Software Testing Interview Questions for Principal Roles (₹25–30 LPA)

Break the work into modules and test cases, use past velocity or three-point estimation (optimistic, likely, pessimistic), add time for test data, environment issues, retesting and regression, and keep a risk buffer.

Statuses like To Do, In Progress, In Review, Ready for QA, Done and Reopened, with transitions that depend on the team's configuration.

Code is built and tested automatically on each change; tests are quality gates that stop faulty builds from moving forward.

Re-check the requirement, reproduce with clear steps and evidence (screenshots, logs), discuss with the BA/PO and record the final decision.

Testing how a system moves between states based on events, for example an order going from placed to paid to shipped to delivered.

Status code, response body and schema, headers, response time, error messages for invalid input, authentication (401/403) and that data is saved in the database.

Shift left with early reviews, improve test design, automate regression, use better test data, add monitoring and learn from escaped defects.

Clear, concise, independent, repeatable, traceable to a requirement, with precise expected results and tested data.

An API style using HTTP methods on resources identified by URLs, usually exchanging JSON and staying stateless.

Positive cases use valid inputs to confirm expected behaviour; negative cases use invalid inputs to confirm the system handles errors gracefully.

Valid login, invalid login, forgot password, locked account and session handling are the main scenarios to cover.

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

Checking that people with disabilities can use the product, using screen readers, keyboard navigation, colour contrast and WCAG guidelines.

A set of steps with inputs and expected results. Components: ID, title, preconditions, steps, test data, expected result, actual result and status.

Rules such as NOT NULL, UNIQUE, PRIMARY KEY, FOREIGN KEY and CHECK that keep data valid and consistent.

A regular review where QA, development and product assess new bugs and decide severity, priority, owner and target release.

Scope (in and out), objectives, approach, environments, schedule, roles, entry/exit criteria, risks and mitigation, deliverables and tools.

A language to query databases. Testers use it to verify data saved by the application, prepare test data and check backend results.

The extent of requirements or code exercised by tests. Measure requirement coverage with a traceability matrix and code coverage with tools.

Verifying the application works across different hardware, software and settings combinations.

Testing at the edges of input ranges, such as 17, 18 and 19 for an age limit of 18, since errors cluster at boundaries.

DELETE removes selected rows and can be rolled back; TRUNCATE quickly removes all rows and resets the table.

Valid transfer, insufficient balance, daily limit, wrong beneficiary, OTP failure, network drop mid-transaction, duplicate click and statement update.

The observation that a small number of modules contain most defects, so testing should focus on those areas.

Re-check environment, data, browser and steps; check the logs; try the reporter's setup; add video and console logs; mark it 'cannot reproduce' only after discussing with the developer, and keep monitoring.

Sprint planning (estimate test effort), daily stand-up (status and blockers), sprint review (demo) and retrospective (improve). Testers clarify acceptance criteria early and test within the sprint.

Black box tests behaviour without code knowledge; white box tests internal logic and paths; grey box uses partial knowledge of the internals.

The team selects stories for the sprint. QA helps estimate testing effort, clarifies acceptance criteria and flags dependencies and risks.

The number of defects per size of software, for example defects per thousand lines of code or per module, used to compare quality.

Unit, integration, system and acceptance testing, moving from individual components to the complete product in front of users.

Valid card and PIN, wrong PIN, three failed attempts, amount above balance, amount above daily limit, invalid denomination, machine out of cash, network failure and receipt printing.

Evaluating how easy and pleasant a product is to use by observing real users complete tasks and noting confusion.

Measuring speed and stability: load (expected users), stress (beyond limits), spike (sudden surge), endurance (long duration) and scalability testing.

Talk to developers and users, explore the product, review similar systems, create notes and mind maps, confirm assumptions and write test cases as you learn.

User Acceptance Testing — end users or the client verify that the system meets business needs in a production-like environment before go-live.

Valid login, wrong password, empty fields, case sensitivity, max length, SQL-injection strings, password masking, 'remember me', lock-out after N attempts and the forgot-password link.

Evaluating software to find defects and confirm it meets requirements. It reduces risk, protects users and saves the cost of fixing bugs after release.

Using experience to guess where defects likely hide, such as empty fields, special characters or unexpected sequences, and designing tests for them.

Prioritising tests by the likelihood and impact of failure, so critical areas get the most coverage when time is limited.

Check access with valid, expired and missing tokens, role-based permissions, error codes and that sensitive data is never exposed.

A defect that stops testing or release of a feature because no workaround exists, so it is highest priority.

A model with many fast unit tests at the base, fewer API or integration tests in the middle and a small number of UI tests at the top.

JIRA Query Language, used to search issues, for example project = ABC AND status = Open AND priority = High.

A grid mapping requirements to test cases and defects, proving every requirement is tested.

They let testers verify totals and counts per category, such as the number of orders per customer, and compare them with the UI or reports.

List conditions and actions in a table and cover every combination of conditions (rules) — ideal for business rules like loan approval: salary > X AND credit score > Y → approve.

Create a request with method, URL, headers and body, send it, check status and body, add test scripts and save it in a collection.

Check SQL injection, brute-force lockout, password masking, session timeout, HTTPS, cookie flags, error messages not revealing users and password reset flow.

A human error causes a defect in the code, and when that defect is executed it produces a failure visible to users.

An urgent patch released outside the normal schedule to fix a critical production defect, followed by regression testing and merge back to the main branch.

Severity = impact on the system. Priority = urgency to fix. Logo misspelt on the homepage → low severity, high priority. Crash in a rarely used report → high severity, low priority.

Verify inserted, updated and deleted rows match UI actions, check constraints, duplicates, NULLs and totals with COUNT and SUM queries.

Basic operations, division by zero, decimals, large numbers, order of operations, clear and backspace, repeated operations and memory keys.

An epic is a large body of work; stories are user-facing slices of it; tasks are technical work items; bugs are defects.

Test on real devices and OS versions, interrupts such as calls, battery, network changes, gestures, permissions and app store guidelines.

A suite is a collection of related test cases; a run is one execution of a set of tests against a build.

A technique that tests all pairs of input values instead of every combination, greatly reducing test cases while catching most defects.

The hardware, software, data and configuration where testing happens, set up to mirror production as closely as practical.

Verification: are we building the product right? (reviews, walkthroughs — no code run). Validation: are we building the right product? (actual testing against user needs).

Finding why a defect was introduced, such as unclear requirements or missed reviews, to prevent similar defects in future.

Checking the application works across browsers, devices, operating systems, screen sizes and network conditions.

For a field accepting 1–100: valid class 1–100 (test 50), invalid below 1 (test −5), invalid above 100 (test 150). One value represents each class.

Add, remove, update quantity, price and tax calculation, coupon codes, stock limits, cart persistence after login and checkout navigation.

A final document summarising what was tested, defects found and open, metrics, lessons learned and the recommendation for release.

INNER returns matching rows, LEFT keeps all left rows, RIGHT keeps all right rows and FULL keeps all rows from both tables.

Testing services directly without the UI, checking status codes, responses, security and performance. It finds issues early and is faster than UI tests.

Smoke tests run on every build for quick feedback; full regression runs less often, such as nightly or before release.

Static testing reviews documents and code without executing; dynamic testing executes the software to observe behaviour.

A document defining scope, approach, resources, schedule, entry and exit criteria, risks and deliverables of testing.

A scenario is a high-level thing to test (user logs in); test cases are the detailed steps and data that verify it.

Moves to the chosen floor, doors open and close, door sensor stops closing on obstruction, overload alarm, emergency button, behaviour in a power cut, max capacity and the floor display.