01
What are the boundary values for an age field that accepts 18–60?
Show answer
Test 17, 18, 19, 59, 60 and 61.
Software Testing Interview Questions for 1 Year Experience
40 questions with answers for candidates with 1 year of experience — 14 easy, 26 medium.
What interviewers expect: 1 year experience
With one year of experience, you should explain your real project, its modules and your daily testing work. Expect questions on test case design techniques, bug reporting in Jira, regression and retesting, Agile ceremonies and SQL joins. Interviewers check whether you can work independently on a module and handle simple scenarios like a rejected bug.
This set is weighted towards Testing Types (6), Agile, SQL and API Testing (6), Test Case Design (5), Bug Life Cycle and Jira (5).
Project explanation and daily work Test design techniques Jira usage and bug workflow SQL joins and data checks
Solved at this levelStart practicing
3 QUESTIONS FREESign up to unlock the full question bank and track your progress.Unlock every question and answer, then continue practising company-wise and package-wise.
3 questions free Unlock the rest in seconds
02
How do you use JIRA in testing?
Show answer
Log and track bugs, link them to stories, build dashboards and filters with JQL, manage sprints and generate reports.
03
What is the OWASP Top 10 and why should testers know it?
Show answer
The OWASP Top 10 is a widely used list of the most critical web application security risks, published by an open community project. It includes broken access control, cryptographic failures, injection, insecure design, security misconfiguration, vulnerable components and authentication failures. Testers use it as a checklist to include basic security checks in their testing and to speak the same language as security teams.
04
A developer marks your bug as fixed, but it still fails. What do you do?
Show answer
First confirm you are testing the right build, which contains the fix, and clear the cache. Repeat the exact steps and data from the bug. If it still fails, reopen the bug with a comment stating the build number, what you did and the actual result, with a fresh screenshot or video. Talk to the developer directly if the steps differ from what they tested, so the fix is not tested on a different scenario.
05
How do you test a country dropdown that controls a dependent state dropdown?
Show answer
Check the state list is empty or disabled until a country is selected. Select a country and verify the correct states load. Change the country and confirm the old state selection is cleared and the new list loads. Test countries with no states, a long list with scrolling and search, and default values on page load. Submit the form and verify the saved values, then reload and check both dropdowns keep the saved selection.
06
How do you test a web page using only the keyboard?
Show answer
Put the mouse away. Press Tab and Shift+Tab to move through every link, button and field, and check that the order is logical and the focus outline is always visible. Use Enter and Space to activate buttons and links, arrow keys for menus, radio groups and sliders, and Escape to close dialogs. Check that nothing traps focus, hidden items do not receive focus and a skip to main content link works.
07
How do you handle a bug found late in a release cycle?
Show answer
Assess impact and risk, discuss with product and dev, decide to fix, defer with a workaround or delay release, and document the decision.
08
A feature passed all your test cases, but users say it is confusing. What went wrong?
Show answer
The tests verified the specification but did not validate the user experience. The test cases probably checked only functional outcomes and missed usability: unclear labels, too many steps or poor error messages. Next time, add usability heuristics to reviews, do exploratory sessions as a real user persona and involve users in UAT or demos. Log the current feedback as improvement items with clear examples.
09
How do you decide the priority of test cases?
Show answer
By business criticality, usage frequency, defect history, risk and dependencies, running high-priority cases first.
10
What is test automation and what problems does it solve?
Show answer
Test automation means using scripts and tools to run tests, compare results and report them without a person doing each step. It solves slow and repetitive regression, gives fast feedback on every code change in CI, runs the same checks exactly the same way every time and covers many data combinations. It does not replace thinking: exploratory testing, usability judgement and new feature testing still need manual testers.
11
Functional vs non-functional testing?
Show answer
Functional testing checks what the system does (login, checkout). Non-functional testing checks how well it does it (performance, security, usability, compatibility).
12
What are the typical JIRA workflows for bugs?
Show answer
Statuses like To Do, In Progress, In Review, Ready for QA, Done and Reopened, with transitions that depend on the team's configuration.
13
Write a Postman test script that checks the status is 201 and the response contains an id.
Show answer
pm.test('Status is 201', function () {
pm.response.to.have.status(201);
});
pm.test('Response has id', function () {
const body = pm.response.json();
pm.expect(body).to.have.property('id');
pm.expect(body.id).to.be.a('number');
});
14
What is the V-model?
Show answer
A development model where each development phase has a matching testing phase, such as requirements with acceptance tests and design with integration tests.
15
What is mobile app testing and what extra checks does it need?
Show answer
Test on real devices and OS versions, interrupts such as calls, battery, network changes, gestures, permissions and app store guidelines.
16
What is the difference between GET and POST?
Show answer
GET retrieves data and has parameters in the URL; POST sends data in the body to create or process something.
17
How do you test push notifications?
Show answer
Verify notifications arrive when the app is in foreground, background and closed. Check title, text, icon and that tapping opens the right screen with the correct data. Test with notifications disabled at OS level and inside app settings. Check behaviour after logout, reinstall and on multiple devices with the same account. Test grouping of many notifications, time-sensitive ones, and that no notification shows private data on the lock screen.
18
How do you chain requests in Postman by passing a token from login to the next call?
Show answer
// Tests tab of the Login request
const body = pm.response.json();
pm.environment.set('authToken', body.token);
// Next request header:
// Authorization: Bearer {{authToken}}
// Postman replaces {{authToken}} with the saved value
19
How do you calculate test execution progress and pass rate?
Show answer
Execution progress = test cases executed divided by total planned test cases, multiplied by 100. Pass rate = test cases passed divided by test cases executed, multiplied by 100. For example, if 200 cases are planned, 150 are executed and 120 passed, progress is 75 percent and pass rate is 80 percent. Report blocked cases separately because they are neither passed nor failed.
20
What is configuration testing?
Show answer
Verifying the application works across different hardware, software and settings combinations.
21
What is test coverage and how do you measure it?
Show answer
The extent of requirements or code exercised by tests. Measure requirement coverage with a traceability matrix and code coverage with tools.
22
How do you test an email notification feature?
Show answer
Trigger the email from each event, such as signup or order placed, and verify it arrives at the right address within the expected time. Check subject, sender name, personalised fields, amounts and links. Click every link and confirm it opens the right page. Check the layout on desktop and mobile mail apps, the unsubscribe option where required, and that no email is sent for failed or cancelled actions. Use a test mailbox tool in QA.
23
What is Agile testing?
Show answer
Testing that is continuous and collaborative within each sprint, with testers working alongside developers and product owners from the start.
24
Write test cases for a date of birth field.
Show answer
Verify a valid date is accepted and saved in the right format. Check the minimum age rule, such as 18 years, using boundary dates of exactly 18 today and one day short. Reject future dates and impossible dates like 30 February. Test leap year dates like 29 February 2004. Check manual typing and the picker give the same result, the field is mandatory if required, and the date displays correctly after saving.
25
What is the difference between a bug and an enhancement?
Show answer
A bug is behaviour that deviates from agreed requirements; an enhancement is a new or improved capability beyond the current requirements.
26
How do you test battery and memory usage of a mobile app?
Show answer
Run typical user sessions on a real device and measure battery drain, CPU and memory with platform profiling tools or the device's battery statistics. Compare with the previous version. Look for background work continuing after the app is closed, GPS left on, frequent network polling and memory that keeps growing, which signals a leak. Test on low-RAM devices too, where the OS kills heavy apps quickly.
27
Search works fine in QA but is very slow in production. Could a missing database index be the reason, and how do you check?
Show answer
Yes, very likely. An index lets the database find rows quickly, like the index of a book. With a small QA table, a full table scan is still fast, but with millions of production rows it becomes slow. Compare indexes on the searched columns in both environments and ask a developer to check the query plan. Test key queries on production-size data in staging, and include data volume in future performance checks.
28
What are the levels of testing?
Show answer
Unit, integration, system and acceptance testing, moving from individual components to the complete product in front of users.
29
What is the difference between alpha and beta testing?
Show answer
Alpha is done in-house by internal teams before release; beta is done by a limited group of real users in their own environment.
30
What automated accessibility tools exist and what are their limits?
Show answer
Common tools are axe DevTools, Lighthouse in Chrome, WAVE and accessibility linters in CI. They quickly catch missing alt text, low contrast, missing labels and invalid ARIA. Their limit is that they find only roughly a third of WCAG issues. They cannot judge whether alt text is meaningful, focus order is logical, error messages make sense or a custom widget works with a screen reader, so manual testing is still required.
31
Why is alt text important and how do you test it?
Show answer
Alt text gives a text alternative for images so screen reader users get the same information. Check that informative images have short, meaningful alt text, such as 'Bar chart showing sales doubled in 2025', that decorative images have empty alt so they are skipped, and that image buttons describe the action, such as 'Search', not the picture. Inspect the alt attribute in developer tools and listen with a screen reader.
32
Write test cases for a file upload feature.
Show answer
Allowed and disallowed formats, size limits, empty file, duplicate names, special-character names, cancel upload, slow network and multiple files.
33
What is defect clustering?
Show answer
The observation that a small number of modules contain most defects, so testing should focus on those areas.
34
What are stubs and drivers?
Show answer
Both are temporary pieces of code used in integration testing when some modules are not ready. A stub replaces a called lower-level module and returns fixed responses, used in top-down testing; for example, a stub payment service that always returns success. A driver replaces a calling higher-level module and sends inputs to the module under test, used in bottom-up testing. In API testing, mock servers play the role of stubs.
35
What is a test oracle?
Show answer
A test oracle is the source you use to decide whether a test result is correct, that is, the expected result. It can be a requirement document, a user story, an older version of the system, a calculation in a spreadsheet, a domain expert or common sense. For example, when testing a tax calculator, the official tax slab table is the oracle. Without a reliable oracle, you cannot say a test passed or failed.
36
How do you capture screenshots, videos and traces when an automated test fails?
Show answer
Most frameworks support this through configuration. In Playwright, set screenshot to only-on-failure, video to retain-on-failure and trace to on-first-retry in the config, then open the trace viewer to step through actions, network calls and the page state. In Selenium, call save_screenshot in a teardown hook when a test fails. Store these artefacts in CI so anyone can debug the failure without rerunning it.
37
Tell me about a time you designed tests for a feature with unclear requirements.
Show answer
Model answer: Situation: I got a story for 'flexible EMI options' with only one line of description. Task: test it within the sprint. Action: I listed my assumptions on tenure, interest and rounding, reviewed them with the product owner in a 15-minute call, and wrote test cases only after we agreed. Result: three rules were changed before coding finished, and the feature passed UAT without rework.
38
What are focus order and visible focus, and how do you test them?
Show answer
Focus order is the sequence in which keyboard focus moves through interactive elements; it should follow the visual reading order. Visible focus means the focused element clearly shows a ring or highlight. Test by pressing Tab through the page and watching where focus goes. Common bugs are focus jumping to the footer, focus going behind an open dialog and designers removing the outline with CSS, leaving keyboard users lost.
39
What are test deliverables?
Show answer
Test deliverables are the documents and artefacts produced during testing and shared with stakeholders. Before testing: test plan, test strategy and estimates. During testing: test scenarios, test cases, test data, traceability matrix, execution logs and bug reports. After testing: test summary report, closure report, metrics and lessons learned. The test plan should list which deliverables are expected so nothing is missed at sign-off.
40
SQL: find the second highest salary from an employees table.
Show answer
SELECT MAX(salary) AS second_highest
FROM employees
WHERE salary < (SELECT MAX(salary) FROM employees);
-- alternative using DENSE_RANK
SELECT DISTINCT salary FROM (
SELECT salary, DENSE_RANK() OVER (ORDER BY salary DESC) AS rnk
FROM employees
) t WHERE rnk = 2;
Frequently asked questions
What is asked in Software Testing interviews for 1 year of experience?
With one year of experience, you should explain your real project, its modules and your daily testing work. Expect questions on test case design techniques, bug reporting in Jira, regression and retesting, Agile ceremonies and SQL joins. Interviewers check whether you can work independently on a module and handle simple scenarios like a rejected bug.
How many questions should I practise before a Software Testing 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 1 year of experience?
Focus first on Project explanation and daily work, Test design techniques, Jira usage and bug workflow, SQL joins and data checks.
Other experience levels
More ways to practise
Company-wise Software Testing questionsPackage-wise Software Testing questionsExperience-wise Software Testing questionsRole-wise Software Testing questionsCity-wise Software Testing questionsMost asked Software Testing questionsScenario-based questionsPractical / hands-on questionsHR & behavioural questionsSoftware Testing mock interviewOnline assessment questionsTechnical round questionsManagerial round questionsSoftware Testing topic sheets