01
What is the difference between beforeEach and fixtures?
Show answer
beforeEach runs the same code before every test in scope; fixtures are lazy, composable and only set up what a test uses.
PwC Playwright Testing Interview Questions & Answers
Curated interview practice questions with answers. These are practice scenarios, not a verified list of past interview questions.
About PwC hiring for Playwright Testing roles
PwC is one of the Big Four professional services networks, offering assurance, tax, consulting and deals services. In India, PwC member firms and acceleration centres support global clients with technology consulting, data analytics, cyber, risk and process work. It hires for associate and consultant roles in analytics, BI, testing, ERP and risk assurance.
For Playwright Testing roles, this PwC practice set focuses most on Fixtures and Hooks (8), API Testing (5), Component Testing (5), Framework Design and CI/CD (5). It has 9 easy, 26 medium, 5 hard questions, so you can start easy and work up to the harder ones.
- Company type
- Consulting
- Headquarters
- London, United Kingdom
- Main India offices
- Kolkata, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Gurugram
PwC Playwright Testing interview process
- Online assessment (aptitude + technical)
- Group discussion or case round
- Technical interview
- Partner or HR round
Typical pattern based on public candidate experiences. Rounds vary by role, team and year.
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02
Your mocked route never fires. What do you check?
Show answer
Check that the route is registered before the request is sent, usually before goto. Compare the pattern with the real URL in the trace network tab, including query strings and host. Make sure a service worker is not handling the request, and set serviceWorkers: 'block' if it is. Also check that another handler is not matching first or the route was not removed.
03
How do you test API error scenarios?
Show answer
Send invalid payloads or missing auth and assert 400, 401 or 404 codes and the error message bodies.
04
An axe scan reports 40 violations on a legacy page. How do you add accessibility checks without blocking every build?
Show answer
Record the current violations as a known baseline, for example by snapshotting violation ids and targets, and fail only on new ones. Fix the worst issues first, such as missing labels and contrast on key flows, and shrink the baseline every sprint. Make new pages and components meet zero violations from day one. Report the trend to the team so the debt is visible rather than silently ignored.
05
How do you assert the number of rows in a table?
Show answer
// waits until exactly 5 data rows are rendered
const rows = page.getByRole('table').getByRole('row');
await expect(rows).toHaveCount(6); // 1 header + 5 rows
// avoid: expect(await rows.count()).toBe(6)
// that reads once and does not retry
06
Tell me about a bug you found through API testing that UI tests missed.
Show answer
Situation: the UI hid a delete button for normal users, so UI tests passed. Task: check permissions properly. Action: I called the delete endpoint directly with a normal user's token and it returned 204. Result: the team fixed the server-side permission check, and I added role-based API tests for every admin endpoint.
07
What are the main data types in JavaScript?
Show answer
string, number, boolean, null, undefined, symbol, bigint and object (including arrays and functions).
08
What are global setup and teardown?
Show answer
Scripts that run once before or after the whole run, for seeding data, starting services or creating authentication state.
09
Write a component test for a Counter that increments on click.
Show answer
import { test, expect } from '@playwright/experimental-ct-react';
import { Counter } from './Counter';
test('increments on click', async ({ mount }) => {
const component = await mount(<Counter initial={2} />);
await component.getByRole('button', { name: 'Add' }).click();
await expect(component.getByTestId('count')).toHaveText('3');
});
10
How do you read a Playwright timeout error message?
Show answer
The error names the action and locator, for example locator.click: Timeout 30000ms exceeded, followed by a call log. The call log lists each attempt, such as waiting for the element to be visible, enabled and stable, or another element intercepting pointer events. The last lines show what blocked the action. Read it before changing timeouts.
11
How do you handle iframes in Playwright?
Show answer
Use page.frameLocator('#frame').getByRole(...) so actions work inside the iframe with auto-waiting.
12
A multi-select filter test passes even when an extra option stays selected. How do you tighten it?
Show answer
The test probably checks only that the wanted options are selected, for example with a loop of toBeChecked or a contains check. Replace it with await expect(select).toHaveValues(['red', 'green']), which passes only when exactly those values are selected, and it retries until the timeout. For custom multi-select widgets, assert the full list of selected chips with toHaveText on the chip locator.
13
In what order do hooks and fixtures run?
Show answer
Worker fixtures and beforeAll run first for the worker. For each test, the test fixtures it needs are set up, then beforeEach hooks run, then the test body. Afterwards afterEach hooks run, then test fixtures are torn down in reverse order. afterAll and worker fixture teardown run when the worker finishes. Fixtures are lazy, so unused ones never run.
14
What is a locator in Playwright?
Show answer
An object describing how to find an element, re-evaluated on every action so it always targets the current DOM.
15
How do you handle token refresh in long API test runs?
Show answer
Fetch tokens in a fixture with expiry tracking and refresh it when it is about to expire, keeping tests unaware of the details.
16
How do you structure environment-specific configs in Playwright?
Show answer
Use dotenv files per environment, read them in playwright.config and set baseURL and credentials from variables, selecting with an ENV flag.
17
How do you mock one GraphQL query when all calls go to /graphql?
Show answer
await page.route('**/graphql', async route => {
const body = route.request().postDataJSON();
if (body.operationName === 'GetCart') {
return route.fulfill({ json: { data: { cart: { items: [] } } } });
}
return route.fallback();
});
18
A setup fixture creates expensive test data and suite time has doubled. How do you redesign it?
Show answer
Measure first with the report timings. Then create data through the API instead of the UI, move read-only shared data into a worker-scoped fixture, and seed common reference data once in a setup project. Keep per-test data only for things a test changes. Cache login with storageState. This usually cuts setup time sharply without losing isolation.
19
What happens before and after await use() in a fixture?
Show answer
Code before await use(value) is setup and runs before the test. use hands the value to the test and waits while the test runs. Code after it is teardown and runs when the test finishes, even if it failed. This keeps setup and cleanup for one resource in one place, which is cleaner than a separate beforeEach and afterEach pair.
20
An API returns 200 but the body contains an error field. How should your test catch this?
Show answer
Never trust status alone. Assert the body structure, for example that error is absent and data has the expected fields, ideally with a schema check. Report the issue, because returning 200 for errors breaks clients and monitoring. Add a helper that validates both status and body shape so every test checks it consistently.
21
Tell me about the first time you used the trace viewer to solve a failure.
Show answer
Situation: during my internship a login test failed only in CI and I could not reproduce it. Task: find the cause. Action: I enabled trace on first retry, downloaded the trace and stepped through the actions, and saw a cookie banner covering the sign-in button in the CI viewport. Result: I added a step to accept the banner, the test became stable, and I shared the method with my team.
22
How do you mock third-party APIs in UI tests?
Show answer
Use page.route to intercept the call and fulfil it with fixed JSON so tests do not depend on external systems.
23
What is ctViteConfig and when do you need it?
Show answer
ctViteConfig is an option in the use block of playwright-ct.config.ts that passes extra Vite settings to the component bundle. You need it when the app relies on path aliases, plugins, environment defines or special asset handling that Playwright's default Vite setup does not know about. A typical case is adding resolve.alias so imports like @/components work in tests.
24
Describe a time you had to decide which testing level a feature belonged to.
Show answer
Situation: a pricing table had many discount rules shown in the UI. Task: decide how to test them. Action: I proposed unit tests for the calculation, component tests for how each rule rendered, and one end-to-end test for buying a discounted plan. I explained the runtime and maintenance cost of each. Result: the team agreed, we covered 30 rules in under a minute, and the approach became our default.
25
How do you perform drag and drop and hover?
Show answer
locator.hover() and locator.dragTo(target) perform these actions, with auto-waiting for actionability.
26
Tell me about setting up CI for a test suite.
Show answer
Situation: our team ran tests only on laptops before releases. Task: run them automatically on every pull request. Action: I created a CI workflow with browser install, sharding over four machines, merged HTML reports and traces on retry. Result: feedback came within twelve minutes on each pull request, and release-day surprises dropped sharply.
27
How do you take visual snapshots of each component state in component tests?
Show answer
Mount the component once per state, for example default, disabled, loading and error, and call await expect(component).toHaveScreenshot() for each. Since only the component is on the page, images are small, stable and fast to review. Run them in the same Docker image as CI. This often replaces many full-page visual tests that break for unrelated reasons.
28
What are the serial and parallel modes of test.describe.configure?
Show answer
test.describe.configure({ mode: 'serial' }) runs tests in order in one worker, and if one fails the rest are skipped. mode: 'parallel' lets tests in one file run across workers. Serial mode suits a true step-by-step flow, but it makes tests depend on each other, so prefer independent tests and use serial only when there is no alternative.
29
What happens if you forget an await?
Show answer
The action runs without waiting, so the next step may run first — causing flaky failures or 'Target closed' errors. The @typescript-eslint/no-floating-promises rule catches it.
30
How do you send authentication headers?
Show answer
Set extraHTTPHeaders in the config or pass headers per request, for example Authorization: Bearer token fetched in a setup step.
31
How do you handle dialogs such as alerts?
Show answer
Register page.on('dialog', d => d.accept()) before the action triggers the dialog.
32
Locator vs ElementHandle?
Show answer
A Locator is lazy, re-resolved on every action and auto-waits (recommended). An ElementHandle points to one DOM node and can go stale.
33
Why use readonly and as const for test data?
Show answer
readonly and as const stop test data from being changed by accident, for example one test editing a shared user object and breaking the next. as const also keeps literal types, so ['admin', 'viewer'] as const gives the type 'admin' | 'viewer'. That lets TypeScript reject invalid roles at compile time instead of during a run.
34
What is testInfo and what can you do with it?
Show answer
testInfo is passed as the second argument to tests and hooks. It gives the test title, project name, retry number, status and output path. You can attach files, add annotations, change the timeout with testInfo.setTimeout, or skip conditionally. For example, attach extra logs only when testInfo.status differs from testInfo.expectedStatus.
35
How do you run one group of tests serially while the rest of the suite runs in parallel?
Show answer
Put the group in its own project with fullyParallel: false and limit it to one worker, which recent versions allow with a workers setting on the project, or run it in a separate CI step with --project=serial --workers=1. Inside a file, test.describe.configure({ mode: 'serial' }) keeps order. Use project dependencies if the group must run after the parallel tests.
36
What are the key options in playwright.config.ts?
Show answer
Main options are testDir for where tests live, timeout, retries, workers, fullyParallel, reporter, and the use block for shared settings like baseURL, trace, screenshot and video. projects define browsers or setups, and webServer can start the app before tests. Most values can depend on process.env.CI so local and CI runs behave differently.
37
How do you manage test data and environments?
Show answer
Use environment variables or .env files, a baseURL in config, API calls for setup and cleanup, and unique data per run.
38
How do you test a flow that needs two user roles, such as an admin and a customer, in one test?
Show answer
Create two browser contexts in the same test, each with its own storageState file, for example admin.json and user.json made by a setup project. Wrap them in fixtures like adminPage and userPage so tests stay short. The admin approves an order in one context and the customer sees the update in the other, with fully separate cookies.
39
When should you choose a component test over an end-to-end test?
Show answer
Choose a component test when the behaviour lives inside one component: validation messages, disabled states, sorting in a table, keyboard handling in a dropdown or rendering of edge-case data. These are slow and awkward to reach through full flows. Choose end-to-end when the risk is in integration, such as routing, authentication or data saved on the server.
40
How do you run tests in Docker?
Show answer
Use the official Playwright image which contains browsers and dependencies, mount the project and run npx playwright test for consistent CI environments.
Tips to crack the PwC Playwright Testing interview
- Learn about the PwC Professional framework, which covers whole leadership, business acumen, technical capabilities and relationships.
- Practise case questions and guesstimates with a clear structure, especially for consulting and advisory roles.
- Revise Excel, SQL and a BI tool, and be ready to describe how analysis helped a decision.
- 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; PwC interviewers usually ask follow-ups on your first answer.
Frequently asked questions
How many rounds are there in the PwC Playwright Testing interview?
Candidates usually go through 4 stages: Online assessment (aptitude + technical); Group discussion or case round; Technical interview; Partner or 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 PwC Playwright Testing interview?
This practice set leans on Fixtures and Hooks (8), API Testing (5), Component Testing (5), Framework Design and CI/CD (5). Revise those first, then practise explaining one or two of your own projects end to end, because most PwC interviewers ask you to walk through real work.
Are these the exact questions asked at PwC?
No. These are curated practice questions that match the skills and difficulty usually tested in consulting interviews like PwC's. They are not a leaked or verified list of past questions.
Where does PwC hire Playwright Testing professionals in India?
PwC has large teams in Kolkata, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Gurugram. Openings and locations change often, so check the PwC careers page and filter by city and experience.
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