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QA interview guide

Answer practical test design, defect reporting and automation questions with evidence.

2026 edition · By EgoTECH · No login required
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Practice out loud first. Then compare your answer with the outline. These are original practice prompts, not leaked employer questions.

A 30-minute practice session

Use 5 minutes for a project introduction, 15 minutes for three questions, 5 minutes for follow-ups and 5 minutes for feedback. Score clarity, correctness and concrete evidence from 0–2 each. This is self-review, not an employer score.

Question 1

Severity versus priority?

Reveal answer guide

Severity describes the impact of a defect; priority describes how urgently the team should address it. They may differ because of timing, reach or workarounds.

Follow-up: Give an example of low severity but high priority.

Question 2

How do you test a quantity range of 1–10?

Reveal answer guide

Test boundaries and invalid partitions: 0, 1, 10, 11, blank, text and decimals. Check both UI feedback and server enforcement.

Follow-up: What happens with a pasted negative number?

Question 3

What makes a good defect report?

Reveal answer guide

Include a concise title, environment, preconditions, numbered steps, expected and actual outcomes, and evidence. Separate observations from guesses about the cause.

Follow-up: Could another tester reproduce your report?

Question 4

What should you automate first?

Reveal answer guide

Start with repeatable, high-value journeys that have stable expected outcomes. Keep exploratory work for uncertain behavior and use lower-level tests where they give faster feedback.

Follow-up: Why not automate every UI scenario?

Question 5

How do you investigate a flaky test?

Reveal answer guide

Inspect traces and failure patterns, isolate shared state, replace timing guesses with meaningful waits, and check external dependencies. Do not dismiss failures as random.

Follow-up: What evidence would distinguish product timing from test timing?

Question 6

What is regression testing?

Reveal answer guide

It checks that previously working behavior still works after a change. Select scope from the changed area, dependencies and risk.

Follow-up: What would you retest after changing discount logic?

Question 7

How do you test an API?

Reveal answer guide

Check status, body, schema, authorization, side effects and error behavior. Include malformed and duplicate requests, not only successful responses.

Follow-up: Can a 200 response still represent a bug?

Question 8

How do you decide whether to release?

Reveal answer guide

Summarize tested scope, unresolved risks, impact and workarounds. Give a recommendation with evidence; the release decision belongs to the responsible team.

Follow-up: What would make you recommend delaying release?

Notes save on this device. Avoid entering passwords or sensitive information.

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