Manual Testing – Interview Questions & Answers
Quick, interview-ready answers that cover manual testing fundamentals, processes, and techniques.
1. What is Software Testing?
Software testing is the process of verifying that an application meets requirements and identifying defects to ensure quality.
2. What is the difference between Verification and Validation?
- Verification: Are we building the product right? (reviews, inspections)
- Validation: Are we building the right product? (actual testing)
3. What is SDLC?
SDLC is the Software Development Life Cycle that defines phases like requirement analysis, design, development, testing, deployment, and maintenance.
4. What is STLC?
STLC defines testing phases such as requirement analysis, test planning, test design, execution, defect reporting, and test closure.
5. What is a Test Plan?
A test plan is a document that defines testing scope, approach, resources, schedule, risks, and deliverables.
6. What is Test Strategy?
Test strategy is a high-level document defining the overall testing approach and standards across projects.
7. What is a Test Scenario?
A test scenario is a high-level description of what functionality or workflow needs to be tested.
8. What is a Test Case?
A test case is a detailed set of steps, inputs, and expected results used to validate a requirement.
9. What is Test Data?
Test data is the input used to execute test cases, including valid, invalid, and boundary values.
10. What is RTM?
Requirement Traceability Matrix maps requirements to test cases to ensure complete coverage.
11. What is a Defect?
A defect is a deviation between expected and actual behavior of the application.
12. What is the Defect Life Cycle?
Defect life cycle includes states like New, Assigned, Open, Fixed, Re-Test, Closed, and Reopened.
13. What is Severity?
Severity indicates the impact of a defect on the application.
14. What is Priority?
Priority indicates how urgently a defect should be fixed.
15. Difference between Severity and Priority?
- Severity: Impact on system (tester decides)
- Priority: Urgency of fix (business decides)
16. What is Smoke Testing?
Smoke testing verifies basic critical functionality to check build stability.
17. What is Sanity Testing?
Sanity testing verifies specific fixes or changes in a new build.
18. What is Regression Testing?
Regression testing ensures new changes do not break existing functionality.
19. What is Re-Testing?
Re-testing verifies that a specific defect has been fixed.
20. What is Exploratory Testing?
Exploratory testing is simultaneous learning, test design, and execution without predefined test cases.
21. What is Session-Based Testing?
Session-based testing is structured exploratory testing using time-boxed sessions with defined charters.
22. What is Boundary Value Analysis?
BVA tests values at the edges of input ranges where defects are common.
23. What is Equivalence Partitioning?
EP divides input data into valid and invalid groups to reduce test cases.
24. What is Decision Table Testing?
Decision table testing validates different combinations of conditions and actions.
25. What is State Transition Testing?
State transition testing verifies system behavior when moving between states.
26. What is Risk-Based Testing?
Risk-based testing prioritizes testing based on business and technical risk.
27. What is UAT?
User Acceptance Testing is performed by business users to validate business requirements.
28. What is Production Testing?
Production testing is limited validation performed in the live environment after deployment.
29. What is Test Coverage?
Test coverage measures how much of the application or requirements have been tested.
30. What is Release Sign-Off?
Release sign-off is formal approval confirming testing is complete and risks are accepted for release.