QA Interview Questions

1. What is QA?

QA is abbreviated as Quality Assurance; Quality Assurance is a method of monitoring the “process.” A group of activities ensures the developed software meets all the specifications mentioned in the “software requirement specification” document.

2. What are the steps in the PDCA cycle?

Plan: the planning phase is the main phase because developers will know how to develop a process and what features must be included in it.

Do: do is a phase where we develop and test the process.

Check: in this phase, developers check whether the developed process meets all the client’s requirements.

Act: in this phase, developers act to implement actions needed to enhance the process.

3. What is bug leakage?

Bug leakage is when the tester did not find the bug at the testing phase, but the end-user sees the bug while using the process/software.

4. What is bug release?

Bug release is when the tester releases the process even if they know a bug in the “software.” These types of bugs don’t have any severity.

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5. List the different documents present in software QA?

There are six different documents present in software QA they are:

1. Test scenario
2. Requirement document
3. Traceability matrix
4. Test Metrics
5. Test cases
6. Test plan

6. What do you know about the traceability matrix?

A traceability matrix is a document that maps and traces all the user requirements with the test cases. The goal of the traceability matrix is to check if all test cases are included so that no functionality is missing during the software testing.

7. List different elements of Testware?

The three different elements of Testware are:

1. Test cases
2. Test data
3. Test plan

These elements are used to define all the materials utilized to conduct a test.

8. What are the different dimensions of risk in Quality Assurance?

The different dimensions of risks in Quality Assurance are:

1. Client: sometimes, a client may not accurately know what he wants, which may raise ambiguity. Because of this ambiguity, developers may need to change their plans constantly.
2. Schedule: creating unrealistic plans like developing an entire software in a day may risk the whole project and impact the quality.
3. System resources: no availability of the required resources like software and hardware tools may lead to higher risks.
4. Human resources: no availability of a required number of employees may lead to higher risk.

9. What are the different types of Requirement Traceability Matrix?

There are three different types of Requirement Traceability Matrix:

1. Backward traceability
2. Forward traceability
3. Bidirectional traceability 

10. What is verification?

Verification evaluates the steps of the development phase and checks if they meet all the client’s needs. It is a static process that is performed before validation. Verification includes activities like reviewing, desk checking, inspections, and walkthroughs.

11. What is validation?

Validation evaluates the product after the development phase to check if the product meets particular needs. It is a dynamic process that is performed after verification. It includes methods like white-box testing, non-functional testing, and black-box testing.

12. What is Regression?

 Assume the client asked the developer to make the last-minute changes in the product, and the developer added new code to the developed code. The tester performs regression testing to check if the newly added code affected the already existing code or not.

13. What is retesting?

Assume the tester found some problems in the code. Then he will retest the code to check if the bugs are fixed or not. Restarting in QA is similar to restarting the computer if we find it difficult to operate.

14. What is BlackBox testing?

BlackBox testing is a kind of testing where the tester can check the functionalities of the software but cannot know the inner code structure. It primarily focuses on the input and output of the software.

15. List the types of BlackBox testing?

The three different types of BlackBox testing are:

1. Non-functional testing
2. Regression testing
3. Functional testing

16. What is WhiteBox testing?

WhiteBox testing is a kind of testing where the tester checks functionalities, internal code, and software design; as internal code is also visible to the tester, this Whitebox testing is also called open box testing or clear box testing.

17. List the types of WhiteBox testing?

There are two different types of WhiteBox testing they are:

1. Testing for Memory leaks
2. Unit testing

18. List different WhiteBox testing tools?

There are six different Whitebox testing tools they are:

1. CppUnit
2. Parasoft Jtest
3. HTMLUnit
4. EclEmma
5. PyUnit
6. NUnit

19. What do you know about Adhoc testing?

Adhoc testing is an informal way of testing where the tester does not needs to follow any formal process like test cases, requirement documents, and test plans.

20. What is monkey testing?

Monkey testing is a software testing method where the tester provides random data and observes if the application or system crashes or displays an error message. Monkey testing is also known as FUZZ testing.

21. List the various levels of software testing?

• Unite Testing
• Integration Testing
• Acceptance Testing
• System Testing

22. List various challenges faced by the SQA team?

Different challenges faced by the SQA team are:

1. Automation of complicated test cases.
2. Automation script reusability.
3. The versatility of test cases.
4. Understanding the automation tools.

23. What do you know about data-driven testing?

Data-driven testing is one of the automation testing frameworks—data-driven test checks various input values over (Application Under Test) AUT. The input values are directly read through the data files. These data files include data pools, excel files, and CSV files.

24. What are the different types of data-driven testing?

The five different types of data-driven testing are:

• Database tables
• Comma-separated values files
• Table variables
• Script arrays
• Excel sheets   

25. What are the different stages of the Defect Life Cycle?

The nine different stages of the Defect Life Cycle are:

1. New: when a new defect is raised and still to be verified.
2. Assigned: this defect is assigned to a development team and yet to be fixed.
3. Active: in this phase, the developer tries to resolve the fault.
4. Test: When the developer fixes the flaw, the software will be tested in this phase.
5. Verified: in this phase, the defect is retested and verified.
6. Closed: this is the final stage of the defect. We can close it after retesting the Quality Assurance.
7. Reopen: If the defect is not fixed, Quality assurance will reopen the defect to resolve it.
8. Deferred: when the defect is not addressed within a particular cycle, it is deferred to a later release.
9. Rejected: a defect can be rejected for three reasons: NOT a defect, Non-reproducible, and same defect.

26. List the contents of test cases and test plans?

Contents of test plans, as well as test cases, are:

1. Testing scope
2. Risk factors
3. Testing objectives
4. Deliverables
5. Frame testing
6. The criteria for entry and exit
7. Environment
8. Test reasons

27. What is the “USE” case?

A USE case is a document that defines the system response, and the user’s actions for a specific functionality is called a USE case. This covers event flows, revision history, special needs, cover pages, pre, and post-conditions.

28. What is the complete form of CURD?

CURD is abbreviated as create, read, update and delete. 

29. List the challenges that a tester faces throughout software testing?

The challenges that a tester face throughout the software testing are:

1. Testing becomes challenging if there are no skilled testers on the team.
2. Regression testing.
3. Testing is challenging if the client constantly changes his requirements.
4. If there are no good tools and resources, then testing software is very challenging.
5. Sometimes when the application is vast, it is complex to test the entire application.   

30. What are the different tools needed during the development phase?

Tools needed during the development phase of the software are:

1. Automation tools
2. Defect management tools
3. Test management tools
4. Project management tools

31. What are the various solutions for Software development problems?

Multiple solutions for Software development are:

• Setting up the software criteria so that the needs are very clear, greedy by everyone, and complete.
• Scheduling must be accurate for planning, creating, software testing, fixing bugs, and software retesting.
• Using group communication tools will improve the development process.

32. What are the different steps in the “Test-Driven Development” cycle?

Four additional steps in the “Test-Driven Development” cycle are:

1. First, write all the test cases.
2. Execute those test cases.
3. If the execution of test cases fails, the modification must be done.
4. After modification, repeat the entire process. 

33. Who are smart monkey testers?’

• Smart monkey testers are those who have a complete idea of the application.
• Smart monkey testers know precisely where the application pages will redirect them; they also understand the provided inputs.

34. Who are Dumb monkey testers?  

• Dumb monkey testers do not have any idea of the application.
• Dumb monkey testers do not know about pages and applications or the inputs; they randomly provide random inputs without knowing the start and endpoints. 

35. List the elements included in the test strategy?

Elements included in the test strategy are:

1. Introduction
2. Schedule 
3. Scope
4. Resource   

The elements mentioned above are used for the test activities.

1. Test priorities
2. Test activities
3. Test planning
4. Test tools

36. What is branch testing?

Branch testing is one of the testing methods that ensure that every branch is executed at least once, and thereby branch testing ensures that the entire code is executed.

37. What is boundary testing?

Boundary testing is a testing method where the testing is done among two extreme boundaries or ends. These extreme ends may be:

• Lower-upper
• Start-end
• Just inside-Just outside
• minimum- maximum 

38. What do you know about configuration management?

Configuration management is a method of controlling the changes done during the project’s life cycle. The essential aspects of configuration management are:

• Revision control
• Release control
• Change control  

39. What does a Quality Assurance Engineer do?

A Quality Assurance engineer:

1. Write different source codes.
2. Quality assurance reviews the written codes.
3. Designing good software is their prime duty.
4. A Quality Assurance Engineer tests the programs.
5. A Quality assurance engineer does change and Configuration management.

40. List the uses of Bug triage?

• Bug Triage will assign bugs and analyze them.
• Bug triage will assign a particular bug to its valid owner.
• It also sets the priority for bugs.
• Bug triage ensures the completeness of the bug report. 

41. List what must be included in a QA document?

In a QA document, we must have:

• User manuals
• Number of defects that are detected
• Inspection reports
• Test cases
• Test plans
• Bug reports

42. What is MR?

MR is abbreviated as Modification Request, which is used for reporting problems, suggestions, or errors within software.

43. What are the techniques used to conduct validation activities?

Following are the techniques that are used to conduct validation activities:

• The evaluation must be independent.
• Organizations must hire third-party verification and validation teams.

44. What is stress testing?

Stress testing is one of the testing types that is used to know the robustness of the software. Software is tested beyond its limits. Generally, stress testing is done for “mission-critical” software.

45. What is volume testing?

Volume testing is one of the types of testing that is done on a significant amount of data. Let us assume you have to volume test a data of particular data size. Then you will have to expand your database and then perform testing.