4th Part 100 Glassdoor QA interview reviews

 

🧪 Section 1: Manual Testing Fundamentals (1–20)

1. What is the difference between verification and validation?
   Verification ensures the product is built correctly. Validation checks if the right product is built.

2. What are the different levels of testing?
   Unit testing, integration testing, system testing, and acceptance testing.

3. Define a test case and test scenario.
   A test case is a set of inputs and steps to verify a function. A test scenario is a high-level idea of what to test.

4. What is severity and priority in bug tracking?
   Severity reflects the impact. Priority reflects the urgency to fix.

5. What is black-box testing?
   Testing without knowing internal code logic; based on inputs and outputs.

6. What is exploratory testing?
   Unstructured testing to explore the application freely.

7. What is functional vs. non-functional testing?
   Functional testing checks business logic. Non-functional checks performance, scalability, etc.

8. What is regression testing?
   Retesting features to ensure changes haven't broken anything.

9. What is sanity testing?
   Quick tests to confirm critical functions work.

10. When do you stop testing?
    When risk is minimal, deadlines arrive, or coverage is sufficient.

11. What’s a test plan?
    A document that outlines the strategy, scope, and timeline of testing.

12. What’s a test strategy?
    A high-level document describing testing approach for the organization or product.

13. What is user acceptance testing (UAT)?
    Testing by end-users to confirm system meets business needs.

14. What’s the difference between alpha and beta testing?
    Alpha is internal; beta is with actual users externally.

15. What are positive and negative test cases?
    Positive test confirms correct behavior. Negative tests validate app’s response to invalid input.

16. What is boundary value analysis?
    Testing at the boundaries of input ranges.

17. What is equivalence partitioning?
    Dividing input data into valid and invalid partitions for efficient testing.

18. What is a defect life cycle?
    Stages a bug goes through: New > Open > Fixed > Retested > Closed.

19. What are exit criteria in testing?
    Conditions to be met before ending testing—like coverage %, test pass %, etc.

20. What is smoke testing?
    Basic testing to check if the build is stable for further testing.

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🧰 Section 2: Automation Testing (21–40)

21. Why automate tests?
    To save time, ensure consistency, and improve efficiency.

22. What is Selenium?
    An open-source tool for automating web applications.

23. Difference between WebDriver and Selenium IDE?
    WebDriver is code-based and supports various languages. IDE is a record-play tool.

24. What’s the Page Object Model?
    Design pattern that keeps test code and page UI separate.

25. What is a test framework?
    A structure for writing and organizing test scripts.

26. What is TestNG?
    A testing framework for Java that supports annotations and reporting.

27. What are waits in Selenium?
    Mechanisms like implicit and explicit waits to handle timing issues.

28. How do you handle dynamic elements?
    Using dynamic XPath or CSS selectors and wait conditions.

29. What is CI/CD in QA?
    Continuous integration and deployment help automate testing and delivery.

30. What’s your approach to selecting test cases for automation?
    Choose stable, repeatable, high-priority, and high-volume test cases.

31. What’s the use of Jenkins in testing?
    Automates the testing process in a CI pipeline.

32. What’s your experience with Git?
    Version control system used to manage code collaboratively.

33. What is a headless browser?
    A browser that runs without a GUI, useful for faster automation.

34. How do you handle test data?
    Through fixtures, external files (JSON/Excel), or database seeding.

35. What is data-driven testing?
    Testing the same scenario with different input data.

36. What is a test suite?
    A collection of test cases executed together.

37. How do you run tests in parallel?
    Use test runners or grid setup (e.g., TestNG, Selenium Grid).

38. What is API testing?
    Testing the backend services like REST or SOAP endpoints.

39. What tools are used for API testing?
    Postman, SoapUI, REST Assured.

40. What’s your experience with mobile test automation?
    Tools like Appium allow testing iOS and Android apps.

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🤝 Section 3: Behavioral and Communication (41–60)

41. Tell me about a time you found a critical bug close to a deadline.
    I communicated the risk quickly, proposed a workaround, and helped triage with the dev team.

42. How do you prioritize your tasks in QA?
    Based on impact, deadlines, and dependencies; I use tools like Jira or Trello.

43. Describe your experience working in Agile.
    Daily standups, sprint planning, retrospectives, and delivering test-ready stories.

44. How do you deal with disagreements with developers?
    I focus on facts, reproduce the bug clearly, and keep communication respectful.

45. What do you do if you’re blocked during testing?
    Inform the team immediately, document the blocker, and shift focus to other tasks.

46. Have you ever missed a bug? What did you learn?
    Yes, it taught me to improve test case coverage and peer reviews.

47. How do you ensure quality under tight deadlines?
    Focus on high-risk features, exploratory testing, and communication.

48. How do you handle changing requirements?
    Stay flexible, update test documentation, and clarify scope with stakeholders.

49. Have you ever taken initiative outside your job role?
    Yes, I once created reusable test templates for the team, improving efficiency.

50. How do you keep up with QA trends?
    Through blogs, webinars, courses, and QA communities.

51. How do you collaborate with product managers?
    I clarify requirements, raise testability concerns, and provide regular feedback.

52. Describe a difficult bug you worked on.
    An intermittent login issue. Required log analysis, test environment review, and dev pairing.

53. What does quality mean to you?
    Meeting user expectations, performance, usability, and reliability.

54. How do you estimate testing effort?
    Break tasks down, estimate per module, include buffer time, and review with peers.

55. What metrics do you track in QA?
    Bug counts, test case pass rate, test coverage, severity distribution, and time to fix.

56. How do you test when requirements are not clear?
    Explore the product, ask questions, test assumptions, and document behavior.

57. How do you deal with repetitive tasks?
    Automate when possible or use checklists to ensure accuracy.

58. What’s your biggest strength in QA?
    Attention to detail and strong communication.

59. What’s your biggest weakness?
    I tend to over-document. I’ve improved by prioritizing high-impact documentation.

60. Why do you want this QA role?
    It aligns with my skills and interests in ensuring high-quality software.

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📋 Section 4: Test Reporting, Agile, SQL, and Misc (61–100)

61. What’s a bug report?
    A document detailing the issue, steps to reproduce, expected vs actual results.

62. What makes a good bug report?
    Clear title, steps, screenshots, logs, and environment details.

63. What is Jira?
    A popular bug and task tracking tool.

64. What is a sprint?
    A time-boxed development cycle in Agile (typically 1–4 weeks).

65. What is the difference between Scrum and Kanban?
    Scrum is sprint-based; Kanban is flow-based with continuous delivery.

66. What is velocity in Agile?
    The amount of work a team can handle in a sprint, measured in story points.

67. What is a retrospective?
    A meeting to reflect on the sprint and improve processes.

68. Why is test documentation important?
    Ensures repeatability, traceability, and knowledge sharing.

69. What’s a traceability matrix?
    Maps requirements to test cases to ensure coverage.

70. What is a test summary report?
    It summarizes test results, coverage, defects, and recommendations.

71. Write a SQL query to fetch all users from a table.

SELECT * FROM users;

72. How do you test a database?
    Validate data accuracy, referential integrity, and run queries to match UI.

73. What is ACID in databases?
    Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability—properties ensuring reliable transactions.

74. What is JOIN in SQL?
    Combines data from multiple tables.

75. What are the types of JOINs?
    INNER, LEFT, RIGHT, FULL OUTER JOIN.

76. What is an index in SQL?
    A database object that improves query speed.

77. What’s normalization?
    Organizing data to reduce redundancy.

78. How do you test an API without UI?
    Use tools like Postman or CURL to send requests and verify responses.

79. What status code means success in API?
    200 OK.

80. What status code means unauthorized?
    401 Unauthorized.

81. What is performance testing?
    Testing speed, scalability, and responsiveness.

82. What tools are used for performance testing?
    JMeter, LoadRunner.

83. What is load testing?
    Testing how system performs under expected load.

84. What is stress testing?
    Testing system beyond limits.

85. What is usability testing?
    Evaluating how user-friendly a product is.

86. What is compatibility testing?
    Testing across different devices, browsers, and OS.

87. What is security testing?
    Testing for vulnerabilities, data leaks, and unauthorized access.

88. What is cross-browser testing?
    Ensuring functionality across various browsers.

89. How do you test a login page?
    Check valid/invalid inputs, empty fields, remember me, error messages.

90. How do you test a search function?
    Valid keywords, no results, filters, performance, special characters.

91. How do you handle environment-specific bugs?
    Reproduce in relevant environment, analyze configs, and collaborate with DevOps.

92. What’s the difference between test lead and test manager?
    Lead focuses on execution; manager handles strategy, budget, and resources.

93. How do you ensure continuous learning?
    Set goals, follow industry experts, and take online courses.

94. What certifications are good for QA?
    ISTQB, CSTE, Agile Tester, Certified Selenium Professional.

95. How do you give feedback to developers?
    Constructively, with evidence and focus on product quality.

96. Have you ever proposed a new testing process?
    Yes, I suggested daily smoke tests post-deployment to catch regressions.

97. What do you do during code freeze?
    Focus on regression, exploratory, and non-functional testing.

98. How do you test without requirements?
    Use heuristics, past experience, and ask questions.

99. What’s the difference between QA and QC?
    QA prevents defects (process); QC identifies defects (product).

100. Why should we hire you for this QA role?
     I bring critical thinking, strong test design skills, and a passion for delivering quality software.