One of the most important things you can do when testing a pencil is to see how the pencil functions on different materials. Try writing with your pencil on paper, sandpaper, ice, wood, plastic, and glass. Each how to test a pencil surface will provide different feedback that can be helpful in your Quality Assurance job interview. Of course, the pencil will not work well on glass, but you should check your requirements and confirm.
A while ago I had an interview for the position of QA engineer in one IT company. They offered me to do a test task. The task was to describe the steps for comprehensive testing of a simple pencil with an eraser. In this article, I will tell you how I solved it.
What is Shift Left Testing? Definition, Benefits, Challenges
If you think the above answer is not correct, Please select a reason and add your answer below. Take our quiz to match your personality and interests with the perfect tech profession. Here we can look into what the interviewer expects from the candidate to respond. This is good, the candidate seems to get into the stress testing concept, yet they are not using any testing terminology to define it.
- The manufacturer might not plan for the pencil to be put in a blender and might not design it to survive such treatment.
- Pencils are now an important part of South African cultural heritage and a symbol of racism.
- One of the most important things you can do when testing a pencil is to see how the pencil functions on different materials.
- They offered me to do a test task.
- 1.To check the Height of the pencil.
- What if the user wants to write in the pouring rain?
When testing a pencil’s lead, you should draw a line using light pressure. If the lead wears down with just one or two strokes, it’s too soft and will not provide enough writing material. On the other hand, if the point is still very sharp after one or two strokes, it’s too hard and may cause paper tears due to its brittle quality. 1) Check the paper is of correct size, texture, color, material, translucent/opaque. What if the user wants to write in the pouring rain? A great way to test a pencil is by getting it wet!
Test cases for PENCIL
What if this is the only pencil the user expects to own for the next five years? If there’s no consistency, then the pencil may not be worth buying or using because it won’t be reliable. Interviewers love questions that are scenario based, open-ended, and vague, but they would be familiar even for a person from a non-technical background. Writing test cases for pencils would be a great example of such questions. I love open-source technologies and am very passionate about software development. I like to share my knowledge with others, especially on technology that’s why I have given all the examples as simple as possible to understand for beginners.
The test was partially responsible for splitting existing communities and families along perceived racial lines. Its formal authority ended with the end of apartheid in 1994. Pencils are now an important part of South African cultural heritage and a symbol of racism. You can be as creative as you want! The more you test, the better the result.
Usability Testing
This includes glossy, matte, photo, and standard printer paper. Doing this gives you a good idea of how the pencil performs under different conditions. Plus, it will give you a chance to see how the pencil feels in your hand while using these different types of paper. Such questions are similar to integration testing where the test covers various aspects of the application, this question would probe the candidates to showcase their testing knowledge. One of the most important aspects of quality assurance is ensuring that products are consistent and meet customer expectations. To test a pencil for quality assurance, you’ll want to inspect the lead under different light sources.
Think about the bigger picture, understand the objective, try to find out all the possible scenarios and connect them to a testing terminology. 2)check quality od paper by using different pen and pencils. This test was used to determine racial identity in South Africa during the apartheid era, distinguishing whites from coloureds and blacks.
Initial Properties of a Pencil Taken Out of the Box or Primary Testing
Testing the pencil on different surfaces is an essential part of any functional test suite. Once your pencil is sharp, you can perform this test to check its hardness. Take the pencil and press it into your skin. If the pencil leaves a mark, it’s too soft and won’t write well. If the pencil does not leave a mark, it’s too hard and will break easily. The perfect pencil will leave a light mark on your skin.
If you still think that we have missed some scenarios of the Pencil Test Case, then you can update us by putting that in the comment section. We have added a few formats of the Manual test Excel sheet here. The basic test case provided in the article might have given the right idea on the test case creation process. The thinking process mentioned there would help you create the test cases of actual software applications. And the candidate proceeds with the basic functionality mentioned above and gives various types of testing along with the scenarios.
There is an interesting LinkedIn post where a QA manager explains how he interviewed a candidate with these pencil test cases. Let’s look into a paraphrase of that interview below. The interviewer would be impressed if you can apply testing methods to the answer.
From the point of view of eco-friendliness, the best pencils are unvarnished and without an eraser (by the way, they are found in great variety in Ikea, Leroy Merlen, etc.). And for this reason I dislike pencils with an eraser at the end because if there is one, and especially with the iron holder – it’s inconvenient to chew on it. The main evaluation criterion is the fulfillment/non-fulfillment of the testing conditions. In addition, we will try to represent some parameters in numerical terms. Based on the data obtained, you can create a summary of the characteristics of various pencil models.
All the code posted on my blog is developed, compiled, and tested in my development environment. If you find any mistakes or bugs, Please drop an email to , or You can join me on Linkedin. The candidate is broadening the scope of the testing, thinking about the colour of the pencil but they are not getting to the test concept yet. Take a deep breath and clear your mind, get to a structured thinking space.
