Top 20 Manual Testing Interview Questions and Answers

We live in an increasingly online world. As a result, there’s an escalating demand for new software and apps to satisfy the ever-growing numbers of users. However, all of this new development requires a quality control system, so consequently, there is a greater need for software testers.

Maybe you already know this and are applying for a job in the field. If you want that job, you’re going to have to make a good impression at the interview, and one of the best ways to do this is to demonstrate a knowledge of the field itself.

This article provides you with many of the top manual testing interview questions that you can use to boost your confidence before sitting down for that crucial interview. If you’re already involved in some aspects of software development, you should take a look anyway, with the ultimate goal of upskilling. After all, the better command you have of every stage of software development, the more your marketability increases.

We’ll begin with the easy questions and work up to the tougher ones. Once you get through the manual testing interview questions, though, you may want to pay close attention to what follows, which sheds some light on the future of software testing.

Let’s begin.

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Manual Testing Interview Questions

1. Explain what is software testing.

It is the process of analyzing any given piece of software to determine if it meets shareholders’ needs as well as detecting for defects, and ascertaining the item’s overall quality by measuring its performance, features, quality, utility, and completeness. Bottom line, it’s quality control.

2. What is quality control, and how does it differ from quality assurance?

Quality control is the process of running a program to determine if it has any defects, as well as making sure that the software meets all of the requirements put forth by the stakeholders. Quality assurance is a process-oriented approach that focuses on making sure that the methods, techniques, and processes used to create quality deliverables are applied correctly.

3. What exactly is manual software testing, and how does it differ from automated software testing?

Manual software testing is a process where human testers manually run test cases, then generate the resulting test reports. With automation software testing, these functions are executed by automation tools such as test scripts and code. The tester takes the end user’s role to determine how well the app works.

4. What are the advantages of manual testing?

Manual testing’s strengths are:

• It’s cheaper
• You get visual feedback that’s accurate and quick
• It’s ideal for testing minor changes
• It’s perfect for ad hoc testing
• Testers don’t have to know anything about automation tools
• It’s great for testing UI’s

5. On the other hand, what are the drawbacks to manual testing?

Manual testing’s weaknesses are:

• Susceptible to human error
• Some tasks may be difficult to accomplish manually, requiring more time to complete
• The cost adds up, so it’s more expensive in the long run
• You cannot record the manual testing process, so it’s hard to replicate it

6. What kind of skills are needed for someone to become a software tester? 

Software testers need skills such as:

• Problem-solving skills
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Detail-oriented
• Able to handle the pressure
• Can work solo or as a team member equally well
• Organizational skills
• Related technical skills

7. Explain what is SDLC.

This is an acronym for Software Development Life Cycle and encompasses all of the stages of software development, including requirement gathering and analysis, designing, coding, testing, deployment, and maintenance.

8. What types of manual testing are there? Break them down.

Manual testing is broken down into:

• Black Box
• White Box
• Integration
• Unit
• System
• Acceptance

9. What is black box testing, and what are the various techniques?

Software testers employ black-box testing when they do not know the internal architecture or code structure. The techniques are:

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

10. What is white box testing and its various techniques?

Unlike black-box testing, white box involves analyzing the system’s internal architecture and/or its implementation, in addition to its source code quality. It’s techniques are:

• Statement Coverage
• Decision Coverage

11. Explain the difference between alpha testing and beta testing.

Alpha testing is at the developer’s site before release. Potential clients conduct beta testing at their websites.

12. What’s the difference between verification and validation?

Verification evaluates the software at the development phase, ascertaining whether or not a product meets the expected requirements. On the other hand, validation evaluates the software after the development phase, making it sure it meets the requirements of the customer.

13. What’s a testbed?

It’s not furniture. A testbed is an environment used for testing an application, including the hardware as well as any software needed to run the program to be tested.

14. What is Sanity testing?

Sanity testing is testing done at the release level to test the main functionalities. It’s also considered an aspect of regression testing.

15. When should developers implement configuration management procedures?

This should be done during test planning.

16. List the four different test levels

The four levels are:

• Unit/component/program/module testing
• Integration testing
• System testing
• Acceptance testing

17. What’s the difference between a bug and a defect?

A bug is a fault in the software that’s detected during testing time, while a defect is a variance between expected results and actual results, detected by the developer after the product goes live.

18. What about the difference between an error and a failure?

If a program can’t run or be compiled during development, it’s an error. If an end-user discovers an issue with the software, it’s a failure.

19. What’s GUI testing?

This tests the interface between the software and the end-user. Short for Graphics User Interface.

20. When should testing end?

There are a few criteria for ending testing:

• The bug rate has fallen below an agreed-upon level
• The testing or release deadlines have arrived
• The testing budget is out of funds
• A certain percentage of test cases have passed
• The alpha or beta testing periods have ended
• Code, functionality, or requirements coverage have been met at a declared point

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The End of Manual Testing?

And now, we say goodbye to the question and answer portion of our article, and move into predicting the future. While there still appears to be a strong interest in manual testing, indicators show that automated testing is the future for testing professionals.

Although there’s a school of thought out there that says that automated testing can’t replace manual testing, it’s fair to say that, best case scenario, manual testing will be relegated to the role of a “junior partner”, relegated to taking care of the few things that automated testing can’t adequately handle (yet).

Automated testing is growing and is expected to continue doing so. Although there will always be a market for manual testing in very small companies, it’s clear that automated testing is the future. Furthermore, as technology improves and becomes ever more sophisticated, it’s not unreasonable to say that automated testing will be able to overcome most of its weaknesses while making manual testing’s strengths irrelevant or insignificant by comparison.

Learn Automated Testing!

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