diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 1964257..f4ecbdb 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -45,6 +45,11 @@
 			<artifactId>spring-boot-starter-test</artifactId>
 			<scope>test</scope>
 		</dependency>
+		<dependency>
+			<groupId>com.h2database</groupId>
+			<artifactId>h2</artifactId>
+			<scope>test</scope>
+		</dependency>
 		<dependency>
 			<groupId>org.projectlombok</groupId>
 			<artifactId>lombok</artifactId>
diff --git a/src/main/resources/application-test.properties b/src/main/resources/application-test.properties
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..c576915
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/main/resources/application-test.properties
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+spring.datasource.url=jdbc:h2:mem:testdb;DB_CLOSE_DELAY=-1
+spring.datasource.username=sa
+spring.datasource.password=
+spring.datasource.driver-class-name=org.h2.Driver
+spring.jpa.hibernate.ddl-auto=create-drop
+spring.jpa.properties.hibernate.dialect=org.hibernate.dialect.H2Dialect
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/ebrains/cruddemo/serviceimpl/StudentServiceImplTest.java b/src/test/java/com/ebrains/cruddemo/serviceimpl/StudentServiceImplTest.java
index c32120b..d3cff93 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/ebrains/cruddemo/serviceimpl/StudentServiceImplTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/ebrains/cruddemo/serviceimpl/StudentServiceImplTest.java
@@ -6,12 +6,14 @@ import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.extension.ExtendWith;
 import org.mockito.InjectMocks;
 import org.mockito.junit.jupiter.MockitoExtension;
+import org.springframework.test.context.ActiveProfiles;
 import java.util.Optional;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertNull;
 import static org.junit.jupiter.api.Assertions.assertSame;
 import static org.mockito.Mockito.*;
 
 @ExtendWith(MockitoExtension.class)
+@ActiveProfiles("test") // ensures application-test.properties is used
 public class StudentServiceImplTest {
 
     private final StudentRepository studentRepository = mock(StudentRepository.class);