Top 50 Manual Testing Interview Questions and Answers (2025 Edition)
Your ultimate guide to cracking QA interviews with confidence!
Manual testing remains a critical skill in the software industry. Whether you're a fresher or an experienced tester, preparing for interviews with a strong set of common and real-world questions is essential.
This blog gives you 50 hand-picked manual testing questions with simple, clear answers, based on real interview scenarios and ISTQB fundamentals.
🔥 Core Manual Testing Interview Questions & Answers
1. What is software testing?
Answer: Software testing is the process of verifying that the software works as intended and is free from defects. It ensures quality, performance, and reliability.
2. What is the difference between verification and validation?
Answer:
Verification: Are we building the product right? (Reviews, walkthroughs)
Validation: Are we building the right product? (Testing the actual software)
3. What is the difference between defect, bug, error, and failure?
Answer:
Error: Human mistake in coding
Bug/Defect: Deviation from expected behavior
Failure: System behaves unexpectedly due to a defect
4. What is STLC?
Answer: Software Testing Life Cycle includes phases like:
Requirement Analysis → Test Planning → Test Case Design → Environment Setup → Test Execution → Closure.
5. What is the difference between test case and test scenario?
Answer:
Test Case: Detailed step-by-step instructions.
Test Scenario: High-level functionality to be tested.
6. What is the difference between smoke and sanity testing?
Answer:
Smoke: Basic checks to ensure app stability.
Sanity: Focused testing after bug fixes.
7. What is regression testing?
Answer: Testing unchanged parts of the application to ensure new code hasn’t broken existing functionality.
8. What is retesting?
Answer: Testing a specific functionality again after a bug has been fixed.
9. What is severity and priority?
Answer:
Severity: Impact of defect on functionality.
Priority: Urgency to fix the defect.
10. What is exploratory testing?
Answer: Informal testing where testers explore the application without pre-written test cases.
🧪 Test Design & Execution Questions
11. How do you write a test case?
Answer: Identify the test objective → write clear steps → expected result → actual result → status.
12. What are test techniques?
Answer:
Black-box testing
White-box testing
Gray-box testing
13. Explain Boundary Value Analysis.
Answer: Testing at boundary values. E.g., if valid age is 18-60, test 17, 18, 60, 61.
14. Explain Equivalence Partitioning.
Answer: Dividing input data into valid and invalid partitions and testing one from each.
15. What is decision table testing?
Answer: Tabular method for representing and testing complex business rules.
16. What is use case testing?
Answer: Testing based on user’s interaction with the application.
17. What is adhoc testing?
Answer: Informal testing without a plan or documentation.
18. What is compatibility testing?
Answer: Ensuring software works across different devices, OS, and browsers.
19. What is usability testing?
Answer: Testing how user-friendly the application is.
20. What is end-to-end testing?
Answer: Testing the complete workflow from start to finish as a user would.
🐞 Bug Reporting & Defect Life Cycle
21. What is a defect?
Answer: A deviation from expected behavior or requirement.
22. What is the defect life cycle?
Answer: New → Assigned → Open → Fixed → Retest → Closed/Rejected/Duplicate.
23. What are components of a bug report?
Answer: ID, title, steps, expected result, actual result, severity, priority, status.
24. What tools are used for defect tracking?
Answer: Jira, Bugzilla, Mantis, Redmine.
25. What is defect leakage?
Answer: Defect found by end-user which was not found during testing.
26. What is defect density?
Answer: Number of defects per unit size of code (e.g., defects per 1,000 lines).
27. How do you prioritize bugs?
Answer: Based on business impact and criticality to functionality.
28. What is the root cause analysis?
Answer: Finding the origin of the defect to avoid future issues.
29. What is the difference between reproducible and non-reproducible bugs?
Answer:
Reproducible: Can be consistently repeated.
Non-reproducible: Happens occasionally or under unknown conditions.
30. What is a blocker bug?
Answer: A critical defect that stops testing or development progress.
📘 Testing Documents & Tools
31. What is a test plan?
Answer: A document that defines the scope, strategy, resources, and schedule of testing activities.
32. What is a test strategy?
Answer: High-level document describing the testing approach across the organization or project.
33. What is test data?
Answer: Input data used during testing to simulate real-world conditions.
34. What is a test closure report?
Answer: A summary of all testing activities and outcomes at the end of the test cycle.
35. What are entry and exit criteria?
Answer:
Entry: Conditions before testing starts.
Exit: Conditions to stop testing.
36. What is test coverage?
Answer: A measure of the extent of testing performed on the application (code, requirements, test cases).
37. What is traceability matrix?
Answer: A document that maps test cases to requirements to ensure full coverage.
38. Which test management tools have you used?
Answer: TestRail, Zephyr, HP ALM, Xray.
39. How do you manage test cases?
Answer: Organize by modules/features; maintain version control; use tools like Excel or TestRail.
40. What is risk-based testing?
Answer: Prioritizing test cases based on risk of failure or business impact.
💼 Real-World & Behavioral Questions
41. Have you tested in Agile projects?
Answer: Yes. Participated in daily standups, sprint planning, and delivered tests in iterations.
42. How do you handle changing requirements?
Answer: Stay flexible, update test cases and plans, communicate impact clearly.
43. What would you do if the developer rejects your bug?
Answer: Provide detailed steps and evidence (screenshots/logs); discuss the issue with team leads if needed.
44. How do you ensure complete test coverage?
Answer: Use requirement traceability matrix and map each requirement to test cases.
45. How do you estimate test efforts?
Answer: Based on number of features, complexity, past experience, and available resources.
46. How do you stay updated with testing trends?
Answer: Follow QA blogs, take courses, attend webinars, and read documentation.
47. Have you ever missed a bug? What did you learn?
Answer: Yes. It taught me the importance of edge case testing and peer reviews.
48. What is shift-left testing?
Answer: Involving testing early in the development life cycle to catch defects sooner.
49. How do you perform mobile testing?
Answer: Test on real devices and emulators, check compatibility, UI, and performance.
50. Why should we hire you as a manual tester?
Answer: I have a strong grasp of testing fundamentals, excellent bug reporting skills, and a passion for quality. I ensure user experience and product stability.
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