Software Testing Interview Questions with Answers

1. Vulnerability Testing is a method of assessing an application's security posture by searching for weaknesses, bugs, or vulnerabilities that could be exploited by attackers to compromise the system.

2. Black Box Testing: This approach tests the software without any knowledge of internal code structure or workings. It simulates the behavior of users who use the application without knowing its internal logic.

3. White Box Testing (also known as Clear Box Testing, Glass Box Testing, Transparent Box Testing, and Scribble Box Testing): This method involves looking at the source code and architecture of the program and writing tests based on what you see. It is the opposite of Black Box testing.

4. Grey Box Testing: This approach tests both the external (Black Box) and internal (White Box) aspects of an application. It lies between White Box and Black Box testing.

5. Different levels of Software Testing include:

   • Unit Testing
   • Integration Testing
   • System Testing
   • Acceptance Testing

6. Integration Testing involves testing individual units or components of a system to ensure they work together as expected.

7. System Testing confirms that the entire system meets its specified requirements. It is performed in an environment closely resembling production.

8. Acceptance Testing (AT) is conducted to determine if the system satisfies the business needs and is acceptable for delivery or "going live."

9. Monkey Testing involves providing random inputs to the software application with the intention of finding a bug which would not have been found by conventional testing methods.

10. Gorilla Testing is a type of domain-specific fuzz testing that can be seen as a more user-oriented form of monkey testing and is also known as chaos testing.

11. Fuzz Testing involves providing invalid, unexpected, or random data as inputs to the software to test its response and ensure robustness against erroneous inputs.

12. Authentication is the process of verifying that someone is who they claim to be, while Authorization is the process of determining what an authenticated user can access or do within a system after logging in.

13. V Model (Validation and Verification Model) is a model for software development life cycle (SDLC) processes. It is symmetric with the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC), where each phase of development has a corresponding test phase placed at the left of its corresponding development phase, forming an inverted "V" or V shape when visualized.

14. Ad-hoc Testing involves testing based on tester's intuition and understanding of the system rather than predefined test cases. It is used when there are inadequate resources to create comprehensive test cases.

15. Buddy Testing is a method where two testers work together, one acting as the user (operating the application) while the other observes and identifies bugs.

16. Pair Testing involves two testers working together at different stations, observing the application's behavior as they go through scenarios. It is a technique used in exploratory testing.

17. Confirmation Testing is done to confirm that bug fixes have been successful and that the application is now functioning as expected after a bug was found and reported.

18. Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability (CIA Triad) are three key concepts in information security used to design, implement, and review systems that store, process, transfer, and exchange or handle private, sensitive, or regulated data.

19. Positive Testing involves testing with valid inputs to ensure the system behaves as expected under normal conditions.

20. Usability Testing assesses how easy software is for users to use. This type of testing is primarily focused on user satisfaction and the overall user experience.

21. Negative Testing (also known as Boundary Value Analysis or Error Guessing) involves testing with invalid inputs, edge cases, or boundary values to ensure the system handles exceptions gracefully and does not crash or behave unpredictably.

22. Defect attributes might include severity, priority, reproducibility, environmental factors, etc.

23. Retesting is the process of re-executing tests that have failed during a previous run to ensure that the defects are fixed and the application now behaves as expected.

24. High-Level Design (HLD) and Low-Level Design (LLD):

• HLD outlines the overall structure and system components, while LLD is more granular and details the implementation aspects of specific modules.

25. Monkey Testing is a type of random testing where input data is chosen randomly to check whether the software still performs effectively or crashes under such unpredictable conditions.

26. Autocation, Authorization, Accountability, Auditability, and Non-repudiation are key principles in information security that ensure secure and trustworthy operations of computing systems.

27. Manual Testing is the process of manually executing test cases without using any automated tools or frameworks. It's often used for usability testing or when the effort to automate does not outweigh the benefits, especially in the initial stages of application development.

28. Automation Testing involves using specialized software tools to execute tests automatically with little or no human intervention. This can significantly increase the efficiency and speed of the testing process.

29. The advantage of automated testing is that it can run the same set of test cases repeatedly and throughout the SDLC, providing Regression Testing as a byproduct.

30. Beta Testing involves releasing software to a limited audience outside of the organization (often customers or real users) to collect feedback before the software is released to everyone.

31. Compatibility Testing ensures that the application works as expected across different environments, devices, and browsers.

32. Volume Testing checks how a system performs under different loads of data, users, or transaction volumes to ensure optimal performance and scalability.

33. Security Testing is a type of testing that evaluates the security aspects of an application or system to ensure it is protected against threats and vulnerabilities.

34. Exploratory Testing involves testers exploring the software as they design test cases and charter on the spot, without preparing test cases in advance.

35. Usability Engineering is a multidisciplinary approach that involves understanding user needs and designing software that provides an intuitive user experience.

36. Test Coverage refers to the extent to which code is covered by automated tests. Full test coverage means every line of code has been tested to some degree, usually with unit tests.

37. Load Testing measures how a system performs under specific conditions (such as user load on a network or application) to identify the system's limits and to optimize its performance.

38. Test Plan is a document prepared before the actual testing begins. It defines what will be tested in terms of scope, objectives, features/modules to be tested, resources (manpower & software), schedule, deliverables, and acceptance criteria.

39. Test Strategy outlines how to test, i.e., the approach that will be taken to test a product, including considerations for what should be tested, who will do the testing, which tools and techniques will be used, and the rationale behind these choices.

40. Software Reliability Engineering focuses on making software systems more reliable through systematic approaches, modeling, measurement, analysis, and management of reliability growth over time.

41. Test Automation Framework is a set of tools, methodologies, and practices that are used to build automated test cases and execute them consistently across different environments and iterations of the software.

42. Performance Testing evaluates how quickly and reliably a system performs in terms of responsiveness, throughput, and resource utilization under certain conditions.

43. Test Oracles are methods or tools used to determine the correctness of a program's output based on logical reasoning, heuristics, or predefined data.

44. Test Management involves planning, organizing, managing, leading, and controlling the testing efforts in a project to achieve the best test quality within time and cost constraints.

45. Defect Life Cycle (DLC) is a model that describes the lifecycle of a defect from its initial detection to its final resolution or closure.

46. Testability is a measure of how much an application can be tested effectively, considering factors such as design complexity, code coverage, maintainability, and testability metrics.

47. Risk-Based Testing involves prioritizing testing efforts based on the level of risk associated with different areas or features of the application. High-risk areas are given more attention to ensure they are secure and function as intended before lower-risk areas.

48. Testability Metrics are quantitative measures that help in assessing how testable an application is, often including metrics like test coverage, maintainability index, cyclomatic complexity, etc.

49. Alpha Testing is an internal testing phase that occurs just before beta testing and is performed by the development team or selected end-users who "release" the software when it is deemed bug-free.

50. Regression Testing involves retesting a subset of existing functionalities to ensure that recently introduced changes have not adversely affected the existing functionality. It is a critical part of ongoing maintenance and development processes in an Agile or Continuous Integration environment.

This comprehensive list covers a wide range of topics within software testing, from methodologies and strategies to specific types of tests and their objectives. Understanding these concepts is essential for anyone involved in the testing process, from developers and testers to project managers and quality assurance professionals.