra careful in
those parts where testers found more defects and might not look into
other areas.

Methods to prevent pesticide paradox are following:

➢ To continually write a whole new and different set of test cases to exercise
different parts of the software.
➢ To regularly review the existing test cases and add a new test case to them.
➢ Using these methods, it’s possible that we can find more defects in
the segment where defect numbers dropped.
What is the difference between Positive and
Negative Testing?
Positive Testing Negative Testing

Positive testing ensures that your application Negative testing determines that your
working as expected. If any error occurred during application can handle the invalid input or
positive testing, then the test fails unwanted user behavior

In this testing, Testers apply all their

In this testing, only a valid set of values are
creativity and validations to the application
checked by the tester.
against unwanted data

What is Defect Cascading in Software Testing?

A defect that is induced by another defect is known as defect cascade.

In this case, one problem in the application triggers the occurrence of

another defect. Hide to further phases without being recognized when a
problem is present in any step but not identified. As a result, the number
of defects will rise.

Let’s have a look at a visual representation of this.

You’re working on a web page’s login module.

Phase 1 You’re developing the Register User Module for Login in phase
one, and while the Mobile number is required, you can leave it blank due
to a glitch and it will go undiscovered.

Phase 2 entails creating a login form with a username and password,

with the password being an OTP given to the user’s registered mobile
number.

Now that the Register module has a defect in which the mobile number
can be left blank, this could result in a login failure or even a system
error or crash if the null mobile number is not handled properly.

This is a case of defect cascading.

What if the software is so buggy it can’t really be

tested at all?
Frequently, testers come across a bug that cannot be fixed. In such
cases, the best course of action is for testers to go through the process
of reporting any flaws or blocking-type issues that arise, with a
concentration on critical bugs. Because this type of issue might result in
serious issues such as insufficient unit or integration testing, poor
design, wrong build or release methods, and so on, management should
be contacted and given documentation as proof of the problem.

How you test a product if the requirements are yet

to freeze?
It’s possible that a requirement stack for a product isn’t available. It
could take a lot of work to figure out if an app has a lot of unexpected
functionality, and it could suggest deeper issues with the software
development process. If a feature isn’t required for the application’s
 goal, it should be eliminated. Create a test plan based on the
assumptions you’ve made about the product if all else fails. However,
make sure that all of your assumptions are adequately documented in
the test plan.

Defect Clustering: - When a small number of modules contains most

of the bugs detected or show the most operational failures.

Pesticide Paradox: - If the same tests are repeated over and over again,
eventually the same test cases will no longer find new bugs.

When should you stop the testing process?

The testing activity ends when the testing team completes the following
milestones.

➢ Test case execution

The successful completion of a full test cycle after the final bug fix marks the end
of the testing phase.

➢ Testing deadline

The end date of the validation stage also declares the closure of the validation if
no critical or high-priority defects remain in the system.

➢ Code Coverage (CC) ratio

It is the amount of code concealed via automated tests. If the team achieves the
intended level of code coverage (CC) ratio, then it can choose to end the
validation.

➢ Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) rate

Mean time between failure (MTBF) refers to the average amount of time that
a device or product functions before failing. This unit of measurement includes
only operational time between failures and does not include repair times,
assuming the item is repaired and begins functioning again. MTBF figures are
often used to project how likely a single unit is to fail within a certain period of
time
What is a test plan and what does it include?
A test plan stores all possible testing activities to ensure a quality product. It
gathers data from the product description, requirement, and use case
documents.

1 The test plan document includes the following:

2 Testing objectives

3 Test scope

4 Testing the frame

5 Environment

6 Reason for testing

7 Criteria for Entry and exit

8 Deliverables

9 Risk factors
 What is meant by test coverage?

Test coverage is a quality metric to represent the amount (in percentage) of

testing completed for a product. It is relevant for both functional and non-
functional testing activities. This metric is used to add missing test cases.

Is it possible to achieve 100% testing coverage? How would you

ensure it?
It’s considered not possible to perform 100% testing of any product. But you can
follow the below steps to come closer.

❖ Set a hard limit on the following factors:

➢ Percentage of test cases passed
➢ Number of bugs found

❖ Set a red flag if:

▪ Test budget is depleted
▪ Deadlines are breached
❖ Set a green flag if:
• The entire functionality gets covered in test cases
• All critical and major bugs must have a ‘CLOSED’ status

What are unit testing and integration testing?

Unit testing has many names such as module testing or component testing.

Many times, it is the developers who test individual units or modules to check if
they are working correctly.

Whereas, integration testing validates how well two or more units of software
interact with each other.
There are three ways to validate integration:

➢ Big Bang approach

➢ Top-down approach {stub }
➢ Bottom-up approach {driver }

What is the difference between a test driver and a test stub?

The test driver is a section of code that calls a software component under test. It
is useful in testing that follows the bottom-up approach.

The test stub is a dummy program that integrates with an application to

complete its functionality. It is relevant for testing that uses the top-down
approach.

For example:

Let’s assume a scenario where we have to test the interface between Modules A
and B. We have developed only Module A. Here, we can test Module A if we have
the real Module B or a dummy module for it. In this case, we call Module B as
the test stub.

Now, Module B can’t send or receive data directly from Module A. In such a
scenario, we’ve to move data from one module to another using some external
features called test driver

What is agile testing and why is it important?

Agile testing is a software testing process that evaluates software from the
customers’ point of view. It is favorable as it does not require the development
team to complete coding for starting QA. Instead, both coding and testing go hand
in hand. However, it may require continuous customer interaction.

What is the purpose of the end-to-end testing?

End-to-end testing is a testing strategy to execute tests that cover every possible
flow of an application from its start to finish. The objective of performing end-to-
end tests is to discover software dependencies and to assert that the correct input
is getting passed between various software modules and sub-systems.

Can we do system testing at any stage?

No. System testing should start only if all modules are in place and they work
correctly. However, it should be performed before UAT (user acceptance testing).

How do you test a product if the requirements are yet to be

freezed?
If the required specifications are not available for a product, then a test plan can
be created based on the assumptions made about the product. But we should get
all assumptions well-documented in the test plan.

If a product is in the production stage and one of its modules gets

updated, then is it necessary to Test?
It is suggested to perform a regression testing and run tests for all the other
modules as well. Finally, the QA should also carry out a system testing.

How will you overcome the challenges faced due to the

unavailability of proper documentation for testing?
If the standard documents like System Requirement Specification or Feature
Description Document are not available, then QAs may have to rely on the
following references, if available.

➢ Screenshots
➢ A previous version of the application
➢ Wireframes

Another reliable way is to have discussions with the developer and the business
analyst. It helps in solving the doubts, and it opens a channel for bringing clarity
on the requirements. Also, the emails exchanged could be useful as a testing
reference.

Smoke testing is yet another option that would help verify the main functionality
of the application. It would reveal some very basic bugs in the application. If none
of this work, then we can just test the application from our previous experiences.

Is there any difference between retesting and Sanity testing?

Possible differences between retesting and Sanity testing are as follows:

We perform retesting to verify the defect fixes. But, the Sanity testing assures that the
bug fix does not break other parts of the application.

Sanity test cases verify the functionality of some or all modules.

Sanity testing ensures the re-execution of passed test cases.

Whereas, retesting involves the execution of test cases that are in a failed state.

Retesting has a higher priority over Sanity. But in some cases, both get executed in
parallel.

What are functional test cases and non-functional test cases?

Functional testing: It is testing the ‘functionality’ of a software or an application under

test. It tests the behavior of the software under test. Based on the requirement of the
client, a document called a software specification or requirement specification is used
as a guide to test the application.

Non-functional testing: In software terms, when an application works as per the user’s
expectation, smoothly and efficiently under any condition, then it is stated as a reliable
application. Based on quality, it is very critical to test these parameters. This type of
testing is called non-functional testing.
What do you understand by STLC?
Software testing life cycle (STLC) proposes the test execution in a planned and
systematic manner. In the STLC model, many activities occur to improve the
quality of the product.

The STLC model lays down the following steps:

➢ Requirement Analysis
➢ Test Planning
➢ Test Case Development
➢ Environment Setup
➢ Test Execution
➢ Test Cycle Closure

In software testing, what does a fault mean?

Fault is a condition that makes the software fail to execute while performing the
considered function.

Mention the different types of software testing.

Various testing types used by manual testers are as follows:

➢ Unit testing
➢ Integration testing
➢ Regression testing
➢ Smoke testing
➢ Functional testing
➢ Performance testing
• Load testing
• Stress testing
• Network, Security testing
➢ White-box and Black-box testing
➢ Alpha and Beta testing
➢ System testing
What will you do when a bug turns up during testing?
When a bug occurs, we can follow the below steps.

➢ We can run more tests to make sure that the problem has a clear description.
➢ We can also run a few more tests to ensure that the same problem doesn’t exist
with different inputs.
➢ Once we are certain of the full scope of the bug, we can add details and report it.

How do severity and priority relate to each other?

Severity: It represents the gravity/depth of a bug. It describes the application
point of view.

Priority: It specifies which bug should get fixed first. It defines the user’s point of
view.

What do you mean by defect detection percentage in software

testing?
Defect detection percentage (DDP) is a type of testing metric. It indicates the
effectiveness of a testing process by measuring the ratio of defects discovered
before the release and reported after the release by customers.

For example, let’s say, the QA has detected 70 defects during the testing cycle and
the customer reported 20 more after the release. Then, DDP would be: 70/(70 +
20) = 72.1%

What does defect removal efficiency mean in software testing?

Defect removal efficiency (DRE) is one of the testing metrics. It is an indicator of
the efficiency of the development team to fix issues before the release.

It gets measured as the ratio of defects fixed to total the number of issues
discovered.
For example, let’s say, there were 75 defects discovered during the test cycle while
62 of them got fixed by the development team at the time of measurement. The
DRE would be 62/75 = 82.6%

What is the average age of a defect in software testing?

Defect age is the time elapsed between the day the tester discovered a defect and
the day the developer got it fixed.

While estimating the age of a defect, consider the following points:

The day of birth of a defect is the day it got assigned and accepted by the development
team.

The issues which got dropped are out of the scope.

Age can be both in hours or days.

The end time is the day the defect got verified and closed, not just the day it got fixed by
the development team.

Is there any difference between quality assurance, quality control,

and software testing? If so, what is it?
Quality Assurance (QA) refers to the planned and systematic way of monitoring
the quality of the process which is followed to produce a quality product. QA
tracks the test reports and modifies the process to meet the expectation.

Quality Control (QC) is relevant to the quality of the product. QC not only finds the
defects but suggests improvements too. Thus, a process that is set by QA is
implemented by QC. QC is the responsibility of the testing team.

Software testing is the process of ensuring that the product which is developed
by developers meets the users’ requirements. The aim of performing testing is to
find bugs and make sure that they get fixed. Thus, it helps to maintain the quality
of the product to be delivered to the customer.
Tell me about some of the essential qualities an experienced QA or
Test Lead must possess.
A QA or Test Lead should have the following qualities:

➢ Well-versed in software testing processes

➢ Ability to accelerate teamwork to increase productivity
➢ Improve coordination between QA and Dev engineers
➢ Provide ideas to refine QA processes
➢ Skill to conduct RCA meetings and draw conclusions
➢ Excellent written and interpersonal communication skills
➢ Ability to learn fast and to groom the team members

On the basis of which factors you would consider choosing

automated testing over manual testing?
depends on the following factors:

➢ Tests require periodic execution.

➢ Tests include repetitive steps.
➢ Tests execute in a standard runtime environment.
➢ Automation is expected to take less time.
➢ Automation is increasing reusability.
➢ Automation reports are available for every execution.
➢ Small releases like service packs include a minor bug fix. In such cases,
executing the regression test is sufficient for validation.

Tell me the key elements to consider while writing a bug report.

An ideal bug report should consist of the following key points:

➢ Defect Title: A short description of the bug

➢ Steps to reproduce: They include the detailed test steps to emulate the issue. They
also provide the test data and the time when the error has occurred
➢ Actual Result & Expected Result
➢ Sprint Name
➢ User story ID to link the Defect with Story ID
➢ Assignee
➢ Environment: Add any system settings that could help in reproducing the issue
➢ Module/section of the application in which the error has occurred
➢ Severity
➢ Screenshots
➢ Responsible QA: This person is a point of contact in case you want to follow-up
regarding this issue

Is there any difference between bug leakage and bug release?

Bug leakage: Bug leakage is something, when the bug is discovered by the end
user/customer and missed by the testing team to detect while testing the
software. It is a defect that exists in the application and not detected by the tester,
which is eventually found by the customer/end user.

Bug release: A bug release is when a particular version of the software is released
with a set of known bug(s). These bugs are usually of low severity/priority. It is
done when a software company can afford the existence of bugs in the released
software but not the time/cost for fixing it in that particular version.

What is exploratory testing?

 Exploratory testing is an approach to software testing, wherein testers learn
simultaneously about the application, test design and test execution. In other
words, it is a hands-on approach where testers are involved more in the test
execution part than in planning. Testers also should have good domain
knowledge to perform the exploratory testing.

What are the benefits of test reports?

Test reports will help us find the current status of a project and its quality. This
can help stakeholders and customers take necessary actions. The complete
documentation of test reports will help analyze different phases of the project.

What is meant by latent defect?

A latent defect is a hidden defect in an application/software, which cannot be
identified by a user. However, this will not cause any failure to the application
because the conditions will never be met.

How do you determine a time estimation for the completion of a

project?
"Time estimations involve a lot of factors. I would first understand the required
tasks and scale of the software. Then, I would divide the testing project into
smaller tasks that I could delegate to various software testers or myself. I would
estimate the time it could take each process to be completed by each tester and
add extra time to account for breaks or possible issues."

How would you handle a software testing conflict among other

team members?
"Every conflict would need to be managed differently, but generally, I would listen
to everyone involved to hear all sides of the issue and possible resolutions. If I
were the moderator, I would decide on the best scenario or hold a team meeting
if necessary. If I were another software tester, I would offer my resolution to the
team or moderator and follow the guidelines of the moderator or lead tester."

What is the role of documentation in Manual

Testing?
Documentation plays a crucial role in achieving effective software
testing. All the Details like requirement specifications, designs,
configurations, code changes, test plans, business rules, inspection
reports, test cases, user manuals, bug reports, etc. should be
documented.

Documenting the test cases will make it easier for developers to assess
the testing effort developer will need along with test coverage, tracking
and tracing requirement. Some commonly applied to investigate
procedures of the documentation associated with software testing are:

➢ Test Plan
➢ Test Scenario
➢ Test Case
➢ Traceability Matrix

What is the test case?

A test case is a document that has all the requirements on it like a set of
conditions or actions, the inputs, procedures that are performed on the
software application in order to check whether it fulfils all the given
requirements or not.

Test cases are a concept that includes a specific idea that is to be

tested, without specifying the exact steps to be taken or data to be used.
For example, in a test case, you document something like ‘ Test if a
discount can be applied on actual price ’.
 What is regression testing? When to apply it?
“Regression Testing is basically retesting a previously tested program to
ensure that it still performs the same after making changes in it and no
defects have been occurred or uncovered in unchanged areas of the
software, this process is known as regression testing.”

When some small changes are made in some part of the system, a
regression test is used to ensure that the system’s functionality does not
break somewhere in the system. The regression test makes sure that the
changes do not change the performance and working of the system.
When the following events occur it is recommended to perform
regression testing:

➢ When new functionalities are added to the system

➢ In case there are some changes in code or any other part of the system
➢ When the is a defect fix in the system.
➢ When the performance is not up to the mark.
➢ In case of environmental changes
➢ When there is a particular segment fix

Smoke Testing – Explanation with Example

Smoke Testing aka Build Verification Testing is a boon for software development as it
can be used as a verification method that can ensure that the product is stable and 100%
functional. In short, it’s the easiest method available to test all the functionalities of an
app.

Let’s have a look at the Smoke Testing Process in detail.

What is Smoke Testing?

Assume you order a book from Amazon. The moment you receive the parcel, the first
thing you do is to check that the parcel is addressed to you, and then make sure parcel is
intact and not torn.
Next, you open the parcel and see the book is what you ordered and also make sure it is
new, not old.

You flip through the pages to make sure everything is good. Right? Well, you just
completed your smoke testing on the parcel.
So the same lines when you have a software product or mobile app, you do a round of
basic checks to make sure that the software or app is ready for testing. This kind of
testing which is done to make sure that the build is stable enough to undergo regression and
functional testing is called Smoke Testing.