Automation Testing Interview Questions for Freshers (₹3–4 LPA)

Headless mode or screen resolution, timing issues, environment data, missing dependencies, browser–driver version mismatch or parallel conflicts. Check logs and failure screenshots and make waits robust.

A callback where one system sends an HTTP request to another when an event occurs. Test with a mock receiver or tools such as webhook.site and verify the payload.

A try block that automatically closes resources such as file readers or streams, preventing leaks without a finally block.

ArrayList stores an ordered list (e.g. all product names on a page). HashMap stores key–value pairs (e.g. test data or config properties).

id, name, className, tagName, linkText, partialLinkText, CSS selector and XPath. Prefer stable ids or CSS, using XPath when needed.

BeforeSuite, BeforeTest, BeforeClass, BeforeMethod, Test, AfterMethod, AfterClass, AfterTest and AfterSuite.

Set window size explicitly, use proper waits, check animations and viewport differences, and capture screenshots and logs to find timing issues.

An interface for systems to talk to each other. GET reads, POST creates, PUT replaces, PATCH updates partially and DELETE removes.

Runtime events that disrupt flow. Use try-catch-finally, throw, throws, and custom exceptions; checked exceptions must be handled while unchecked ones need not be.

Implicit, explicit (WebDriverWait with ExpectedConditions) and fluent waits; avoid mixing implicit and explicit waits and never rely on Thread.sleep.

Use TestNG parallel="methods | classes | tests" with thread-count, keep WebDriver in a ThreadLocal, and use Selenium Grid or a cloud grid for multiple browsers.

A subclass redefines a parent method. Frameworks use it to customise base behaviour, such as overriding a wait or click method in a base page class.

Use isDisplayed(), isEnabled() and isSelected() on the WebElement before interacting or asserting.

Use mocks or stubs such as WireMock to simulate the dependency and test your service in isolation.

Docker packages tools in containers so tests run identically everywhere; Selenium Grid and browsers can be started quickly in containers.

String is immutable — every change creates a new object. StringBuilder is mutable and faster for repeated changes (not thread-safe; StringBuffer is).

//button[normalize-space()='Login'] //button[contains(text(),'Login')]

A helper that initialises @FindBy elements lazily using initElements; some teams skip it in favour of plain By locators.

Implement ITestListener.onTestFailure(): File src = ((TakesScreenshot) driver).getScreenshotAs(OutputType.FILE); then copy it into the reports folder.

Code pushed to Git → Jenkins job triggers (webhook or schedule) → mvn clean test with the suite XML → reports and screenshots published → notifications on Slack/email → failures triaged before release.

A special method that initialises an object. It can be overloaded with different parameters, and testers use it to pass the WebDriver into page classes.

Use then().time(lessThan(2000L)) and then().header("Content-Type", containsString("json")) along with body assertions.

final makes a variable, method or class unchangeable; finally is a block that always runs after try-catch; finalize is a deprecated method called before garbage collection.

A design pattern where each page is a class holding its locators and actions, so tests stay readable and a locator change is fixed in one place.

Re-locate the element after the DOM refreshes, use explicit waits for the refreshed element, don't keep element references for long, or wrap the action in retry logic.

Keep credentials in external data, parameterise the test with a data provider, reuse a login method in a page class, and clear sessions between roles.

Schedule the job, spin up environments or containers, run suites in parallel, store reports and screenshots, notify failures on Slack or email and track trends.

Click to open the dropdown, then locate the option by its text, e.g. //li[text()='India'], and click it. Add an explicit wait for the animation.

An authorisation framework where a client obtains an access token from an auth server and sends it as a Bearer token; tests fetch and reuse the token in setup.

Continuous Integration builds and tests every commit, and Continuous Delivery ships automatically. Automated tests give fast feedback and gate releases.

Classes such as Integer and Double that wrap primitive types as objects, needed for collections and for parsing text from web elements.

this refers to the current object; super refers to the parent class, used to call parent constructors and methods.

Do not automate it; ask for a test environment where CAPTCHA is disabled or use test keys, or a bypass token agreed with developers.

Arrays have a fixed size and can hold primitives; ArrayList grows dynamically, holds objects and offers helper methods.

Overloading: same method name, different parameters, in the same class (compile time). Overriding: a subclass redefines a parent method with the same signature (runtime polymorphism). WebDriver driver = new ChromeDriver() is runtime polymorphism.

Maven project → POM with a BasePage → driver factory with ThreadLocal → config files → data-driven utilities (Excel/JSON) → TestNG or Cucumber runner → logging → Extent reports with screenshots on failure → Jenkins pipeline.

Git tracks changes, enables code review, branching and rollback and lets teams collaborate on the framework safely.

Keep URLs and credentials in per-environment config files or variables, choose with a command-line parameter and never hard-code secrets.

It uses the key's hashCode to find a bucket and equals to resolve collisions, giving O(1) average lookups; Java 8 converts long buckets into trees.

Locators such as above, below, toLeftOf and near that find elements by their position relative to another element.

It makes a test run only after specified tests pass, otherwise it is skipped. Use sparingly as it creates coupled tests.

200 OK, 201 Created, 400 bad request, 401 unauthenticated, 403 forbidden, 404 not found and 500 server error.

Encapsulation: private locators with public page methods. Inheritance: pages extend a BasePage. Polymorphism: the WebDriver interface for different browsers. Abstraction: utility layers hiding Selenium details.

getText returns visible inner text; getAttribute returns an HTML attribute or property such as value, href or class.

If the element is <input type="file">, use element.sendKeys("C:/path/file.pdf"). Use the Robot class or AutoIt only as a last resort for OS dialogs.

Hard assert stops the test at the first failure; SoftAssert collects failures and reports them together when assertAll() is called.

@BeforeTest runs once before all methods in a test tag of testng.xml; @BeforeMethod runs before every test method.

Get getWindowHandles(), loop to find the target, and call driver.switchTo().window(handle); switch back using the stored parent handle.

Automate stable, repetitive, high-risk and data-heavy flows (smoke, regression). Skip one-time tests, frequently changing UI and checks needing human judgement. Compare run frequency × manual time with build and maintenance cost.

A test framework offering annotations, grouping, prioritisation, parallel runs, data providers and reports, which structure and scale Selenium tests.

Define parameter name and value in the XML and read them with @Parameters in the test or configuration method.

A method annotated with @DataProvider returns a 2D object array and the test with dataProvider = "name" runs once per row.

Implement IRetryAnalyzer with a retry count and attach it through the test annotation or a listener to rerun flaky tests.

A scripted or declarative Jenkinsfile that defines stages such as build, test and deploy as code stored with the project.

Static members belong to the class and are shared by all instances; non-static members belong to each object.

Encapsulation, inheritance, polymorphism and abstraction. Testers use them to build reusable page classes, base tests and utility libraries.

Store each driver in a ThreadLocal so every thread gets its own instance and tests do not interfere.

Use external files or APIs and database setup scripts, generate unique data per run, and clean up afterwards so tests stay independent.

ArrayList has fast random access and slower inserts in the middle; LinkedList has fast inserts and deletes but slow access by index.

findElement returns the first match and throws NoSuchElementException if nothing is found. findElements returns a List (empty if nothing is found) — handy to check whether an element exists.

Implicit wait applies globally to element lookups. Explicit wait waits for a specific condition (WebDriverWait + ExpectedConditions). Fluent wait is an explicit wait with custom polling and ignored exceptions.

Use Apache POI for Excel and the Properties class for config files, loaded in a utility class so tests read data instead of hard-coding it.

POST creates a resource, PUT replaces the whole resource (idempotent) and PATCH updates part of it.

Create a job or pipeline that checks out code, runs mvn test, publishes reports and triggers on commits or schedules.

TestNG reports, ExtentReports and Allure give charts, screenshots and logs that are easy to share with the team.

It manages dependencies through pom.xml, builds the project, runs tests with Surefire and standardises structure across teams.

driver.switchTo().alert() lets you accept, dismiss, read text or send keys. Browser windows are handled with window handles.

A Java library that makes API tests readable using given-when-then, with easy request building, response validation and JSON path support.

Use headers such as Bearer tokens, basic auth, API keys or OAuth flows; fetch a token in a setup step and reuse it.

public (everywhere), protected (package and subclasses), default (package) and private (same class), used to control visibility of test utilities.

Locate rows and columns with XPath such as //table//tr and //td, loop through them to read or click cells, or build the XPath dynamically from the row text.

Use CSS or XPath with contains(), starts-with() or stable attributes, relative axes, or data-test attributes agreed with developers.

200 OK, 201 Created, 204 No Content, 400 Bad Request, 401 Unauthorized, 403 Forbidden, 404 Not Found, 500 Internal Server Error.

throw actually raises an exception object inside a method; throws declares in the method signature that it may pass an exception to the caller.

Mouse and keyboard actions such as hover, drag and drop, double click, right click and key combinations, built with moveToElement(...).perform().

Use JavascriptExecutor with window.scrollTo or scrollIntoView, or the Actions class scroll methods in Selenium 4.