Course Overview
The ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) v4.0 course is your gateway to advancing your software testing career. This fully accredited programme provides a solid foundation in software testing principles, preparing you for the globally recognised ISTQB CTFL certification.
Tailored for professionals in the UK and beyond, it covers best practices aligned with modern methodologies, including Waterfall, Agile, DevOps, and Continuous Delivery.
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Course Highlights
- Duration: 3-day intensive training. (9am – 5pm)
- Format: Available in Virtual, Classroom and E-learning
- Online Pre-Course: Approximately four to five hours to complete
- Exam Simulator: Our simulator is designed to prepare you for success in the CTFL exam
- Content: Covers the latest ISTQB syllabus, exam preparation, and revision.
- Accreditation: Fully accredited by UKITB on behalf of ISTQB
- SFIAplus Level: Rated at level 3 by the BCS.
E-Learning Course
Our e-learning ISTQB Software Testing course includes:
- 12 months access to accredited online materials
- ISTQB® CTFL v4.0 exam (valid for 12 months)
- Exam simulator for practice
Why Choose ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) v4.0 Certification?
- Globally recognised qualification: Achieve the ISTQB CTFL certification, a benchmark in software testing excellence.
- Career Advancement: Enhance your prospects in the UK and international markets.
- Comprehensive Curriculum: Gain in-depth knowledge of software testing concepts and terminology.
- Versatile Application: Apply learned skills across multiple software development approaches.
Who Should Attend This Course?
This ISTQB Certification course is ideal for:
- Software testers and test analysts
- Test engineers and consultants
- Test leads and managers
- User acceptance testers
- Software developers
- Project and quality managers
- IT directors and management consultants
About ISTQB and the Certified Tester Scheme
ISTQB® (International Software Testing Qualifications Board) established the globally recognized Certified Tester scheme to:
- Provide internationally acknowledged professional qualifications
- Enable software companies to hire and train certified testers
- Facilitate global understanding and comparison of testing skills
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Entry Requirements
Important note regarding pre-course
There is mandatory online pre-course work that must be undertaken prior to attending this course. It is expected that it will take approximately four to five hours to complete. You will be sent full instructions with a link to the online pre course three weeks prior to course commencement.
On arrival at the course candidates should have read the provided Syllabus in preparation for the course. The course is intensive and those delegates who have prepared achieve a higher exam success rate.
CTFL Exam
To qualify as an internationally recognised Certified Foundation Level Tester and be issued with an ISTQB® Foundation Level Certificate, delegates must successfully pass the exam:
- The examination consists of a one-hour exam with 40 multiple choice questions.
- It will be a ‘closed book’ examination i.e. no notes or books will be allowed into the examination room.
- Duration of 60 minutes (or 75 minutes for candidates taking examinations that are not in their native language)
- The pass mark is 65% (26 out of 40).
Learning Objectives
The Business Outcomes expected of a candidate who has achieved the new Foundation Level certification are as follows:
- Understand what testing is and why it is beneficial
- Understand fundamental concepts of software testing
- Identify the test approach and activities to be implemented depending on the context of testing
- Assess and improve the quality of documentation
- Increase the effectiveness and efficiency of testing
- Align the test process with the software development lifecycle
- Understand test management principles
- Write and communicate clear and understandable defect reports
- Understand the factors that influence the priorities and efforts related to testing
- Work as part of a cross-functional team
- Know risks and benefits related to test automation
- Identify essential skills required for testing
- Understand the impact of risk on testing
- Effectively report on test progress and quality
ISTQB Foundation Level Syllabus
- Fundamentals of Testing
- Testing Throughout the Software Development Lifecycle
- Static Testing
- Test Analysis and Design
- Managing the Test Activities
- Test Tools
E-Learning – Key Points
- Fundamentals of testing
- Test activites, testware and roles
- Essential skills and good practices
- Testing in context of software development lifecycles
- Test levels, test types and maintenance testing
- Static testing basics
- Feedback and review process
- Test techniques overview
- Black box testing
- White box testing
- Experienced based testing
- Collaboration-based test approaches
- Test planning
- Risk Management
- Test monitoring, control and completion
- Configuration and defect management
- Test tools
- Exam hints and tips
Next steps/Follow on courses
The Certified Tester Foundation Level certification is the prerequisite to the other modules within the Certified Tester Scheme.
The “Core” stream modules are valid for any technology/ methodology/ application domain and build on the Foundation Level:
- Advanced Test Manager
- Advanced Test Analyst
- Advanced Technical Test Analyst
The “Agile” stream focuses on testing practices specifically for the Agile methodology:
- Advanced Agile Technical Tester
The “Specialist” stream provides a deep dive into areas which may be based on quality characteristics, specific test approaches and test activities, or which cluster testing know-how for certain industry domains:
- Acceptance Testing
- AI Testing
- Mobile Application Testing
- Model-Based Tester
- Security Tester
- Test Automation Engineer
Wayne Francis|Test Analyst|MHRA –
Enjoyed the course and John helped me to understand the trickier parts. only wish I could take his brain whilst doing the exam.
Toby Brown|QA Engineer|Telefonica UK –
I found this online course much better than expected. Content was very thorough and well-presented. John Young gave great explanations to queries throughout. As a trainer he’s very patient and willing to get to the bottom of any questions that you have. He’s also easy to listen to and understand.
Tiffany Hines| Graduate Software Tester| Proctor + Stevenson –
The course was amazing the three days flew by, John was a great instructor
David Alexander Wells| Test Analyst| Computacenter (UK) Ltd –
The training officer kept us on track, was punctual, and presented the details to a professional standard.
No query regarding the syllabus was overlooked and all questions and input from attendees was positively approached and used to progress the coverage of the material under review.
Some anomalies in the material provided came to light, each was immediately attended to avoid any impact to our instruction and to avoid future courses from having the same issues.
My recommendation to your program would be to ensure you retain his services, as his training approach enhances TSG’s reputation.
Anusha Sundari| Senior Tester| Wunderman thompson –
Trainer had made sure that we have attention on what he is covering
Course coverage is good and exercises are very nice and the explanation to reach to the answers is very helpful, Thank you very much
Margo Bowes| Product Delivery Manager| Tracsis plc –
Absolutely brilliant – really enjoyed the course and John Young was excellent
Ashwini Nayak| Quality Engineer| American Express –
Overall course was good
Stephanie Lee| Test Analyst| Computacenter –
it has been a good experience, John as been very thorough when explaining.
Nicole Jeffery| Quality Assurance Specialist| Smartbox Assistive Technology –
John was great – really knowledgeable. We went through all of the content at the right pace, and had breaks at the appropriate times. The content when thrown at you can be a bit dry, but the practical applications, John’s writing throughout, and the mix of lecture to test questions made the course enjoyable. It would be nice to get other people’s details who are taking the course to learn from one another as well.
Yukimi Nishiguchi| Functional Test Analysis| Ocado –
Very good course and easy to understand.
Christine Milne| Actuarial Modelling Quality Analyst| Hymans Robertson –
I found three full days over zoom, primarily focussed on following a 260+ slide deck, very difficult to remain focussed and engaged. Half days of slides with more interaction would be my preference if I have to do a similar course online. The most valuable parts of the course were the recaps at the beginning of the day, the exercises, homework and sharing real world examples. I would have preferred more exam style questions and discussions throughout.
I also wanted to take this opportunity to address a very uncomfortable part of the course on day 2 when one candidate was quite persistent with his point regarding an answer to one of the questions. I found the candidate to be rude and disrespectful to the tutor and the group. It made me feel uncomfortable and very anxious listening to this (through my headset for at least ten minutes) that I had to walk away from my laptop and take a break from the course. This was extremely frustrating and had this been a face-to-face tutorial, I suspect it may have been handled differently. I want to thank the tutor for his composure and getting the course back on track. I just wanted to point this out to tsg as it may go unnoticed to the tutors, especially while the course remains virtual, how these sort of events can impact other peoples experience and their wellbeing on a course. Given the nature of the issue, I certainly didn’t feel comfortable raising this at the time.
dominic.cooper –
Very well lead course, John was very clear, and created a positive learning environment. Well structured course with good walkthroughs of in class examples and debriefing of sample exam questions.
jaxkershaw –
A brilliantly executed course by a man who really knows his stuff but thee is so much information to take in!
becky.sullivan –
Very informative, knowledgeable, friendly and helpful. John explained everything with his notes and annotations
daniel.chiviliev –
Fantastic work by John. Very detailed and meaningful explanations.
khushboo.srivastava2 –
Awesome course material
thomas.gascoyne –
Intense but very useful
rhys.mogford –
John was useful, well rounded at explaining and had many examples up his sleeve to use to explain concepts and examples.
He took time to listen to why we as a group answered some questions incorrectly, and was friendly and jovial throughout what is quite literally a very material intensive 3 days cram course!
rachel.thomas –
John was really excellent, one of the best trainers I have done a course with. He is extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic even after several days of the course.
theo.rudman –
Very friendly and professional trainer