Bhavnagar University Students and Exploratory Testing: A Session Sheet for Interns

Exploratory testing is a way of testing where you learn the product, design tests and run them at the same time, guided by a short written goal called a charter. Session-based exploratory testing adds a fixed time box and a notes sheet, so your work is structured, reviewable and easy to show in an interview or internship report. The sheet, charters and 14-day plan below give you everything needed to start practising on public websites this week.

What session-based exploratory testing means in practice

Scripted testing follows pre-written steps: click here, expect that. Exploratory testing starts with a question instead: “What happens if I use this search box in ways the designer did not plan for?” You decide the next action based on what the last action showed you.

Free exploring tends to be shapeless. You wander for an hour, find a few bugs, and cannot explain what you covered. Session-based testing fixes that with four ingredients:

• A charter: one sentence describing what to explore, with what, and to discover what.
• A time box: usually 45 to 90 minutes of uninterrupted testing. For beginners, 45 is easier to sustain.
• Notes taken as you go: what you tried, what you saw, what confused you.
• A short debrief: a five-minute review where you summarise findings, open questions and what the next charter should be.

The output is not a pile of test cases. It is evidence of thinking: which areas you covered, what you found, and what you could not get to.

How to write a charter that guides a session without scripting it

A widely used charter pattern is: Explore [area or feature] with [resources, data, or technique] to discover [kind of information or risk].

Compare these two:

• Weak: “Test the search.” This is too broad, with no way to know when you are finished.
• Stronger: “Explore the site search with unusual inputs (very long text, symbols, mixed languages, empty input) to discover how it handles input it was not designed for.”

A good charter is narrow enough to finish in one session, but open enough that you can follow surprises. If you find yourself writing “and also” three times, split it into separate charters.

Useful prompts for choosing what to explore

• Inputs: empty, very long, special characters, Gujarati or Hindi script, emoji, leading and trailing spaces, pasted text.
• States: logged out versus logged in, empty cart versus full cart, first visit versus return visit.
• Interruptions: pressing Back, refreshing mid-action, opening the same page in two tabs, losing network.
• Environment: narrow phone width, zoomed text, different browsers, slow connection.
• Consistency: does the page behave the same way as similar pages on the same site?
• Accessibility basics: can you reach and use the main controls using only the keyboard?

The exploratory testing session sheet: a complete template

Copy this into a document or spreadsheet, one sheet per session. Every field has a purpose, so avoid skipping the ones that feel optional.

How to take notes that are actually useful

Write short, timestamped lines in the form “action, then what happened”. Mark each line with a tag so you can scan later:

• B for a probable bug
• Q for a question
• I for an idea for a later test
• N for a neutral observation worth remembering

Capture a screenshot or screen recording the moment something looks wrong. Reconstructing a bug from memory is slow and often fails.

A worked session: charter, notes and debrief for a site search box

The following is an illustrative example of how a completed sheet could look. The observations are invented to show the format; they are not results from running tests on any real site.

Charter: Explore the search box of a large public encyclopedia site with unusual inputs (long text, symbols, mixed scripts, empty input) to discover how it handles unexpected queries.

Time box: 45 minutes planned. Environment: desktop browser, logged out, normal broadband.

00:02  Searched a common single word. Results page loads, top suggestion matches. N
00:06  Searched with trailing spaces. Same results as without spaces. N
00:10  Searched with only symbols (e.g. ?!#). Result page layout unclear. Q: is a "no results" message expected here?
00:15  Pasted a ~500-character string. Box accepts it; unclear whether it is truncated. Q
00:21  Searched a Gujarati word. Results appear. Checked whether script renders correctly. N
00:27  Pressed Enter on empty box. Page did not change. Q: silent or intended? I: compare behaviour on mobile width
00:33  Narrowed window to phone width. Suggestion list overlaps with another element. B: screenshot s03-overlap.png
00:41  Used Tab key only. Could reach box but lost track of focus in the suggestion list. B: screen recording s03-focus.mp4

Debrief (illustrative): Two probable bugs (layout overlap at narrow width, unclear keyboard focus), three open questions about empty and symbol-only input. Coverage: input variety about 70 percent; not covered: voice search, saved history. Next charters: explore the same search on a phone-sized screen; explore the suggestion list with keyboard-only navigation.

Notice what the example does well: bugs have evidence, doubtful items are labelled as questions rather than asserted as defects, and the debrief states what was not covered.

Twelve practice charters for common public websites

Practise on sites that anyone can use without special access. Stay within normal user behaviour: no load generation, no attempts to break into accounts, no real purchases or payments, and no submitting false data into live forms. Check a site’s terms of use if you are unsure. If you want sites built for practice, search for publicly available “practice websites for testers”, which are made to be poked at freely.

If you find something that looks like a genuine problem on a live site, treat it as practice evidence. You do not need to report it to the site owner, and you should not publish it as a vulnerability.

Bhavnagar University students: fitting exploratory testing into your coursework and internship records

Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University is located in Bhavnagar, Gujarat, and, according to its Wikipedia entry, it was formerly called Bhavnagar University. Wikipedia pages for Government Medical College, Bhavnagar and Samaldas Arts College list both as academically affiliated with the university, which suggests it works as an affiliating university. Treat this as a general pointer and check current details with your own college.

What this means for you: your day-to-day academic rules, including anything about internships or project work, may come from your department or affiliated college as much as from the university. An exploratory testing portfolio can serve either way, but you should not assume it will be accepted as a formal requirement without checking.

On the curriculum side, the university’s syllabus page lists undergraduate courses under NEP-2020 taking effect from academic year 2023-24. That listing is excerpt-level information from 2023, so open the current page and find the syllabus for your own programme and semester. Software testing topics may sit inside a software engineering, project or skill-enhancement paper, or may not appear by name at all. Reading the paper’s unit list will tell you whether a session sheet portfolio fits as supporting material.

A practical approach is to keep your session sheets in a consistent format from day one. If your department later asks for a training diary or report, you can convert the sheets into whatever format it specifies. Whether any internship, including an online one, counts toward your programme is a question only your department can answer.

1. Open the university syllabus page and download the syllabus PDF for your exact programme, semester and admission year.
2. Search that PDF for the words “internship”, “project”, “training” and “testing”, and note which paper, if any, mentions them.
3. Ask your department coordinator in writing whether an online, non-credit internship is acceptable as supplementary experience, and whether a particular report format is needed.
4. Ask whether internship or project rules are set by the university or by your affiliated college, and request the circular or regulation document that states this.
5. Check with your college office for the current academic calendar so you can schedule your 14 days around exams and breaks.
6. Ask your faculty mentor whether a portfolio of session sheets can be shown in a viva or project review.

A 14-day plan for building an exploratory testing portfolio

The free two-week online internship from CareerSwami runs for 14 days, includes a free offer letter, and gives a free completion certificate after successful completion. It offers 26 tracks, so you can choose the one that fits. The plan below is a suggested way to structure your own testing practice across those 14 days, alongside whichever track you pick. It is a personal schedule, not a statement of the internship’s official syllabus.

How to judge a session sheet before you share it

Run through this checklist before including a sheet in a portfolio:

• Does the charter name an area, a technique and a type of information sought?
• Can a stranger reproduce each listed bug from your steps alone?
• Are doubtful items marked as questions rather than defects?
• Does the sheet state what you did not cover?
• Is evidence named in the notes and actually stored?
• Does the time split look honest, including setup time?

Habits that weaken exploratory testing sessions

• Testing without a charter: you drift into whatever is easiest, usually the main page, and your coverage becomes accidental.
• Charters that are too big: “Test the shopping site” cannot be finished or judged.
• Writing notes afterwards: memory smooths over the odd details that often matter most.
• Calling everything a bug: if you cannot say what the expected behaviour should be, log it as a question.
• Skipping the debrief: without it, sessions do not feed one another and you repeat the same ground.
• Over-investigating one finding: if a single bug eats 30 minutes of a 45-minute session, note it and return to the charter.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long should one exploratory testing session be?

Between 45 and 90 minutes is the usual range. Beginners tend to do better with 45 minutes because concentration and note-taking both fade in longer blocks. Keep the time box fixed and record the actual time used.

What is the difference between a charter and a test case?

A test case gives exact steps and an expected result. A charter gives a mission and leaves the exact steps to you, so you can follow what you observe. A charter defines the boundary of the session without scripting each action.

Can I use a spreadsheet instead of a document for session notes?

Yes. A spreadsheet works well if each row is a timestamped note with a tag column (B, Q, I, N). A document is easier for screenshots. Pick the one you will actually keep up during testing.

Is it safe to practise exploratory testing on live public websites?

It is reasonable when you behave like a normal user: browse, search, filter and read validation messages. Avoid placing orders, submitting false data, generating heavy traffic, or probing for security weaknesses. Check a site’s terms if you are unsure what is allowed.

How many bugs should a good session produce?

There is no target number. A session that finds none but records clear coverage, questions and next charters is still useful. Judge sessions by the quality of evidence and learning, not the bug count.

How do I show exploratory testing skills in an interview?

Bring two or three completed session sheets and walk through one: the charter, how your notes changed your next action, and how you separated bugs from questions. Interviewers usually care more about your reasoning than the number of defects.

Do I need programming knowledge to do exploratory testing?

No. The technique relies on observation, curiosity and clear writing. Some basic browser developer tools skills, such as viewing the network tab or resizing the viewport, help, but they can be learned gradually alongside your sessions.

What should my first charter be?

Choose something small and familiar, such as the search box of a site you use daily. Use the Explore / With / To discover pattern, set a 45-minute time box, and finish with a five-minute debrief, even if you found no bugs.