1 :: What statement do you consider to be most important and why?

a) Testing has the primary intent of showing the system meets the users needs.
b) Testing has the primary intent of finding faults

2 :: You have run all your tests and they all pass. Is this good news or bad news?

It depends on how good your tests were and what they were testing. To have justified confidence in the software we must have confidence in our tests, data and environment.

3 :: What would you do if you were asked to test a system which is unfamiliar to you has out-of-date or inadequate documentation?

Talk to users, developers and analysts to understand what the system is supposed to do. Document this understanding and get it reviewed and use this as a substitute for the Requirements/Design documentation. Talk with testers who have tested the system previously Read whatever is available and clarify assumptions

4 :: In running a test you find the actual result does not match the expected result? What would you do?

The tester should first establish whether the reason is because of a test fault (i.e. they have made a mistake) or whether it is an environment fault. If neither of these are true then they should then check to see whether this fault has already been raised. If not then either raise the fault or more preferable – talk to the development group to check the fault out.

5 :: Do you consider positive or negative testing to be most important or trying to break the system - and why?

They are as important as each other. However testers need to have a different mindset to developers and therefore should actively look for potential faults. If we only concentrate on positive tests (show that the system does what it should do) then we will potentially experience problems when the system goes live. If we only concentrate on negative tests (showing the system doesn’t do what it shouldn’t) then again we could potentially miss significant faults. However if we look primarily at breaking the system then we may find lots of faults (the what if scenarios) but we may not establish if the system is going to meet the users needs and requirements. A balance is needed with all three approaches.