This document contains commonly asked automation testing interview questions and their answers to help prepare for an interview. It discusses reasons for automation testing, factors in deciding what to automate, benefits of tools like Quick Test Pro and Selenium, the automation testing process, and challenges like maintaining automated tests. Specific questions cover topics like test frameworks, best practices, and when not to automate. The goal is to help interviewees have answers on their fingertips for a wide range of potential automation testing questions.

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Interviews – a terrifying word for many of us! There is a little fear and a little anxiety that might
shake our confidence and we might end up answering the answers wrong, even if we know them.
But this can easily be overcome, if we are sure with the answers and the answers are on our
fingertips.
But how can you know each and everything about automation testing? Seems difficult! But these
commonly asked automation testing interview questions can help you crack your interview.
So here you go!
1. Why do you think we need Automation Testing?
Based on the situation, automation testing can help us in
1. Improving test efficiency.
2. Reducing the testing efforts.
3. Reducing the cost of testing
4. Replicating testing across various platforms
5. Giving more accurate results, in short, automation testing enhances test results accuracy
6. The quickened testing process when the testing time is less
7. Testing more complicated and large applications.
2. How will you decide when to automate the test?
Automation testing can be not done at all times; there are certain scenarios where automation
testing is most preferred. And if there is any such scenario, I will automate the tests
 Repetitive Tasks
 Smoke and Sanity Tests
 Test with multiple data set
 Regression test cases
3. State the benefits of Quick Test Pro (QTP)?
Some of the benefits of QTP are
1. Supports web-based application for both client and server
2. keyword-driven testing
3. Excellent Data-driven testing features
4. Good error handling mechanism
5. Run time data table
6. Supports record and play feature
4. When will you decide not to Automate Testing?
I will not automate when
1. Application Under Test changes frequently
2. When test cases are valid only for once
3. Random testing
4. When a project is very small and does not require extensive testing
5. Tell me about Selenium?
Selenium is a web-based application testing tool. It supports writing test cases in Java, Perl, Python,
and more. It also supports all the major platforms like Windows, Mac, and Linux.

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6. How is Automation testing done?
The process for automation testing is:
1. Select the Test tool as per your testing requirement
2. Define the scope of automation
3. Planning, design and development
4. Test execution
5. Maintenance
6. Tell what do you know about Rational Robot - IBM Test Automation Tool?
It is an automation testing tool used for functional and regression testing. It supports Windows, Java,
IE and ERP applications for the Windows platform. It has in build test cases for objects like lists,
bitmaps, and menus and specialized test cases for development environment specific objects.
Rational Clear Quest, Relational Test Manager, and Requisite Pro come integrated with it for
Requirement Traceability, Change Management, and Defect Tracking. It supports Java, VS.NET
controls, Oracle Forms, Web, Sybase Power Builder applications and Borland Delphi.
7. What do you do in the Planning Phase Of Automation?
In the planning phase of automation testing, we focus on
1. Selecting the correct Automation tool
2. Pick the Automation Framework
3. To decide in scope and out scope items
4. Set the Test Environment
5. Prepare Gantt Chart of Project.
6. Recognize the Test Deliverables
8. Name a few Automation Testing Tools that you know?
Some of the commonly used automation testing tools are:
1. Load Runner
2. Silk Test
3. Jmeter
4. Selenium
5. Sahi
6. QTP
7. WinRunner, etc.
9. There are a few conditions where we cannot use automation testing for Agile
methodology. Explain them.
Automation testing cannot be used when:
1. there are frequent changes in Agile testing
2. Agile testing requires an Exhaustive level of documentation
10. What are the most types of testing you would automate?
1. Load testing
2. Sanity testing
3. Regression testing.
11. Tell a few risks associated with automation testing?
Some of the common risks are:
1. One of the major risks associated with automation testing is finding skilled testers. The
testers should have good knowledge of various automation tools, should have knowledge of

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programming language and should be technologically sound and be able to adapt to new
technology.
2. The initial cost of automation testing is more, and convincing the client for this coat can be a
tedious job.
3. Automation testing with unfixed UI, and constantly changing UI can be a risky task.
4. Automating an unstable can be risky too. In such scenarios, the cost of script maintenance is
very high.
5. If there are some test cases to be executed once, it is not a good idea to automate them.
12. Explain Tree View In Automation Testing?
A tree view has statements in a tree structure. The testing process in the keyword created and
viewed in the keyword drive modular format.
13. What Features will you look out in an Automation Tool?
Some of the features I will look into automation tools are:
1. Support for Test Environment
2. Easy to use.
3. Debugging facility.
4. Robust object identification.
5. Testing features for Object and Image.
6. Object identification capability.
7. Database testing features.
8. Support for multiple frameworks.
14. Tell a few disadvantages of Automation Testing?
Some of the disadvantages of automation testing are:
1. Tool designing requires a lot of manual efforts
2. tools can be buggy, inefficient, costly,
3. Tools can have technological limitations.
15. Are there any Pre-requisites of Automation Testing? If so, what are they?
Some of the Pre-requisites of Automation Testing are:
1. A stable Build
2. Functionalities to be tested
3. Test cases for automated testing
16. Name the Framework Used In Software Automation Testing?
The frameworks used for software automation testing are:
1. Data-driven automation framework
2. Keyword-driven automati4on framework
3. Modular automation framework
4. Hybrid automation framework
17. State the difference between Open Source Tools, Vendor Tools, And In-house Tools?
The difference between Open Source Tools, Vendor Tools, and In-house Tools are:
1. Open source tools are free to use tools, their source code is available for free online for
others to use.
2. Vendor tools can also be referred to as companies developed tools. You will have to
purchase their licenses for using them. These tools comes with a proper technical support
for sorting any kind of technical issues. Some of the vendor tools are WinRunner, SilkTest,
LR, QA Director, QTP, Rational Robot, QC, RFT, and RPT.

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3. In-house tools are custom made by companies for their personal use.
18. What are the mapping criteria for successful automation testing?
The mapping criteria for successful automation testing are:
1. Defect Detection Ratio
2. Automation execution time
3. Time saved to release the product
4. The decrease in Labour employed
5. The decrease in overall costs
19. Which testing can be done using the Selenium Framework?
Selenium can be used for:
1. Load testing of web applications.
2. Regression testing of web applications.
3. Functional testing of web applications.
20. What are Essential Types Of Test Steps?
1. Test object
2. Functions
3. Utility
4. Comment
5. Programming logic
21. Name the Environment supported by QTP?
QTP supports only Windows.
22. Name a few Extensions and Test Assets of QTP?
Some of the Test Assets and Extensions of QTP are:
1. Results .xml
2. Test batch runner .mtb
3. Recovery scenario .qrs
4. Local object repository .mtr
5. Test file .mts
6. Shared object repository .tsr
7. Function library .qfl
23. Name a few Technologies supported by QTP?
A few technologies supported by QTP are:
1. .NET
2. Delphi
3. Web
4. Java (Core)
5. Java (Advanced)
6. Oracle
7. WPF
8. Siebel
9. SAP
10. Flex
11. PeopleSoft
12. Windows Mobile
13. Silverlight

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24. Describe a few drawbacks of Selenium Ide?
Some of the drawbacks of Selenium IDE are:
1. It’s Firefox only.
2. It lacks conditional statements
3. It cannot handle exceptions
4. It also can’t take screenshots.
5. It lacks logging and reporting functionality
6. It cannot re-run failed tests automatically.
7. It also lacks loops, database testing,
25. Name the different Scripting Techniques For Automation Testing?
Different scripting techniques for automation testing are:
Linear, Key and data-driven techniques, structured, and shared.
26. What Is The Selenium Web driver used for?
It is used for automating tests for websites.
27. What would be your criteria for picking up the automation tool for your specific scenarios?
The criteria for choosing the right automation tool are
1. Project scope
2. Tools limitations
3. Cost of the tool
4. the tool’s usability and convenience
5. the testing environment
6. compatibility
28. Can automation testing completely replace manual testing?
No, automation testing cannot completely replace manual testing.
Automation testing requires human intervention for setting up the environment. Automation testing
is good for long large and repeated testing tasks. For newer scripts and rarely executed tests,
automation testing is hardly of any use.
29. How will you determine which test cases you will pick for automation testing?
We will consider the following criteria for picking up test cases for automation testing:
1. The frequency of executing the test cases is one of the major criteria in deciding whether to
select the test case for automation testing or not. The higher the frequency of re-running
the test cases more viable it is for automation testing.
2. Find out whether automating the test case would save you time or not.
3. The criticality of the test case is another major decision whether to automate test case or
not.
4. The automation testing of the test case should not exceed the time required to execute the
test case manually
5. Consider the criticality of the test case in deciding if to automate it or not. the more critical
test cases are better to be automated.
30. Which types of test cases will you not automate?
We will not automate the following test cases:
· Usability tests generally require manual intervention to check the test results
· Test cases that include setup
· Test cases that re not to be repeated

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· Test cases that return unpredicted test results
· UX tests
· exclude unplanned and random test cases
31. Describe automation testing lifecycle?
The stages of automation testing are.
1. Decide whether to automate testing or not
2. Identify the Automation tool
3. Recognize the scope of automation testing
4. Design and development of a test suite
5. Continuous test execution
6. Maintain test suite
32. Describe your plan for automation testing of web applications?
Irrespective of the choice of your automation tools like SilkTest, QTP, Selenium or any other test tool
you can follow the following rules
· Web UI testing.
 Have a unique name for every web page.
 Follow uniform naming scheme for similar objects.
 No two objects should have the same name.
 Every image should have an ALT attribute set.
 Dynamic content must have a proper name, ID or XPath.
 Data tables should have specific names.
 Cross-browser stability.
· Web service layer (Rest/Soap) testing.
 API Request/Response verification.
 API error code testing.
 Web service XSD validation.
 Cross-server validation.
33. What are the advantages and disadvantages of automation testing at the UI layer?
· Advantages of automation testing in UI layer
 It helps to validate end-to-end UI flows.
 Helps in the integration of the testing application with the external systems.
 It allows giving test suite to the customer to gather his feedback
 Helps in getting early feedback on high priority modules
 Helps in the early revealing of severe bugs.
 Tests UI functionality even when it cannot be done manually.
· Disadvantages of automation testing in UI layer
 UI automation can break for frequently changing UI element locators.
 Slow Test execution.
 Only limited information can be verified.
 You have to limit the number of test cases because of slow test execution.
 It is time demanding involving many steps.
34. Which test automation strategy would you prefer for your agile software?
For the Agile methodology, the pyramid approach has been proven quite successful. It divides the
complete cycle into three levels.
 The base or the first level belongs to unit tests
 Next is the service layer including API tests.
 The last and the topmost is GUI testing.

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Using it testers can test the complete application. Each layer of the pyramid has its own significance
and as a whole, the complete pyramid results in complete testing of the system.
35. Tell about automation framework?
Automation framework is a software platform that provides needed structure and echo system to
automate and run test cases. They are also a set of rules for users for efficient automation testing.
Some of the rules are:
· Rules for writing test cases.
· Coding rules for developing test handlers.
· Prototype for Input test data.
· Management of Object repository.
· Log configuration.
· Usage of Test result and reporting.
36. State a few coding practices to follow during automation?
Some of the best coding practices for test automation are:
· Reusable test handlers development that is put in a separate file.
· Add comments whenever fixing a bug.
· Follow standards set by the programming language being used.
· Store test data in an external data source.
· Run test scripts regularly.
37. State the scripting standard for automation testing?
The scripting standards for writing scripts for automation testing are:
 Naming convention should be uniform.
 For every 10 lines of code, there should be a 3 Lines of comments
 There should be proper indentation.
 There should be robust error handling and recovery scenario
 Use Frameworks whenever possible
38. Explain Sikuli?
Sikuli uses"Visual Image Match" method for automating the graphical user interface. Sikuli takes
images as input for all its web elements. It consists of
 Sikuli Script
 Visual Scripting API for Jython
 Sikuli IDE
It is used to
 automate flash websites or objects
 It automates window based application without using internal API support
 Offers simple API
 Easy to link with tools like Selenium
 Can automate Desktop application
 Extensive support to automate flash objects
 uses "Visual Match" and Flash objects to automate desktop
 works on multiple technologies -.NET, Java,
39. What is your next step after identifying your automation test tool?
The next step would be to design a framework.
40. What are the characteristics of a good framework?
The characteristics of good framework are:

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 It should be modular
 It should be reusable
 It should be consistent
 It should be independent
 Should have good reporting facility
 It should be easy to integrate with other applications.
41. Why do you keep URL, Login, and passwords in a separate file and not directly in the code?
These pieces of information are used very frequently, if we hardcode them into the code, we will
require to change them in every file they are referred in.
Therefore such information is stored in a separate file.
42. What is the main reason for testers to refrain from automation? How can they overcome
it?
The main reason that holds back the testers from automation testing is to learn programming
language/coding. To overcome this, they can:
 Collaborate with developers for automation
 Automation is not only testers job, but it is also a combined team effort
 Give dedicated time for automation.
 Get management support whenever needed.
43. Name important modules of automation testing Framework?
Important modules for automation testing framework are:
 Test Assertion Tool
 Data setup
 Build Management Tool
 Continuous integration tool
 Reporting tool
 Logging tool
44. What are the advantages of Modular Testing framework?
The advantages of Modular Testing Framework are:
 Easy to maintain
 scalability of test cases
 can create test scripts using already scripted modules
45. What are the disadvantages of the keyword-driven testing framework?
The disadvantages of the keyword-driven testing framework:
 It is more complicated
 Test cases get longer and complex
46. Can we do automation testing without a framework? If yes, how?
Yes, automation testing can be done without a framework. Understand the tool and program the
steps in the programming language supported by the tool.
47. Can we do automation testing without a framework? If yes, how?
Yes, automation testing can be done without a framework. Understand the tool and
program the steps in the programming language supported by the tool.
48. List out the tools you are well-acquainted with?

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List out the tools you have used, however, make sure that you have experience in handling
Selenium
49.Can we automate CAPTCHA or RECAPTCHA?
Nope. not possible. You can either enable or disable it in the test environment.
50.When do you go for manual rather than automated testing?
Exploratory tests, usability testing, ad-hoc testing, etc require tester skills rather than technical
skills. So these testing require manual intervention rather than automation.
Conclusion:
Interviews are one major barrier between you and your offer letter. A little confidence and ample of
knowledge can easily let you cross this barrier. With automation being a vast subject, you might
struggle to get all the knowledge especially if you are short of time. The above questions are some of
the commonly asked question based on automation testing in the interviews. Hope they will help
you.
Also, get deep knowledge of the automation tool, you are proficient in.
All the best!