diff --git a/android/quest/src/main/java/org/smartregister/fhircore/quest/ui/questionnaire/QuestionnaireViewModel.kt b/android/quest/src/main/java/org/smartregister/fhircore/quest/ui/questionnaire/QuestionnaireViewModel.kt
index ee2f3b9b5d..b491cd7200 100644
--- a/android/quest/src/main/java/org/smartregister/fhircore/quest/ui/questionnaire/QuestionnaireViewModel.kt
+++ b/android/quest/src/main/java/org/smartregister/fhircore/quest/ui/questionnaire/QuestionnaireViewModel.kt
@@ -826,7 +826,7 @@ constructor(
     val questionnaireItemsMap = questionnaire.item.associateBy { it.linkId }
 
     // Only validate items that are present on both Questionnaire and the QuestionnaireResponse
-    questionnaireResponse.item.forEach {
+    questionnaireResponse.copy().item.forEach {
       if (questionnaireItemsMap.containsKey(it.linkId)) {
         val questionnaireItem = questionnaireItemsMap.getValue(it.linkId)
         validQuestionnaireResponseItems.add(it)
diff --git a/android/quest/src/test/java/org/smartregister/fhircore/quest/TestHelper.kt b/android/quest/src/test/java/org/smartregister/fhircore/quest/TestHelper.kt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8d9c0fc277
--- /dev/null
+++ b/android/quest/src/test/java/org/smartregister/fhircore/quest/TestHelper.kt
@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2021-2024 Ona Systems, Inc
+ *
+ * Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+ * you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+ * You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *       http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+ * WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+ * See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+ * limitations under the License.
+ */
+
+package org.smartregister.fhircore.quest
+
+import ca.uhn.fhir.context.FhirContext
+import ca.uhn.fhir.parser.IParser
+import org.hl7.fhir.instance.model.api.IBaseResource
+import org.junit.Assert
+
+private val printer: IParser = FhirContext.forR4().newJsonParser()
+
+fun <T : IBaseResource> assertResourceEquals(expected: T, actual: T) {
+  Assert.assertEquals(
+    printer.encodeResourceToString(expected),
+    printer.encodeResourceToString(actual),
+  )
+}
diff --git a/android/quest/src/test/java/org/smartregister/fhircore/quest/ui/questionnaire/QuestionnaireViewModelTest.kt b/android/quest/src/test/java/org/smartregister/fhircore/quest/ui/questionnaire/QuestionnaireViewModelTest.kt
index 244cd3e72d..6362624910 100644
--- a/android/quest/src/test/java/org/smartregister/fhircore/quest/ui/questionnaire/QuestionnaireViewModelTest.kt
+++ b/android/quest/src/test/java/org/smartregister/fhircore/quest/ui/questionnaire/QuestionnaireViewModelTest.kt
@@ -110,6 +110,7 @@ import org.smartregister.fhircore.engine.util.extension.valueToString
 import org.smartregister.fhircore.engine.util.extension.yesterday
 import org.smartregister.fhircore.engine.util.fhirpath.FhirPathDataExtractor
 import org.smartregister.fhircore.quest.app.fakes.Faker
+import org.smartregister.fhircore.quest.assertResourceEquals
 import org.smartregister.fhircore.quest.robolectric.RobolectricTest
 import org.smartregister.fhircore.quest.ui.questionnaire.QuestionnaireViewModel.Companion.CONTAINED_LIST_TITLE
 import org.smartregister.model.practitioner.FhirPractitionerDetails
@@ -804,7 +805,7 @@ class QuestionnaireViewModelTest : RobolectricTest() {
   }
 
   @Test
-  fun testValidateQuestionnaireResponseWithRepeatsGroup() = runTest {
+  fun testValidateQuestionnaireResponseWithRepeatedGroup() = runTest {
     val questionnaireString =
       """
       {
@@ -901,9 +902,10 @@ class QuestionnaireViewModelTest : RobolectricTest() {
   }
 
   @Test
-  fun testValidateQuestionnaireResponseWithNestedRepeatsGroup() = runTest {
-    val questionnaireString =
-      """
+  fun testValidateQuestionnaireResponseWithNestedRepeatedGroupShouldNotUpdateTheOriginalQuestionnaireResponse() =
+    runTest {
+      val questionnaireString =
+        """
       {
         "resourceType": "Questionnaire",
         "item": [
@@ -949,9 +951,9 @@ class QuestionnaireViewModelTest : RobolectricTest() {
         ]
       }
         """
-        .trimIndent()
-    val questionnaireResponseString =
-      """
+          .trimIndent()
+      val questionnaireResponseString =
+        """
       {
         "resourceType": "QuestionnaireResponse",
         "item": [
@@ -1010,18 +1012,21 @@ class QuestionnaireViewModelTest : RobolectricTest() {
         ]
       }
         """
-        .trimIndent()
-    val questionnaire = parser.parseResource(questionnaireString) as Questionnaire
-    val questionnaireResponse =
-      parser.parseResource(questionnaireResponseString) as QuestionnaireResponse
-    val result =
-      questionnaireViewModel.validateQuestionnaireResponse(
-        questionnaire,
-        questionnaireResponse,
-        context,
-      )
-    Assert.assertTrue(result)
-  }
+          .trimIndent()
+      val questionnaire = parser.parseResource(questionnaireString) as Questionnaire
+      val actualQuestionnaireResponse =
+        parser.parseResource(questionnaireResponseString) as QuestionnaireResponse
+      val result =
+        questionnaireViewModel.validateQuestionnaireResponse(
+          questionnaire,
+          actualQuestionnaireResponse,
+          context,
+        )
+      val expectedQuestionnaireResponse =
+        parser.parseResource(questionnaireResponseString) as QuestionnaireResponse
+      Assert.assertTrue(result)
+      assertResourceEquals(expectedQuestionnaireResponse, actualQuestionnaireResponse)
+    }
 
   @Test
   fun testExecuteCqlShouldInvokeRunCqlLibrary() = runTest {