Module 1 · What testing actually is Lesson 3 of 15
Severity, priority and the words that get read
Severity is how much damage the defect does; priority is how soon it should be fixed. A typo in the company name is low severity and high priority; a crash in an admin-only report is the other way round.
The concept
Severity is how badly the product breaks; priority is how soon it should be fixed. They are not the same thing and interviewers ask about exactly that. A spelling mistake on the homepage is low severity and high priority; a crash on a screen nobody reaches can be high severity and low priority.
Use the words a tester is expected to use, correctly: blocker (nothing else can be tested), critical (data loss, or money wrong), major (a feature does not work), minor (cosmetic), and regression (something that worked before and does not now). Logging a regression is worth more than logging ten cosmetic issues, because it changes what the team does next.
Severity = how bad it is. Priority = how soon it must be fixed.
High severity, low priority: crashes on a rare legacy browser.
Low severity, high priority: the logo is wrong on the homepage today.
Say both in one line so a triage call is instant:
"S2 / P1 - checkout total shows Rs.0 for some carts."Common mistakes
The mistake is calling everything critical, which trains the team to ignore you. Be specific about the impact in the report — "the candidate cannot apply again because the job now shows as already closed" — and let the numbers decide the severity.
Worked example
Getting this wrong is what makes a tester look junior: escalating a cosmetic issue as Critical burns the credibility you need for the real one next week.
Your practice task
Classify your five bug reports on both axes, then write the one-line justification you would give a project manager for each.
Do this before moving on. Reading a solution teaches the shape of it; typing it teaches you.
Key takeaway
Severity is how badly the product breaks; priority is how soon it should be fixed.
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