Free ISO-9001-Lead-Auditor Practice Test Questions 2026

Whistlekleen is a national dry cleaning and laundry company with 50 shops. You are conducting a surveillance audit of the Head Office and are sampling customer complaints.
80% of complaints originate from five shops in the same region. Most of these complaints relate to customer laundry not being cleaned as customers require. The Quality Manager tells you that these are the oldest shops in the company. The cleaning equipment needs replacing but the company cannot afford it now. You learn that the shop managers were told to dismiss most of the complaints because of the poor quality of the laundered materials.
On raising the matter with senior management, you are told that there are plans to replace the equipment in these shops over the next five years.
You raised a nonconformity against clause 8.5.1 of ISO 9001.
Based on the scenario, select the three options which best describe the evidence for raising such a nonconformity.

A. Customer complaints are not taken seriously by the organisation.

B. Shop managers were told to make excuses to customers with complaints.

C. Some equipment used was not suitable for the laundry process.

D. The management failed in planning to replace obsolete equipment.

E. The operators did not check the condition of the customer's product upon receipt.

F. The operators did not check the laundry before release to the customer.

G. The organisation failed to control the laundry operations in 5 shops adequately.

H. The organisation failed to maintain all of its equipment to an adequate standard.

At the end of a second-party audit, the audit team enters the meeting room to hold the closing meeting; only two people are present and waiting for them: the Health and Safety supervisor and the Administrative Officer.
Neither has participated in the audit. However, the team had previously agreed with the auditee Quality Manager on two nonconformities identified during the audit (NC1 and NC2).
They said:

Health and Safety Supervisor: "Good evening. We are sorry to inform you that the general manager was involved in a serious car accident, and the other two managers have had to leave urgently to attend to the emergency."
The Administration Officer: "Concerning 'nonconformity 2', the General Manager left a message asking us to tell you that he does not accept it and requests you not to include it in the audit report. Here is a note in which he explains why."
Which one of the following would be your preferred answer (as team leader) to the General Manager's request?

A. OK. I will get in contact with my company tomorrow to ask for instructions on what to do with this non-conformity.

B. OK. Please, let me review the message. I will try to see if I can change the text of the nonconformity if necessary. Let's take a 10-minute break, as I would like to discuss this issue with the audit team.

C. Please tell him that I will phone him in two days and will discuss the issue. Could you please give me his mobile phone number?

D. Please tell him that this nonconformity has been previously accepted by the quality manager during the audit and will stand. I will include it in the report, along with the concern of the General Manager about it.

During a second-party audit, the auditor examines the records that are available for the external provider, ABC Forgings, to whom manufacturing has recently been outsourced.
There are standard external provider checklists for three competitors for the contract and there are inspection records from the trial manufacturing batches produced by ABC Forgings. There is no documented evidence of the criteria used to confirm the appointment of ABC Forgings, and no contract or terms and conditions. Ongoing monitoring indicates that external provider performance is satisfactory, but no documented information has been retained.
Select two options for the evidence which demonstrates a nonconformity with clause 8.4 of ISO 9001.

A. There was no documentation which provided evidence of any monitoring of the external provider.

B. The auditee required the outsourced products on an urgent basis before the completion of the paperwork.

C. The auditee did not retain documentation on the selection and evaluation of the external provider.

D. The external provider asked for the contract details to be verbal only.

E. There were no receipt inspection records of the incoming materials.

F. The auditee trusted the external provider because of a long-standing relationship with them.

You, as auditor, are in dialogue with the quality lead and managing director of a small business that supplies specialist laboratory equipment and furniture.
You: "I'd like to look at how you manage change in the organisation. What changes have you made as a business, say, over the last 12 months?"
Auditee: "We have made some strategic changes, the main one being that we no longer manufacture our own products in house."
You: "That sounds like quite a significant change. What has been the impact of that?"
Auditee: "We now mainly sell other manufacturers' products, under their brand names, and have outsourced manufacture of our own brand products to one of our suppliers. Unfortunately, we had to make six members of our staff redundant. This represents about 20% of our workforce, so this has been quite a challenging time." You: "I'm sure. What were the reasons for making the change?" Auditee: "Our manufacturing section was a small operation, and we struggled to cope with fluctuations in demand. During busy periods, we found it hard to meet lead times, and in quiet periods we had staff with little to do. This was having an impact on customer satisfaction and meant we had to charge premium prices that made our product uncompetitive."
You: "How did you go about the change?" In relation to the auditor's question about how the change was managed, the auditee mentions the steps listed below. Match the ISO 9001 clauses to the steps.
To complete the table, click on the blank section you want to complete so it is highlighted in red and then click on the ISO 9001 clauses listed below. Alternatively, drag and drop each clause to show which step the requirement applies to.

You are carrying out an audit at a single-site organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organisation manufactures cosmetics for major retailers.
You are interviewing the Manufacturing Manager (MM).
You: "I would like to begin by looking at the cleaning controls."
MM: "We record the cleaning of the equipment at the end of every batch. This document details the minimum cleaning frequency and the procedures to follow for all areas and each item of equipment. The person who carries out the cleaning puts their initial on the document and records the time and date alongside."
Narrative: You sample production records over 3-days and note down evidence of nonconformity as per the table below.

You have been just hired as the Internal Lead Auditor of a large organisation, responsible for internal audits. Your first job is to analyse the answers to nonconformities included in the report of a recent internal audit to Top Management.
The report contained one nonconformity as follows:
There is no evidence of Top Management ensuring the availability of resources to operate the QMS, the establishment of objectives, the promotion of continual improvement, and the promoting of the process approach.
Which four of the following Top Management actions can be considered 'corrections to the nonconformity'?

A. Top Management appoints a senior manager to oversee the quality manangement system

B. Top Management completed a course on ISO 9001

C. All these actions will be reviewed during the Top Management meetings

D. Improvement action has been promoted

E. Objectives have been established

F. Process approach has been communicated to the personnel

G. Resources have been provided

H. Top Management review will be carried out every six months instead of annually

ABC is a service organisation that cleans and irons bed and table linen for four large hospitals in the city centre. It claims to meet ISO 9001:2015 requirements. During an internal audit, an auditor observes that machine No. 4 is being operated with the three variables outside the limits established in the applicable documented procedure SP-701. The auditor has decided to raise a nonconformity.
Which six elements should be included in the nonconformity report?

A. Condition of the table linens upon receipt from the hospital

B. Applicable procedure: SP-701

C. Competence record of the machine operator

D. Identification number of the washing machine

E. Manufacturer of the washing machine

F. Name of the Quality Manager

G. Number of the production order

H. The concentration of the cleaning liquid used vs the concentration fixed in SP-701

I. The planned duration of the process vs the minimum time required in SP-701

J. Weight of linen being washed vs the maximum weight required in SP-701

Below are four of the seven principles on which ISO 9000 series are based. Match a potential benefit to each of the quality management principles (QMP).

Which two of the following are the key expected results of a quality management system that conforms to the requirements of ISO 9001:2015?

A. Consistently provide products that meet customers' requirements

B. Decreased number of management system nonconformities

C. Decreased number of warranty claims

D. Decreased number of nonconforming products in all stages of the manufacturing cycle

E. Enhanced customer satisfaction

F. Increased profits

You, as auditor, are in dialogue with the quality lead and managing director of a small business that supplies specialist laboratory equipment and furniture.
You: "I'd like to look at how you manage change in the organisation. What changes have you made as a business, say, over the last 12 months?"
Auditee: "We have made some strategic changes, the main one being that we no longer manufacture our own products in house."
You: "That sounds like quite a significant change. What has been the impact of that?"
Auditee: "We now mainly sell other manufacturers' products, under their brand names, and have outsourced manufacture of our own brand products to one of our suppliers. Unfortunately, we had to make six members of our staff redundant. This represents about 20% of our workforce, so this has been quite a challenging time."
This scenario presents a number of audit trails to different ISO 9001 requirements.
Which three of the following requirements would be relevant audit trails for this scenario?

A. Organisational knowledge

B. Control of externally provided processes, products, and services

C. Design and development of products and services

D. Documented information

E. Measurement traceability

F. Organisation roles and responsibilities

G. Preservation of product

H. Property belonging to customers or external providers

Which one of the following is not an ISO 9000:2015 quality management principle?

A. Evidence-based decision-making

B. Leadership

C. Process approach

D. Risk-based approach

You are carrying out an audit at an organisation seeking certification to ISO 9001 for the first time. The organisation offers health and safety training to customers. Training courses are offered either as open courses, delivered at a public venue, or online, or as courses that are tailored to meet specific requirements. The business operates from a single office and those who deliver the training are either full-time employees or subcontractors.
You are interviewing the Training Manager (TM).
You: "What quality objectives apply to the training process?"
TM: "One of the quality objectives we aim for is a 90% minimum exam pass rate for all open training courses."
You: "How do you measure this objective?"
The Training Manager shows you a record on her computer and you see the following:



Which two of the following statements are true?

A. You would check the training of personnel.

B. You would determine how the exam pass rate figures were analysed.

C. You would determine the relative difficulty of each training course by reviewing them.

D. You would determine what corrective action was being taken to address the low pass rates.

E. You would raise a nonconformity as a requirement in clause 10.2 has not been fulfilled.

F. You would raise a nonconformity as a requirement in clause 8.7 has not been fulfilled.