Landing a QA Engineer role in 2025 means being ready for a wide range of questions — from fundamental manual testing concepts to automation frameworks, Agile methodology, and behavioral rounds. We've compiled the 50 most commonly asked QA interview questions based on real feedback from our mentorship students who've interviewed at Bloomberg, JP Morgan, Google, and more.
85% of our students who practiced these questions landed a QA role within 60 days of their first mock interview session.
Manual Testing Questions
These form the foundation of almost every QA interview. Know these cold before you walk in the door.
Q1What is the difference between verification and validation?
Verification checks that you're building the product right — reviewing specs, designs, and code without executing it. Validation checks that you built the right product — actually running the software and testing against user requirements.
Q2What is a test plan and what does it contain?
A test plan is a document that outlines the scope, approach, resources, and schedule for testing activities. It typically includes: test objectives, test scope, test strategy, entry/exit criteria, resource requirements, risks, and deliverables.
Q3What's the difference between a bug, defect, and failure?
A bug is a mistake in the code. A defect is when the software doesn't meet its specified requirements. A failure is when the software doesn't perform its required function in a production environment.
Q4Explain the software testing lifecycle (STLC).
STLC has six phases: Requirement Analysis → Test Planning → Test Case Development → Test Environment Setup → Test Execution → Test Cycle Closure. Each phase has defined entry and exit criteria.
Q5What is boundary value analysis?
A testing technique that focuses on values at the boundary of equivalence partitions. If a field accepts values 1–100, you test 0, 1, 2, 99, 100, and 101 — because most bugs occur at boundaries.
Automation Testing Questions
Automation questions are increasingly common even for manual QA roles. Show you understand the concepts even if you haven't written automation yet.
Q6What is the difference between Selenium and Cypress?
Selenium supports multiple languages and browsers, runs outside the browser. Cypress runs inside the browser, is JavaScript-only, but has faster execution and better developer experience. Cypress is better for modern web apps; Selenium for cross-browser or legacy testing.
Q7What is the Page Object Model (POM)?
A design pattern that creates an object repository for UI elements. Each page of the app has a corresponding class that contains the elements and actions for that page. This makes tests more maintainable because UI changes only require updates in one place.
Q8When should you NOT automate a test?
Don't automate: tests that run only once, tests requiring human judgment (UX/visual), tests that change frequently, and exploratory tests. Automation has upfront cost — only automate what delivers ROI through repetition.
Agile & Process Questions
Most companies run Agile or some variant. These questions assess how you fit into their development process.
Q9How does QA work in an Agile sprint?
In Agile, QA is involved from day one — reviewing user stories, writing test cases during sprint planning, testing features as they're developed (not at the end), and participating in retrospectives to improve the process each sprint.
Q10What is shift-left testing?
Moving testing earlier in the development cycle — involving QA in requirements and design, not just at the end. It catches defects when they're cheapest to fix and reduces the risk of late-stage surprises.
Behavioral Questions
These are often the deciding factor. Use the STAR method: Situation, Task, Action, Result.
Q11Tell me about a time you found a critical bug close to release.
Structure your answer: describe the situation (what stage, what product), your task (what you were testing), your action (how you identified, documented, and escalated it), and the result (what happened, what you learned). Be specific and quantify the impact where possible.
Q12How do you handle disagreements with a developer about whether something is a bug?
Reference the requirements document first — if the behavior doesn't match the spec, it's a bug. If requirements are unclear, involve the product owner. Stay objective, document your case clearly, and focus on the user impact rather than being right.
Want all 50 questions with full model answers? Download our QA Interview Prep Guide →
