40 questions with answers for candidates with Freshers — 21 easy, 18 medium, 1 hard.
What interviewers expect: freshers
Interviews focus on CTFL basics: testing principles, test levels and types, SDLC models, black-box techniques with small calculations, and writing test cases and defect reports for common apps like login or checkout. Expect a practical task such as designing tests for a form, and HR questions about why you chose testing and how you handle disagreements.
This set is weighted towards Managing the Test Activities (6), Black-Box Test Techniques (5), White-Box, Experience and Collaboration-Based Testing (5), Fundamentals of Testing (5).
Seven principles and test process EP, BVA and decision tables Defect report writing Test levels and types
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01
What are entry and exit criteria? How do they relate to Definition of Ready and Definition of Done?
Entry criteria define preconditions for starting an activity, such as available resources, testware, a stable build and a test environment. Exit criteria define what must be achieved to finish, such as coverage reached, unresolved defect counts, defect density and passed tests. Running out of time or budget can also be a valid exit. In Agile, exit criteria are often called the Definition of Done and entry criteria for a story the Definition of Ready.
02
Build a decision table for a loan rule: approve if salary is at least 30,000 and credit score is at least 700; refer if only one is met; otherwise reject.
Conditions R1 R2 R3 R4
Salary >= 30000 T T F F
Score >= 700 T F T F
Actions
Approve X - - -
Refer to officer - X X -
Reject - - - X
Two Boolean conditions give 2 x 2 = 4 rules, so 4 test cases give 100 percent decision table coverage.
03
A field accepts integers from 1 to 99. Which set of values achieves 100 percent 2-value BVA coverage: {1, 99}, {0, 1, 99, 100}, {0, 50, 100} or {1, 2, 98, 99}?
The answer is {0, 1, 99, 100}. Two-value BVA needs each boundary value and its closest neighbour in the adjacent partition: 0 and 1 at the lower edge, 99 and 100 at the upper edge. {1, 99} misses the invalid neighbours, {0, 50, 100} misses 1 and 99, and {1, 2, 98, 99} stays inside the valid partition, which is closer to 3-value thinking.
04
Explain collaborative user story writing, the 3 Cs and INVEST.
User stories are written collaboratively by business, development and testing. The 3 Cs are Card (the medium describing the story), Conversation (how the story will be used, documented or verbal) and Confirmation (the acceptance criteria). A good story follows INVEST: Independent, Negotiable, Valuable, Estimable, Small and Testable. If stakeholders cannot say how to test a story, it is probably unclear or does not reflect real value.
05
What is the difference between testing and debugging?
Testing triggers failures caused by defects (dynamic testing) or finds defects directly in work products (static testing). Debugging is a development activity that reproduces a failure, diagnoses the root cause and fixes the defect. After the fix, testers run confirmation testing to check the fix and regression testing to check nothing else broke. In short, testing finds and reports problems, while debugging locates and removes them.
An informal review has no defined process or formal output and aims to detect anomalies. A walkthrough is led by the author and aims to educate, build consensus, generate ideas and detect anomalies. A technical review is done by technically qualified reviewers led by a moderator, aiming at consensus and technical decisions. An inspection is the most formal, follows the full process, collects metrics and aims to find the maximum number of anomalies.
07
What is risk, and how do project risks differ from product risks?
A risk is a potential event or condition whose occurrence causes an adverse effect. Risk level is determined by likelihood and impact. Project risks affect the management and control of the project, such as staff shortages, delays, budget cuts, vendor problems or tool issues. Product risks relate to quality characteristics of the product, such as missing functionality, wrong calculations, slow response, poor security or bad usability.
A retrospective is held at the end of an iteration, release or project to discuss what went well, what did not and how to improve. For testing, the benefits include more effective and efficient testing, better testware, team bonding, better quality of the test basis and stronger cooperation between developers and testers. Results should be recorded and the improvement actions tracked so that they are actually carried out.
09
A password must be 8 to 16 characters long. What are the 2-value BVA tests?
The partitions by length are 0 to 7 (invalid), 8 to 16 (valid) and 17 or more (invalid). 2-value BVA takes each boundary and its closest neighbour: 7 and 8 for the lower boundary, 16 and 17 for the upper boundary. So test passwords of length 7, 8, 16 and 17 characters, keeping other rules such as character types valid so only the length varies.
Static testing detects defects in the earliest phases, when they are cheapest to fix. It finds defects that dynamic testing cannot, such as unreachable code or defects in non-executable work products. It helps evaluate quality and build confidence, improves shared understanding among stakeholders, and gives fast feedback on code through static analysis in CI. Reviews cost effort, but the total cost of quality is usually lower.
11
Your CI pipeline takes two hours because most automated tests are UI tests. What do you suggest?
The suite looks like an inverted test pyramid. I would push checks down: move business logic checks to unit tests, cover service rules with API tests, and keep only a small set of end-to-end UI tests for critical user journeys. I would also run tests in parallel and split suites into a fast smoke stage and a fuller nightly run. Feedback becomes faster and tests less flaky.
12
What is statement testing and how is statement coverage calculated?
Statement testing designs tests that execute the executable statements in the code. Statement coverage = statements executed by the tests / total executable statements x 100. Reaching 100 percent means every executable statement ran at least once, so a defect in any statement may be triggered. However, it does not guarantee that all decision logic is tested, for example the false outcome of an if without an else.
Automation saves time by reducing repetitive manual work such as regression runs, comparisons and data entry. It prevents simple human errors through greater consistency and repeatability. It gives more objective assessment, such as coverage, and access to measurements too complex for humans. It reduces test execution times, giving faster feedback and earlier defect detection, and frees testers to design new and deeper tests.
14
How does acceptance test-driven development (ATDD) work?
ATDD is a test-first approach. The team, including business, developers and testers, analyses the story and acceptance criteria in a specification workshop, then writes test cases before implementation. Positive tests come first, then negative tests and non-functional characteristics. Tests are written in a form stakeholders understand, cover every criterion without going beyond the story, and are often automated so they become executable requirements.
15
Tell me about a time testing was squeezed at the end of a sprint. What did you do?
Situation: stories reached me only in the last two days of each sprint. Task: stop testing from being a bottleneck. Action: I proposed writing acceptance criteria and test cases during refinement, asked developers to merge smaller stories earlier, and automated API checks in the CI pipeline. Result: within three sprints, carried-over stories fell from five to one, and the team added early testing to its definition of done.
16
An age field accepts 18 to 60. Apply equivalence partitioning. How many tests give 100 percent EP coverage?
There are three partitions: below 18 (invalid), 18 to 60 (valid) and above 60 (invalid). Pick one value from each, for example 10, 35 and 70. So three test cases give 100 percent EP coverage. Test invalid partitions one at a time so that one invalid value does not hide another, and confirm with the specification whether non-numeric input forms another invalid partition.
17
Describe the activities of the review process in CTFL v4.0.
Planning defines scope, purpose, quality characteristics, exit criteria, effort and timeframe. Review initiation ensures everyone has access and is ready. In individual review, each reviewer assesses the work product and logs anomalies, recommendations and questions. Communication and analysis discusses anomalies and decides their status and actions. Fixing and reporting creates defect reports, the author fixes them, and results are reported against exit criteria.
18
Show two defects a static analysis tool can find without running the code.
def get_discount(amount):
if amount > 1000:
rate = 0.1
return amount * rate # rate undefined when amount <= 1000
def old_helper():
return 0
print('done') # unreachable code
The tool flags a possibly undefined variable, a data flow anomaly, and unreachable code. Both are found statically, before any test is executed.
19
What does the principle 'tests wear out' mean, and what was it called earlier?
In v4.0 the old 'pesticide paradox' was renamed 'tests wear out'. If the same tests are repeated many times, they become less effective at finding new defects because the code they exercise has already been fixed. Testers should modify existing tests and test data and write new tests. The exception is automated regression testing, where repeating the same tests is valuable because the goal is to confirm nothing has broken.
20
Tell me about a time you delivered testing under a very tight deadline.
Situation: a regulatory change had to go live in five days. Task: test it without missing critical risks. Action: I ran a quick risk analysis with the product owner, focused on calculation rules and reports, automated repetitive data checks, and gave daily status updates. Result: we released on time with no production defects in high-risk areas, and lower-risk cosmetic issues were fixed in the next sprint.
21
What is the difference between severity and priority?
Severity is the degree of impact the defect has on the system or its stakeholders, such as a crash or data loss. Priority is the urgency of fixing it, usually set by the business or product owner. Testers usually suggest severity, and priority is decided in triage. Example: a crash in a rarely used admin report is high severity but may be low priority.
22
What are false positives and false negatives in testing?
A false positive is a test result that reports a defect when none exists, for example a test failing because of wrong test data or an unstable environment. A false negative is a test that passes even though a defect is present, so the defect is missed. False positives waste time and reduce trust in tests; false negatives are more dangerous because defects escape to production.
23
How do you learn a new application quickly when you join a project?
Situation: I joined a project two weeks before a release. Task: become productive quickly. Action: I read user stories and help pages, did short exploratory sessions on main flows, built a mind map of features, asked a senior tester for the riskiest areas and reviewed recent defects. Result: within a week I was executing regression tests independently and found two defects in the first sprint.
A defect is logged as new or open, then triaged: it may be rejected, marked duplicate or deferred, or assigned for fixing. After the developer fixes it, it moves to awaiting confirmation testing. The tester re-tests; if it passes, the defect is closed, and if it fails, it is re-opened. Teams customise the workflow, but each status should have clear rules about who can move it and when.
25
What is static testing and how is it different from dynamic testing?
Static testing examines work products without executing them, through manual reviews or static analysis tools. Dynamic testing executes the software. Static testing finds defects directly, such as ambiguous requirements or coding standard violations, while dynamic testing causes failures whose defects are then located by debugging. Static testing works on non-executable products like requirements and test plans, and finds defects dynamic testing cannot, such as unreachable code.
26
Write a test charter for an exploratory session on a checkout page.
Charter: Explore the checkout page with different coupon and payment combinations to discover pricing and rounding errors. Time box: 60 minutes. Focus areas: coupon stacking, expired coupons, quantity changes after applying a coupon, currency rounding, and using the browser back button. Record test ideas, defects, questions and areas covered. Debrief with the test lead after the session to agree next charters.
1) Testing shows the presence, not the absence, of defects. 2) Exhaustive testing is impossible, so use test techniques, prioritisation and risk. 3) Early testing saves time and money. 4) Defects cluster together in a few components. 5) Tests wear out, so update them or write new ones. 6) Testing is context dependent. 7) Absence-of-defects fallacy: a defect-free system can still fail if it does not meet user needs.
28
Ten automated tests fail overnight, but the cause is an expired SSL certificate in the test environment. How should this be reported?
These failures are caused by the environment, not the test object, so they should not be logged as product defects. I would raise one environment issue with the infrastructure team, mark the test results as blocked or environment failure, and re-run after the certificate is renewed. I would also suggest monitoring certificate expiry so the same false positives do not recur.
29
In the CTFL exam you have ten questions left and only five minutes. What should you do?
There is no negative marking, so never leave a question blank. Quickly answer the easier ones first, eliminate obviously wrong options on the rest and pick the best remaining choice. Flag nothing new for review now. To avoid this situation, aim to spend about one minute per question in the first pass and skip long calculation questions to revisit later.
30
Discounts depend on several combined business rules such as membership, coupon and festival offers. Which technique do you choose?
Decision table testing fits best, because the outcome depends on combinations of conditions. I would list the conditions and actions, build the full table, remove infeasible combinations, minimise columns where a condition does not matter, and turn each column into a test case. The table also exposes gaps or contradictions in the rules, which I would raise with the business analyst before testing.
Shift-left means performing testing earlier in the SDLC. Practices include reviewing specifications from a tester's perspective, writing test cases before code, using CI/CD for fast feedback, running static analysis before dynamic testing and starting non-functional testing at component level. It costs extra effort early, but saves much more later, because a defect found in requirements is far cheaper to fix than one found in production.
In sequential models like waterfall and the V-model, testers join early for reviews and planning, but dynamic testing happens later once code exists. In iterative and incremental models such as Scrum, every iteration delivers a working increment, so static and dynamic testing happen at all levels in each iteration, regression testing is critical and automation is usually needed. The model affects scope, timing, documentation, techniques and automation.
33
Match these tasks to test activities: identifying test conditions, creating test data and suites, comparing actual and expected results, archiving testware.
Identifying and prioritising test conditions is test analysis. Creating test data, arranging test procedures and assembling test suites is test implementation. Running tests and comparing actual with expected results is test execution. Archiving testware, handing it over and recording lessons learned is test completion. Exams often mix design and implementation: designing test cases is test design, while preparing them to run is implementation.
34
You have three years of testing experience and three weeks to prepare for CTFL. How do you plan?
Experience helps, but the exam follows syllabus wording, not company practice. Week 1: read chapters 1 to 3 and the glossary terms in each learning objective. Week 2: study chapters 4 to 6, practise BVA, decision tables, state transitions, coverage and estimation calculations. Week 3: take timed official sample exams, analyse every wrong answer against the syllabus, and revise weak chapters.
35
What information does a defect report typically contain in CTFL v4.0?
A unique identifier; a title with a short summary; date observed, issuing organisation and author; the test object and test environment; context such as test case, test activity and test data; a description for reproduction with steps, logs, screenshots, and expected and actual results; severity; priority; status such as open, deferred, duplicate, re-opened, closed or rejected; and references, for example to the test case.
36
Tell me about a time you found an important defect. How did you report it?
Situation: while testing our final-year e-commerce project, I found checkout accepted expired coupon codes. Task: report it clearly before the demo. Action: I reproduced it three times and logged clear steps, expected and actual results, screenshots and the coupon data, and marked severity high because it meant revenue loss. Result: the developer fixed it within a day, and I added a regression test for coupon expiry.
37
Which test estimation techniques are described in CTFL v4.0?
Estimation based on ratios uses historical figures, such as a development-to-test effort ratio. Extrapolation uses measurements from the current project, for example averaging the last three iterations. Wideband Delphi is an expert-based technique where experts estimate separately and iterate until consensus; Planning Poker is an Agile variant. Three-point estimation uses optimistic, most likely and pessimistic values to calculate a weighted estimate and its standard deviation.
38
What do the K-levels K1, K2 and K3 mean in the CTFL syllabus?
K-levels describe the cognitive level of each learning objective. K1 is remember: recall a term or fact, such as listing test levels. K2 is understand: explain, compare, classify or give examples, such as distinguishing project and product risks. K3 is apply: use a procedure in a given situation, such as deriving boundary values or calculating a three-point estimate. Most exam questions are K2.
39
How does a tester contribute to release and iteration planning?
In release planning, testers help write testable user stories and acceptance criteria, take part in product and quality risk analyses, estimate test effort for stories, define the test approach and plan release testing. In iteration planning, they join detailed risk analysis of stories, check testability, break stories into testing tasks, estimate testing effort and identify the functional and non-functional aspects to test.
40
A test checks that the loan module correctly sends customer data to an external credit bureau API. Which test level is this?
This is system integration testing, because it tests the interface between our system and an external system, the credit bureau API. If it checked the interface between two internal modules of our own application, it would be component integration testing. In exam questions, keywords such as 'external system', 'third-party service' or 'other systems' point to system integration testing.
Frequently asked questions
What is asked in ISTQB interviews for Freshers?
Interviews focus on CTFL basics: testing principles, test levels and types, SDLC models, black-box techniques with small calculations, and writing test cases and defect reports for common apps like login or checkout. Expect a practical task such as designing tests for a form, and HR questions about why you chose testing and how you handle disagreements.
How many questions should I practise before a ISTQB interview?
Work through all 40 questions here, then the company-wise sets for the employers you are targeting. Quality matters more than count: be able to explain why each answer is right.
Which topics matter most for Freshers?
Focus first on Seven principles and test process, EP, BVA and decision tables, Defect report writing, Test levels and types.