Introduction
Software testing is defined as a technique to check whether the final software or the product matches the expected requirements of the customer and to ensure that the product is defect-free. It uses manual or automated tools to evaluate the properties of interest in the software. Software testing aims at identifying errors or any missing requirement in contrast to actual requirements specified by the customer. It can be stated that software testing means verification of the application under test. It is important to perform software testing so that any bugs or errors in the software can be identified and rectified before the final product is delivered.

When preparing for a software testing interview, one should go through the previously asked software testing interview questions as many questions are repeated. This blog will answer some of the important software testing interview questions that an interviewer is likelier to ask.
Software Testing Interview Questions for Freshers
Some of the important software testing interview questions for freshers are:
1. What is Software testing?
Software testing is a systematic process of evaluating a software application or system to:
- Identify defects, bugs, or errors
- Verify that the software meets specified requirements
- Validate that the software functions as expected
- Ensure the quality and reliability of the software
It involves executing a program or application with the intent of finding software bugs, and verifying that the software product is fit for use. Software testing is an integral part of the software development lifecycle and aims to improve the overall quality of the software, reduce development costs, and enhance user satisfaction.
2. What are the different types of testing?
There are numerous types of software testing, which can be broadly categorized as follows:
- Functional Testing:
- Unit Testing
- Integration Testing
- System Testing
- Acceptance Testing (User Acceptance Testing - UAT)
- Non-Functional Testing:
- Performance Testing
- Load Testing
- Stress Testing
- Security Testing
- Usability Testing
- Compatibility Testing
- Reliability Testing
- Manual vs. Automated Testing
- Black Box, White Box, and Grey Box Testing
- Static vs. Dynamic Testing
- Regression Testing
- Smoke Testing
- Sanity Testing
- Exploratory Testing
- Ad-hoc Testing
- Alpha and Beta Testing
- Accessibility Testing
Each type of testing serves a specific purpose and is typically performed at different stages of the software development lifecycle.
3. What are the principles of software testing?
The seven key principles of software testing, as defined by the International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB), are:
- Testing shows the presence of defects, not their absence: Testing can prove the existence of bugs but cannot prove that there are no bugs.
- Exhaustive testing is impossible: Testing everything is not feasible due to time and resource constraints. Risk analysis and priorities should guide testing efforts.
- Early testing: Start testing as early as possible in the development lifecycle to find and fix defects early when they are less expensive to resolve.
- Defect clustering: A small number of modules usually contain most of the defects. Identify these critical modules and focus testing efforts accordingly.
- Pesticide paradox: Repeating the same tests over time will not find new bugs. Regularly review and revise test cases to potentially find new defects.
- Testing is context dependent: Different types of software and systems require different testing approaches. The testing approach should be tailored to the specific context.
- Absence-of-errors fallacy: Finding and fixing defects does not help if the system is unusable or does not fulfill the users' needs and expectations.
These principles guide testers in their approach to software testing, helping to ensure effective and efficient testing practices.
4. What type of input is required from the end-user in order to begin proper testing?
The end-user is one of the most important people as they are the ones who have to use the product and have a keen interest in the product. The below diagram shows all are the inputs that are essential from the end-user

5. Briefly describe the workbench concept.
Workbench is described as a way of documenting how a task is to be performed. It is often referred to as phases, steps, and tasks.

Mainly there are five tasks of a workbench, which are:
- Input
- Execute
- Check
- Production output
- Rework
6. What do you understand by defect Cascading?
When an interviewer asks the above question as a part of software testing interview questions, the answer should be that defect cascading is a defect that is caused by another defect. In other words, when a defect triggers another defect. This happens when a defect is present in any stage but does not get identified and, as a result, gets passed to other phases without getting noticed. This increases the number of defects.
While answering such types of questions when asked in a software testing interview questions, try giving examples like:
If we are to design the login module of a webpage.
- In Phase 1: We will be designing the Register User Module for Login, and we need to make sure that the mobile number is mandatory, but we intentionally leave it blank to create a bug that gets unnoticed.
- In Phase 2: We will be designing the login form having a username as well as a password, the password is the OTP which will be sent to the User's registered mobile number entered before.
Now, as the Register Module has a bug that mobile number can be left blank, which will lead to Login failure or some sort of system error or crash if the null mobile number is not handled. Such a thing is known as defect cascading.
7. Name the different strategies that can be used to rollout to end-user.
The different strategies that should be mentioned when asked as a part of software testing interview questions are:
- Pilot
- Gradual Implementation
- Phased implementation
- Parallel implementation
8. Explain the process through which we can find a broken link in a page using Selenium WebDriver.
This is a tricky question that is present in almost every set of software testing interview questions. In such a question, the interviewer can provide you with 20 links on a web page and asks you to verify which of them are working and which aren't. As we need to verify whether a link is working, the main workaround is to send HTTP requests to all of the links on the web page and then analyze the response. When we use a driver.get() method to navigate a URL, it responds with a status of 200-OK. This depicts that the particular link is working fine, whereas any other status indicates that the link is broken.
To perform the above task, all we have to do is use the anchor tags <a> to determine the different links on the web page, that is, for every <a> tag, we use the href attribute to obtain the hyperlinks and then analyze the response we receive when the driver.get() method is used.
9. Which technique should we use in the script "if there is neither frame id nor frame name"?
Frame by index should be used if neither the frame id nor the frame name is available. For instance, if there are 4 frames on a web page and none of them have a frame name and frame id, we can still select those frames by using the zero-based frame index attribute, that is, the first frame would be at index 0, the second frame at index 1 and so on.
10. Is it possible to take a screenshot in Selenium WebDriver? If yes, then how?
It is very commonly asked in software testing interview questions, the answer to this shouled be Yes, by using the TakeScreenshot function. The TakeScreenshot function allows the user to take a screenshot, and the getScreenshotAs() function helps the user to save the screenshot.
Example, File ssFile = ((TakeScreenshot)driver).getScreenshotAs(outputType.FILE);