Difference Between Test Case And Test Scenario

Hey All !!

In this article, I will explain what are Test cases, Test scenarios and their differences.

This helps in understanding the concepts and also may help you in your job interviews.

So, here we go !

Test cases and test scenarios may sound same. And you might have seen may people using them interchangeably.

But they’re different. There are many differences. I will explain them in detail.

Test cases are like checklists where you check each step to test something specific to the functionality of the product.

Focusing on one thing at a time, searching for bugs in the product.

The main goal of Test cases is to make sure that application is working as expected.

You know what, you can run these test cases over and over again, with different combinations of inputs to see what happens.

And confirm if out put is as expected or not.

It’s like experimenting in a lab!

Test scenarios on the other hand, are like the big picture view of testing.

They are at the top level and are not in detail.

Test scenarios can have multiple test cases. That’s there can be one-to-many mapping.

Test cases are detailed. They specify the actions to be performed, input data and the expected results.

But, test scenarios and high level. They describe overall objective of testing particular functionality.

Test cases may depend on other test cases. That is, some specific test case should be executed prior to other test case execution.

Example: To execute ‘Login’ test case, ‘Register’ test case should be executed first.

But, test scenarios may not be dependent on other scenarios. They can be stand-alone scenarios.

Test cases contain step-by-step instructions and expected results. Test scenarios provide overview and may reference test cases.

Test case can me marked as complete when it is executed.

But, Test scenario can be complete only when all its associated test cases are executed and are complete.

If the strategy is to go for automated testing, then test cases are easy to automate. We can have traceability mapping for test script-test case.

But it is difficult if we have only test scenarios.

Effort wise, test case development takes longer time and cost. Test scenarios can be quickly written and hence consume less time.

If someone joins team in between test cycle, it can be easy of them to understand the product based on test cases. Execution is easy.

They need to have some training to understand the scenarios and test them.

Summary

So, as you can see, test cases and test scenarios are not same. They both have different goal, approach. Both have advantages and disadvantages.

You need to trade-off based on your testing requirement and decide which ones to use.

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