ISTQB Interview Questions and Answers [ SOLVED ]

Last updated on 12th Nov 2021, Blog, Interview Questions

Applicants applying for ISTQB jobs are most times not aware of the kind of questions that they may face during the interview. While knowing the basics of ISTQB is a must without saying, it is also wise to prepare for NLP interview questions that may be specific to the organization and what it does. That way, not only will you be deemed as a suitable fit for the job, but you will also be well-prepared for the role that you are aspiring to take on. ACTE has prepared a list of the top 100 ISTQB interview questions and answers that will help you during your interview.

1. What is Testing?

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Software systems are an integral part of life, from business applications (e.g., banking) to consumer products (e.g., cars). Most people have had an experience with software that did not work as expected. Software that does not work correctly can lead to many problems, including loss of money, time, or business reputation, and even injury or death. Software testing is a way to assess the quality of the software and to reduce the risk of software failure in operation.

2. What are the Typical Objectives of Testing?

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For any given project, the objectives of testing may include:

To prevent defects by evaluate work products such as requirements, user stories, design, and code

• To verify whether all specified requirements have been fulfilled.
• To check whether the test object is complete and validate if it works as the users and other stakeholders expect.
• To build confidence in the level of quality of the test object.
• To find defects and failures thus reduce the level of risk of inadequate software quality.
• To provide sufficient information to stakeholders to allow them to make informed decisions, especially regarding the level of quality of the test object.
To comply with contractual, legal, or regulatory requirements or standards, and/or to verify the test object’s compliance with such requirements or standards

3. What are the Seven Testing Principles?

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• Testing shows the presence of defects, not their absence
• Exhaustive testing is impossible
• Early testing saves time and money
• Defects cluster together
• Beware of the pesticide paradox
• Testing is context dependent
• Absence-of-errors

4. Differentiation between error,defects and failures and defects,root causes and effects?

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Error,defects and failures	Defects,root causes and effects
Time pressure	Customer complaints are effects.
Misunderstandings about intra-system and inter-system interfaces, especially when such intrasystem and inter-system interactions are large in number	incorrect interest payments

5. List some Test Process in Context?

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Contextual factors that influence the test process for an organization, include, but are not limited to:

• Software development lifecycle model and project methodologies being used

• Test levels and test types being considered
• Product and project risks
• Business domain
• Operational constraints, including but not limited to:
• Budgets and resources o Timescales o Complexity
• Contractual and regulatory requirements
• Organizational policies and practices
• Required internal and external standards

6. What are the Test Activities and Tasks?

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A test process consists of the following main groups of activities:

• Test planning
• Test monitoring and control
• Test analysis
• Test design
• Test implementation
• Test execution
• Test completion

7. How these testing techniques perform?

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• Equivalence partitioning: It involves grouping of test conditions into various, which are handled the same way.
• Boundary value analysis: it involves defining boundaries of the partitions and testing for them after.
• Decision table testing/ graphical cause-effective technique: It involves defining and testing for a different combination of conditions.
• The transition of table state testing: It involves the identification of all types of valid states and transitions which need to be tested.
• All pair testing/orthogonal array testing: It involves the identification of various combinations of configurations that need to be tested.
• Classification tree method: It involves the use of graphical notations to describe the test conditions and combinations handled by the test cases.
• Use case test techniques: It involves the identification of various usage scenarios and then testing accordingly.

8. What are the different test values?

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There are four levels of testing recommended:

Unit testing -> done by developers
Integration testing -> Done by testers
System testing -> Done by testers
Acceptance testing -> done by end-users

9. What information should be included on a bug or defect report?

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A document reporting on any flaw in a component or system that can cause the components or systems to fail to perform its required action is called bug/defect reporting.

There are 3 ways to create a defect/bug report;

Discover defect: Detect the defect before releasing to the customer

Report defect: Report the defect to the development team

Accept defect: Developer accepts or rejects the bug

10. What is a software testing technique?

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Software testing is a process used for software correctness, check the performance and quality of the software product being developed.

It is the process of executing a program/ application under positive and negative conditions by manual and automated means. It checks for the:

• Specification
• Functionality
• Performance.

11. What are the benefits of ISTQB?

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The main advantages of using ISTQB techniques;

• The software testing tool is a simple model and easy to manage.

• Software testing is applicable for small software.

• Offers early testing involvement

• The clear relationship between test phases and development phases.

• Risk and uncertainty are managed.

• Testing activities and processes are managed.

• Adaptable to changes.

• Early client involvement – avoid unrealistic requirements

• Avoid spending time on useless activities

12. Why is software testing so important?

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The following reasons explain why we need software testing;

• Reveal faults/failure/ errors
• Locate faults/errors/failure
• Show system correctness
• Improved confidence that the system performs as desired
• Indicator of system reliability and system quality.

13. What are the principles of testing?

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The following are the 7 principles of software testing;

• Testing helps to find the errors that occur in the software development.
• Testing doesn’t allow the type of exhaustive testing.
• Reduce the errors, incompleteness.
• Clustering is not allowed.
• Produce the effectiveness.
• Testing can be done on the software context.
• Avoid false conclusion: this produces less error/bugs.

14. What is independent testing and mention its risks?

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Independent testing is nothing tests done by the person who writes it. Test by another person within that team or test done by the person from the independent test team.

Independent testing has some risk;

• Isolation and lack of communication
• Interpersonal level
• Isolation from the border ( business) view
• Independent testing may become the bottleneck
• Developers may lose a sense of responsibility and quality.

15. Mention the difference between validation and verification?

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Verification	Validation
Verification is to check whether the software conforms to specification	Validation is to check whether the software meets the customer requirements
This doesn’t include the code execution	This always includes the execution of the program code
This is nothing but the human-involvement	A computer-based execution of the program

16. What is failure?

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The fault occurs when a fault is executed. This failure finds the inability of software components to perform many functions within the availability of the performance requirement

17. What is the difference between severity and priority?

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Priority	Severity
Priority refers to the project and how urgent it is to solve the bugs	Severity refers to the bug and how it affects the user’s interaction with the applications.
Priority is set based on changing project factors e.g., the status of the bug, its importance customer side.	Severity is objectively set based on the direct and indirect impact of the bug and its probability of occurrence.
Priority is a dynamic field, should be revised and updated as the project progresses.	Severity is usually a static field ( the only reason to modify it would be if we learn something new about the bug).

18. What is bottom-up testing?

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Bottom-up testing uses the incoming input as the for understanding the message. Comprehension is the process of decoding.

• Lower level components are combined in clusters that perform a specific software function.
• A driver mainly coordinates/supports the test case input/output.
• The bottom-up supports cluster testing
• In the program structure, the drivers will be removed using the bottom-up technique and also enable clusters to be combined.

19. Name the types of software testing techniques?

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The following are the different software testing techniques;

• Manual testing
• Automation testing
• Performance testing
• Security testing
• Black-box testing
• White-box testing

20. What is a software testing technique?

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Software testing is a process used for software correctness, check the performance and quality of the software product being developed.

It is the process of executing a program/ application under positive and negative conditions by manual and automated means. It checks for the:

• Specification
• Functionality
• Performance.

21. How do you test the login feature of web applications?

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The possible ways to test the login feature of web applications;

Firstly sign in with your valid login details -> close the web browser -> again reopen the browser -> check whether you are logged in to the system or not.

Next is session management -> keep track of user login details -> this is done by using cookies or web sessions.

Again sign in and sign out -> go back to the login page -> check you truly logged out.

Login -> go back to the login page -> can you see the login page?

Sign in one web browser page -> then open the other login page -> check whether you need to sign in again

Now login -> change the password -> then log out -> you can again log in to the web browser using old login details.

22. What is Acceptance testing?

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The customer writes acceptance tests to determine if the system is doing the right thing. Acceptance tests represent the customer’s interests. The acceptance test gives the customer confidence that the application has the required features and that they behave correctly.

23. What is accessibility testing?

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Accessibility testing tool that helps to find the accessibility defects. Debugger mode automated to find the accessibility defects on your website by using the axe chrome extensions.

24. What is agile testing?

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Agile testing is a type of software testing technique that follows the agile software development application principles.

• Guiding development with concrete examples
• Asking the question to test ideas and assumption
• Automated testing and exploratory testing
• Testing for quality attributes like performance, reliability, and security.

25. What is Adhoc Testing?

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Adhoc testing is a random unscripted software testing method. It is like “single-use” testing. It is sometimes mixed up as exploratory testing, negative, and monkey testing. However, the meaning of “ad-hoc ” is applying test processes that are using hands.

26. Explain the Waterfall Software Architecture?

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Traditional waterfall development is characterized by a set of phases with definite start and end dates, where each phase contains a certain set of activities. All phases are chained together and each of them relies heavily on the delivery produced by the preceding one. Figure 1 illustrates a common set of phases involved in waterfall development.

27. How do you test the login feature of a web application?

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This is a very common software testing interview question and the aim is to see how broad you can think about the feature. Most interviewers start with the obvious answer of checking input fields with positive and negative values, invalid email, valid email but incorrect password, SQL injection, etc. But most of these tests can be done and should be done by the developers as part of integration testing.

Here the focus is on testing at the system level, tests that cannot be done without a fully integrated system.

28. What Types of Testing is Specifically Important for Web Testing?

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This is also an important Software Testing interview question for web application testing roles. Note, this question is asking about the types of testing.

Although you would do functional testing, usability testing, accessibility testing, etc, these are all also applicable to desktop application testing. The question is asking specifically for web testing.

Two types of testing that are very important for testing web applications are Performance Testing and Security Testing. The difference between a web application and a desktop application is that web applications are open to the world, with potentially many users accessing the application simultaneously at various times, so load testing and stress testing are important.

29. What is Application Programming Interface (API)?

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A formalized set of software calls and routines that can be referenced by an application program in order to access supporting system or network services.

30. What is Automated Testing?

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Testing employing software tools that execute tests without manual intervention. Can be applied in GUI, performance, API, etc. testing. The use of software to control the execution of tests, the comparison of actual outcomes to predicted outcomes, the setting up of test preconditions, and other test control and test reporting functions.

31. What are the Types of Software Testing?

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Software Testing can be divided into two parts:

Black box testing which is high level and does not take into account the internal workings of the software, i.e. the tester doesn’t need to know how each individual component interacts with each other.

White box testing which tests at very low levels, e.g. functions within a class or component integration. System Testing is an example of a Black Box Testing, and Unit Testing is an example of white-box testing

32. How to generate TypeScript definition file from any .ts file?

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33. What is Grey Box Testing?

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Grey box is the combination of both White Box and Black Box Testing. The tester who works on this type of testing needs to have access to design documents. This helps to create better test cases in this process.

34. What is Positive and Negative Testing?

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Positive testing	Negative testing
It is to determine what the system is supposed to do. It helps to check whether the application is justifying the requirements or not.	It is to determine what the system is not supposed to do. It helps to find the defects from the software

35. What is a Test Suite?

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Test Suite is a collection of test cases. The test cases which are intended to test an application.

36. What is the Test Scenario?

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Test Scenario gives the idea of what we have to test. Test Scenario is like a high-level test case.

37. What is a Test Case?

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Test cases are the set of positive and negative executable steps of a test scenario which has a set of pre-conditions, test data, expected result, post-conditions and actual results

38. Describe the Agile Software Architect?

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Scrum defines three types of roles:

a product owner –responsible for providing information about the specific business domain

a scrum master – responsible for facilitating the communication and collaboration in the team

a development team – responsible for implementing the user stories and producing working software

39. What is a Test Bed?

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An environment configured for testing. Test bed consists of hardware, software, network configuration, an application under test, and other related software.

40. What is the Test Environment?

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Test Environment is the combination of hardware and software on which the Test Team performs testing.

41. Example of test environment?

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42. What is Test Data?

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Test data is the data that is used by the testers to run the test cases. Whilst running the test cases, testers need to enter some input data. To do so, testers prepare test data. It can be prepared manually and also by using tools.

For example, To test a basic login functionality having a user id, password fields. We need to enter some data in the user id and password fields. So we need to collect some test data.

43. What is Test Harness?

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A test harness is the collection of software and test data configured to test a program unit by running it under varying conditions which involves monitoring the output with the expected output.

44. What is Rest parameters?

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45. What is Test Closure?

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Test Closure is the note prepared before the test team formally completes the testing process. This note contains the total no. of test cases, total no. of test cases executed, total no. of defects found, total no. of defects fixed, total no. of bugs not fixed, total no of bugs rejected etc.,

46. What is test coverage?

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Test coverage helps in measuring the amount of testing performed by a set of tests. Test coverage can be done on both functional and non-functional activities. It assists testers to create tests that cover areas which are missing.

47. What is Code coverage?

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Code coverage is different from Test coverage. Code coverage is about unit testing practices that must target all areas of the code at least once. It is usually done by developers or unit testers.

48. What is the difference between integration testing and system testing?

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Integration testing	System testing
It is a low level testing	It is a high level testing
It is followed by System Testing	It is followed by Acceptance Testing
It is performed after unit testing	It is performed after integration testing

49. What is End-To-End Testing?

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In simple words, end-to-end testing is the process of testing software from start to end.

50. What is Gamma Testing?

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Gamma testing is done when the software is ready for release with specified requirements. It is done at the client’s place. It is done directly by skipping all the in-house testing activities.

51.What is Smoke Testing?

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Smoke Testing is done to make sure if the build we received from the development team is testable or not. It is also called the “Day 0” check. It is done at the “build level”. It helps not to waste the testing time by simply testing the whole application when the key features don’t work or the key bugs have not been fixed yet.

52. What is the difference between functional testing and non- functional testing?

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FUNCTIONAL TESTING	NON- FUNCTIONAL TESTING
In simple words, what the system actually does is functional testing. To verify that each function of the software application behaves as specified in the requirement document	In simple words, how well the system performs is non-functionality testing.
Testing all the functionalities by providing appropriate input to verify whether the actual output is matching the expected output or not	Non-functional testing refers to various aspects of the software such as performance, load, stress, scalability, security, compatibility etc.

53. What is Smoke Testing?

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Smoke Testing is done to make sure if the build we received from the development team is testable or not. It is also called the “Day 0” check. It is done at the “build level”. It helps not to waste the testing time by simply testing the whole application when the key features don’t work or the key bugs have not been fixed yet.

54. What is the workbench concept in Software Testing?

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Workbench is a practice of documenting how a specific activity must be performed. It is often referred to as phases, steps, and tasks.

In every workbench there will be five tasks such as Input, Execute, Check, Output, and rework.

55. What is Random testing?

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Random testing is a form of black-box software testing technique where the application is tested by generating random data.

56. What is the difference between Sanity and Smoke Testing?

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Smoke	Sanity
Smoke Test is done to make sure if the build we received from the development team is testable or not	Sanity Test is done during the release phase to check for the main functionalities of the application without going deeper
Smoke Testing is performed by both Developers and Testers	Sanity Testing is performed by Testers alone

57. What is RTM?

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Requirements Traceability Matrix (RTM) is used to trace the requirements to the tests that are needed to verify whether the requirements are fulfilled. We have to ensure that every requirement has atleast 1 test case. Requirement Traceability Matrix AKA Traceability Matrix or Cross Reference Matrix.

58. What are the stages in the software testing life cycle?

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Following are the stages in the STLC.

• Requirement Analysis
• Test Planning
• Test Design
• Test Environment Setup
• Test Execution
• Test Closure

59. What is STLC (Software Testing Life Cycle)?

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STLC (Software Testing Life Cycle) identifies what test activities to carry out and when to accomplish those test activities. Even though testing differs between Organizations, there is a testing life cycle.

60. What will you do when a bug turns up during testing?

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When a bug occurs, we can follow the below steps.

• We can run more tests to make sure that the problem has a clear description.
• We can also run a few more tests to ensure that the same problem doesn’t exist with different inputs.
• Once we are certain of the full scope of the bug, we can add details and report it.

61. What are unit testing and integration testing?

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UNIT TESTING	INTEGRATION TESTING
Unit testing has many names such as module testing or component testing.	Whereas, integration testing validates how well two or more units of software interact with each other.
Many times, it is the developers who test individual units or modules to check if they are working correctly	Integration testing is conducted to evaluate the compliance of a system or component with specified functional requirements.

62. Why is it impossible to test a program thoroughly?

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Here are the two principal reasons that make it impossible to test a program entirely.

Software specifications can be subjective and can lead to different interpretations. A software program may require too many inputs, outputs, and path combinations.

64. What is exploratory testing?

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Exploratory testing is an approach to software testing, wherein testers learn simultaneously about the test design and test execution. In other words, it is a hands-on approach where testers are involved more in the test execution part than in planning.

65. What are the automation challenges that SQA(Software Quality Assurance) team faces while testing?

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• Mastering the automation tool
• Reusability of Automation script
• Adaptability of test case for automation
• Automating complex test cases.

66. What is bug leakage and bug release?

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Bug release is when software or an application is handed over to the testing team knowing that the defect is present in a release. During this the priority and severity of bug is low, as bug can be removed before the final handover.

Bug leakage is something, when the bug is discovered by the end users or customer, and not detected by the testing team while testing the software.

67. Is there any difference between retesting and regression testing?

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RETESTING	REGRESSION TESTING
We perform retesting to verify the defect fixes. But, the regression testing assures that the bug fix does not break other parts of the application.	Regression testing ensures the re-execution of passed test cases. Whereas, retesting involves the execution of test cases that are in a failed state.
Retesting has a higher priority over	But in some cases, both get executed in parallel.

68. Example diagram of test architecture?

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69. What is data driven testing?

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Data driven testing is an automation testing framework, which tests the different input values on the AUT. These values are read directly from the data files. The data files may include csv files, excel files, data pools and many more.

70. Explain the steps for the Bug Cycle?

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• Once the bug is identified by the tester, it is assigned to the development manager in open status

• If the bug is a valid defect the development team will fix it.

• If it is not a valid defect, the defect will be ignored and marked as rejected

71. What does the test strategy include?

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The test strategy includes an introduction, resource, scope and schedule for test activities, test tools, test priorities, test planning and the types of test that has to be performed.

72. What is branch testing and what is boundary testing?

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The testing of all the branches of the code, which is tested once, is known as branch testing. While the testing that is focused on the limit conditions of the software is known as boundary testing.

73. What are the contents of test plans and test cases?

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• Testing objectives
• Testing scope
• Testing the frame
• The environment
• Reason for testing
• The criteria for entrance and exit
• Deliverables
• Risk factors

74. What is Agile testing and what is the importance of Agile testing?

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Agile testing is software testing, testing using Agile Methodology. The importance of this testing is that, unlike the normal testing process, this testing does not wait for the development team to complete the coding first and then doing testing. The coding and testing both go simultaneously. It requires continuous customer interaction.

75. What is quality audit?

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The systematic and independent examination for determining the effectiveness of quality control procedures is known as the quality audit.

76. Describe the Test process focusing on test viewpoints?

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77. What are the tools used by a tester while testing?

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• Selenium
• Firebug
• OpenSTA
• WinSCP
• YSlow for FireBug
• Web Developer toolbar for firebox
• Above are just sample tools. The tools a Tester may vary with his/her project.

78. What is a ‘USE’ case and what does it include?

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The document that describes the user action and system response, for a particular functionality is known as USE case. It includes revision history, table of contents, flow of events, cover page, special requirements, preconditions and postconditions.

79. What is CRUD testing and how to test CRUD?

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CRUD stands for Create, Read, Update and Delete. CRUD testing can be done using SQL statements.

80. What is thread testing?

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A thread testing is a top-down testing, where the progressive integration of components follows the implementation of subsets of the requirements, as opposed to the integration of components by successively lower levels.

81. What are the Roles and responsibilities in a formal review?

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A typical formal review will include the roles below:

• Creates the work product under review
• Fixes defects in the work product under review (if necessary) Management.
• Is responsible for review planning .
• Decides on the execution of reviews.

82. What are Success Factors for Tools?

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Success factors for evaluation, implementation, deployment, and on-going support of tools within an organization include:

• Rolling out the tool to the rest of the organization incrementally

• Adapting and improving processes to fit with the use of the tool

• Providing training, coaching, and mentoring for tool users

• Defining guidelines for the use of the tool

83. When should “Regression Testing” be performed?

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After the software has changed or when the environment has changed Regression testing should be performed.

84. Explain the Test architecture design?

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85. What is negative and positive testing?

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A negative test is when you put in an invalid input and receive errors. While positive testing is when you put in a valid input and expect some action to be completed in accordance with the specification.

86. What are the Benefits and Risks of Test Automation?

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The effort required to maintain the test work products generated by the tool may be underestimated

The tool may be relied on too much (seen as a replacement for test design or execution, or the use of automated testing where manual testing would be better)

Version control of test work products may be neglected

87. What is Configuration Management?

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• All test items are uniquely identified, version controlled, tracked for changes, and related to each other.
• All items of test ware are uniquely identified, version controlled, tracked for changes, related to each other and related to versions of the test item(s) so that traceability can be maintained throughout the test process.
• All identified documents and software items are referenced unambiguously in test documentation

88. What are the Metrics Used in Testing?

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Metrics can be collected during and at the end of test activities in order to assess:

• Progress against the planned schedule and budget
• Current quality of the test object
• Adequacy of the test approach

89. What is a traceability matrix?

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The relationship between test cases and requirements is shown with the help of a document. This document is known as a traceability matrix.

90. What is black box testing? What are the different black box testing techniques?

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Black box testing is the software testing method which is used to test the software without knowing the internal structure of code or program. This testing is usually done to check the functionality of an application. The different black box testing techniques are

• Equivalence Partitioning
• Boundary value analysis
• Cause-effect graphing

91. What is Latent defect?

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Latent defect: This defect is an existing defect in the system which does not cause any failure as the exact set of conditions has never been met.

92. What is the Meanings of test levels/types depend on organizations?

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