Course overview
The ISTQB Advanced Test Analyst Course provides the skills needed to perform structured and thorough software testing across the software development lifecycle. It details the test analyst’s role and responsibilities at every step of a standard test process and expands on important test techniques. It mainly focusses on functional testing, but also discusses user-focussed, non-functional testing.
The three-day tutor-led course includes lectures, discussions and practical work. It is fully accredited by UKITB on behalf of ISTQB
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Who is the course for
The Certified Tester Advanced Level Test Analyst (CTAL-TA) qualification is aimed at people who wish to further develop their expertise in test analysis and test design techniques. The test analyst is understood as a role which:
- Focusses more on the business needs of the customer then on technical aspects of testing
- Performs mainly functional testing but also contributes to user-focussed, non-functional testing, such as usability, adaptability, installability, or interoperability testing
- Uses black-box test techniques and experience-based testing rather than white-box test techniques
Next steps in your testing career
The Advanced Level establishes a platform from which further skills and knowledge may be acquired at the Expert Level.
Holders of the Certified Tester Advanced Level Test Analyst qualification may also wish to consider the other core Advanced Level qualifications: Test Management, Test Automation Engineering, and Technical Test Analyst as well as other ISTQB specialist qualifications including Agile Technical Tester, Security Tester, Acceptance Testing, Model-Based Tester, and Mobile Application Testing.
About ISTQB and the certified tester scheme
Founded in 2002, ISTQB (International Software Testing Qualifications Board) is a not-for-profit association comprising 66 national boards (including the UKITB) to provide worldwide coverage
ISTQB has defined the Advanced certification as part of their ‘Certified Tester’ scheme that, with over 240,000 certifications, has become the de facto world-wide standard for software testing qualifications.
The ‘Certified Tester’ scheme:
- Provides a set of professional qualifications widely-recognised by employers, customers and peers;
- Enables software suppliers to hire and train certified testers and thereby gain commercial advantage over their competitors by advertising their tester recruitment and development policies; and
- Enables comparison of testing skills across different countries, testers to move across country borders more easily, and multi-national/international projects to have a common understanding of testing issues.
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Entry requirements
The entry requirements for the Certified Tester Advanced Level Test Analyst qualification are that the candidate must hold the ISTQB Foundation certificate, and it is also suggested that candidates have a minimum of 3 years testing experience.
Note that it is recommended that you attend an accredited training course run by an accredited training provider, as the overall exam pass rates are notably higher for candidates attending such courses.
Exam
The exam is taken after the course and consists of:
- 45 multiple-choice scenario-based questions (the point value for each question is between 1 – 3 points, depending on the level of difficulty).
- Duration of 120 minutes (or 150 minutes for candidates taking examinations that are not in their native language).
- A candidate must score at least 65% to pass (51/78).
- Exam is included in the price
Course objectives
Advanced Level testers who have passed the “Advanced Test Automation Analyst” module exam should be able to accomplish the following Business Objectives:
- Support and perform appropriate testing based on the software development lifecycle followed
- Apply the principles of risk-based testing
- Select and apply appropriate test techniques to support the achievement of test objectives
- Provide documentation with appropriate levels of detail and quality
- Determine the appropriate types of functional testing to be performed
- Contribute to non-functional testing
- Improve the efficiency of the test process with the use of tools
- Specify the requirements for test environments and test data
Anonymous –
I thoroughly enjoyed the course. Karen was brilliant, really engaging and covered everything required, taking time to explain things or give examples where necessary. I would happily be trained by Karen again!
The course was run over three days, each day being a full day of learning. The days were consistently on time with and did not feel overly rushed or similarly too slow paced, allowing enough time to digest the information in each section before moving on. Breaking things up with the class exercises was useful and allowed an opportunity to engage more with the content and apply the learnings.
Overall I’m really happy with how the past three days have gone and look forward to applying my learnings in the exam
Damien Paul| Senior Test Analyst| Jagex –
I thoroughly enjoyed the course. Karen was brilliant, really engaging and covered everything required, taking time to explain things or give examples where necessary. I would happily be trained by Karen again!
The course was run over three days, each day being a full day of learning. The days were consistently on time with and did not feel overly rushed or similarly too slow paced, allowing enough time to digest the information in each section before moving on. Breaking things up with the class exercises was useful and allowed an opportunity to engage more with the content and apply the learnings.
Overall I’m really happy with how the past three days have gone and look forward to applying my learnings in the exam
Anonymous –
Karen should had give more pratical examples from her experience to us understand the concepts woth more examples.
Sara Rodrigues| Lead Technical Tester| Innowave –
Karen should had give more pratical examples from her experience to us understand the concepts woth more examples.
Anonymous –
Very informative and good exercise examples to promote discussion around learning material. Karen communicated everything clearly and provided a great atmosphere to learn/develop without too much pressure.
Anonymous –
Learnt a lot. The only downside is that some key element could have been more visually explained that they are
Matthew Phillips| Test Analyst| LGT –
Very informative and good exercise examples to promote discussion around learning material. Karen communicated everything clearly and provided a great atmosphere to learn/develop without too much pressure.
Stephane VORK| Test Engineer| Sogeti SA –
Learnt a lot. The only downside is that some key element could have been more visually explained that they are
Leah Sprackland| Product Delivery Testing Team Manager |Allianz –
I found a lot of the slides were being skipped over and not as much of the course was actually taught. There were a lot of questions to everyone asking what they do in their role rather than teaching the theory. This was also called out by another participant at the end of the course who has already sat the course before. They said some areas were rushed and had they not done the course before they might not know all they needed to. This is concerning to me that if I’ve actually been taught what I need for the exam.
Oliver Jacques| Functional Test Analyst|Ocado –
The course was very useful, content very applicable and I feel satisfied with the overall course/exam structure.
I would like to add that the original TSG email mentioned the course begin son the 17th January not 15th January. It was only because my colleague also attended did I find out on the Monday morning I should have been in attendance. Thought I’d mention this as I understand its an automated process and there should be a root cause analysis to how this happened to avoid confusion in the future.
Apart from that I would highly recommend the course for others in the future.
Sarah Burgess| Functional Test Analyst|Ocado –
Some aspects were only briefly covered, felt there could be some more in depth coverage, but difficult to please everyone on the course
Christopher Olliffe –
Rosie was excellent at guiding us through the material and explaining everything clearly. 10/10.
Thomas Linforth | QA Analyst | We Buy Any Car –
The course was interesting and I have found a lot of the content useful for my role. The trainer was insightful, knowledgeable and kind. He made sure we were all okay and understood the content. The questions and scenarios helped to iron out and learn from any mistakes early. The online aspect did make the course slightly impersonal in terms of the other students, as we kept our cameras off and were mostly muted, so I sympathised with the trainer on that.
Chelsea Houston | Software Engineer / Test Analyst – Apprentice | Capgemini –
Good course with a lot of useful information. Good extension from the Foundation course. Came out of it with as much information as expected. Trainer good, easy to understand and get along with.
ashish chaudhary | Software Engineer | capgemini –
Get course Trainer was great
David Cook | QA Test Analyst | Caseware UK –
Found the course very useful, learnt lots of new things that I did not know previously and it fulfilled all that I expected to learn.
James Anderson | QA Tester Apprentice | Invotra Limited –
The course way very informative and interesting, it helped reinforce my existing learning as well as introduce me to new things as well.
andrew torrens | project team lead | BSO ITS –
very good learnt some good techniques and the tutor was very knowledgable
Sigurbjorn Gunnarsson | QA | Tern System –
Only thing I can point out is that it would be nice to have an issued schedule of lunch and such beforehand.
Phil Terry | Test Analyst | Horiba Test Automation –
Really enjoyed being back in the classroom, so much better than being online. I would recommend Rosie as a trainer. She was really clear and happy to answer questions as we went along. She also addressed concerns as if they were her own. Excellent.