Curated interview practice questions with answers. These are practice scenarios, not a verified list of past interview questions.
About Tech Mahindra hiring for ISTQB roles
Tech Mahindra is an Indian IT services and consulting company and part of the Mahindra Group. It is known for its strong telecom and communications practice and also serves banking, manufacturing and healthcare clients. In India it hires for software engineers, test engineers, network engineers, data analysts and data engineers.
For ISTQB roles, this Tech Mahindra practice set focuses most on Managing the Test Activities (6), White-Box, Experience and Collaboration-Based Testing (6), Static Testing (5), Defect and Configuration Management (4). It has 13 easy, 17 medium questions, so you can start easy and work up to the harder ones.
Company type
IT services
Headquarters
Pune, India
Main India offices
Pune, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Noida, Chennai
Tech Mahindra ISTQB interview process
Online assessment (aptitude + English essay)
Coding test
Technical interview
HR round
Typical pattern based on public candidate experiences. Rounds vary by role, team and year.
Solved for Tech MahindraStart practicing
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User acceptance testing is done by intended users. Operational acceptance testing is done by operations staff and covers backup, restore, installation and disaster recovery. Contractual and regulatory acceptance testing checks contract criteria or legal rules. Alpha testing is done by potential users at the developer's site, and beta testing by users at their own locations. Acceptance testing mainly builds confidence and validates fitness, not defect finding.
02
A module of 15,000 lines of code has 45 defects. Calculate its defect density and explain how you would use it.
Defect density = defects / size = 45 / 15 KLOC = 3 defects per KLOC. If other modules average 1 defect per KLOC, this module is a defect cluster, so I would increase test depth there, ask for a code review or refactoring, and add more regression tests. Compare density only across similar code, because language and complexity affect the numbers.
03
What is the difference between confirmation testing and regression testing?
Confirmation testing checks that an original defect has been fixed, by re-running the failed tests or new tests that cover the change. Regression testing checks that a change, including a fix, has not caused adverse effects elsewhere, in the same component, connected components or the environment. Regression suites grow and run often, so they are strong candidates for automation, typically inside a CI pipeline.
The test pyramid shows that tests have different granularity and that a healthy suite has many small, fast, isolated tests at the bottom, such as unit or component tests, and fewer large, slow, complex end-to-end tests at the top, such as UI tests. Middle layers often cover API or integration tests. The pyramid helps teams plan automation so the suite is fast, stable and cheap to maintain.
05
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.
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
A field accepts integers from 5 to 15. List the 3-value BVA test values.
In 3-value BVA, each boundary gives the boundary value plus both neighbours. Lower boundary 5 gives 4, 5 and 6. Upper boundary 15 gives 14, 15 and 16. So the six values are 4, 5, 6, 14, 15 and 16. Compared with 2-value BVA (4, 5, 15, 16), the extra values 6 and 14 help detect mistakes in comparison operators inside the range.
08
A quantity field accepts 1 to 100. List the 2-value BVA test values.
The valid partition is 1 to 100, with invalid partitions below and above it. For each boundary, take the boundary and its closest neighbour in the adjacent partition. Lower boundary: 0 and 1. Upper boundary: 100 and 101. So 2-value BVA needs four values: 0, 1, 100 and 101, and four test cases give 100 percent 2-value boundary coverage.
09
Tell me about an exploratory testing session that found a critical defect.
Situation: a ticket booking app had passed all scripted tests. Task: run a one-hour exploratory session on seat selection. Action: I tried quick double taps, switching networks and booking the same seat from two devices. Result: two users could book the same seat. I logged a detailed report with videos, it was fixed before release, and concurrency tests were added to the regression suite.
10
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 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.
12
The requirements are incomplete and release is in two days. How do you test?
I would use session-based exploratory testing. I would write short charters for the riskiest areas, agree priorities with the product owner, run time-boxed sessions, note defects and questions, and debrief after each session. I would add error guessing for common failure types and a quick checklist for critical flows, and report clearly which areas were covered and which risks remain.
13
How do you prioritise risks using a likelihood and impact matrix?
Score each risk for likelihood and impact on a scale such as 1 to 5, and multiply to get the risk level. Example: wrong interest calculation, likelihood 3 and impact 5, level 15; slow report export, likelihood 4 and impact 2, level 8; spelling errors, 4 and 1, level 4. Test the highest levels first and most deeply, using more rigorous techniques and earlier test execution.
14
What is the difference between a test progress report and a test completion report?
A test progress report is produced regularly during testing, for example daily or per sprint. It covers the period, progress against plan, impediments, metrics, new or changed risks and planned work. A test completion report is prepared at the end of a test level, iteration or project. It summarises testing, evaluates quality against the plan, lists deviations, unmitigated risks, open defects, metrics and lessons learned.
15
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.
16
Your manual regression suite has not found a new defect for several releases. What do you do?
This points to the 'tests wear out' principle. I would review the suite against recent changes and defect data, refresh test data and steps, add tests for new features and risky areas, and run exploratory sessions to find new kinds of defects. Stable regression checks are still worth keeping and automating, because their job is to confirm unchanged areas still work, not to discover new defects.
17
Marks from 0 to 100 give: 0-39 fail, 40-59 pass, 60-100 distinction. How many partitions and 2-value boundary values are there?
Valid partitions: 0-39, 40-59 and 60-100, plus two invalid partitions: below 0 and above 100, so 5 partitions. Boundaries in 2-value BVA: -1, 0, 39, 40, 59, 60, 100 and 101, which is 8 values. Five tests give 100 percent EP coverage, and eight tests give 100 percent 2-value boundary coverage. Note that output partitions like fail, pass and distinction also guide the partitioning.
18
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.
19
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.
Error guessing anticipates errors, defects and failures based on the tester's knowledge: how the application worked before, the types of mistakes developers tend to make, and failures seen in similar applications. A methodical form is the fault attack: list possible errors, defects and failures, then design tests to expose them. Examples include division by zero, empty inputs, very long strings, special characters and wrong date formats.
21
In a review, what is the difference between an anomaly and a defect?
Reviewers log anomalies: observations that differ from what they expected. Not every anomaly is a defect; some turn out to be misunderstandings, open questions or improvement suggestions. During communication and analysis the team decides each anomaly's status, owner and required action, and confirmed ones become defects for the author to fix. This keeps reviews constructive instead of treating every comment as the author's mistake.
22
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.
23
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.
24
Payment type has 3 partitions (card, UPI, wallet) and customer type has 2 (new, existing). What is the minimum number of tests for Each Choice coverage?
Each Choice coverage needs every partition from each input used at least once, and one test can cover one partition of each input at the same time. So the minimum equals the largest number of partitions: 3. Example tests: card with new, UPI with existing, wallet with new. Covering all combinations would need 3 x 2 = 6 tests, which is not required for Each Choice.
25
Which work products can be examined by static testing?
Almost any work product that can be read and understood: requirements, user stories, acceptance criteria, architecture and design documents, source code, test plans, test cases, test charters, backlog items, contracts, project plans, schedules and budgets. Static analysis tools need work products with a formal structure, such as code or models with defined syntax. Products that are hard for humans to interpret, like third-party executable code, are not suitable for review.
26
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.
27
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.
28
What happens in test monitoring, test control and test completion?
Test monitoring gathers information about testing to check progress and whether exit criteria are met, using metrics like test case progress, defect counts, coverage and cost. Test control uses that information to give guidance and corrective actions, such as reprioritising tests or changing the schedule. Test completion collects data from finished activities to consolidate experience, testware and other information, usually at milestones like release or end of iteration.
29
What is the difference between verification and validation?
Verification checks whether the system meets its specified requirements: 'Are we building the product right?' Validation checks whether the system meets user and stakeholder needs in its operational environment: 'Are we building the right product?' Both are testing objectives. Example: verification confirms the eight-character password rule is implemented, while validation checks that real users can actually register easily on a mobile phone.
30
What is branch testing and how is branch coverage measured?
A branch is a transfer of control between two nodes in the control flow graph. Branches can be unconditional, like straight-line code, or conditional, like the true and false outcomes of an if or the cases of a switch. Branch coverage = branches exercised / total branches x 100. Branch testing designs tests so that every branch, including the hidden false path of an if without else, is exercised.
Tips to crack the Tech Mahindra ISTQB interview
Read about telecom basics like 4G, 5G and network operations, since communications is Tech Mahindra's largest vertical.
Practise English essay and verbal ability sections, which often appear in Tech Mahindra online assessments.
Revise SQL and one programming language, and prepare a clear two-minute explanation of your project.
Keep a one-minute story ready for every project on your CV: problem, your part, tools, result.
Practise the hard questions on this page aloud; Tech Mahindra interviewers usually ask follow-ups on your first answer.
Frequently asked questions
How many rounds are there in the Tech Mahindra ISTQB interview?
Candidates usually go through 4 stages: Online assessment (aptitude + English essay); Coding test; Technical interview; HR round. The exact rounds change with the role, team, location and your experience, so confirm the process with the recruiter.
Which topics should I prepare for the Tech Mahindra ISTQB interview?
This practice set leans on Managing the Test Activities (6), White-Box, Experience and Collaboration-Based Testing (6), Static Testing (5), Defect and Configuration Management (4). Revise those first, then practise explaining one or two of your own projects end to end, because most Tech Mahindra interviewers ask you to walk through real work.
Are these the exact questions asked at Tech Mahindra?
No. These are curated practice questions that match the skills and difficulty usually tested in it services interviews like Tech Mahindra's. They are not a leaked or verified list of past questions.
Where does Tech Mahindra hire ISTQB professionals in India?
Tech Mahindra has large teams in Pune, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Noida, Chennai. Openings and locations change often, so check the Tech Mahindra careers page and filter by city and experience.