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.
Read More
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
Read Less
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
Sumit Kushwaha | SA | PwC –
Course content was quite informative
Andy Freeman | Software Engineer | Cap Gemini –
Good course, well paced and a very knowledgable trainer.
John Dupre | Systems Administrator | Decora Blinds –
Excellent course, very well delivered, a lot to cover in 3 days.
John Dupre | Systems Administrator | Decora Blinds –
Excellent course with a lot packed into a short period. Some question examples a little difficult to understand but explanations were very clear.
Paul Emmett | Software Tester (Analyst) | JBA Consulting –
Very informative, sometimes intense, but an enjoyable experience. John is a good, thorough trainer who takes great care to ensure trainees understand concepts fully and responds to any comments or issues raised.
Arjun Limbu | Test engineer | Trakcel –
It was helpful to refine on test techniques and process which I have learned so far. Still working on progress with the documentation sections and this course helped.
David Wong | Project Test Lead | Rare LTD –
I thought John was a very good teacher, always took time to explain things clearly and precisely, and was very patient when required. The actual course felt quite intensive but manageable.
Kirandeep | Kaur | IBM –
Course content was difficult so having more interactivity instead of a trainer speaking 9 to 5 would be more beneficial.
Samantha Clarke | Test Analyst | BLM –
I came to this course having already studied the syllabus and an additional book and knew where the gaps in my knowledge were. Rosie has helped to fill in those gaps and has explained things greatly and used examples to show this. She also spent time after day 2 giving me tips/advice which I greatly appreciated. Rosie is very patient with everyone’s different abilities and really knows her stuff. I appreciate the help she has given and would highly recommend her.
Harry Dawes | QA Test Analyst | CaseWare UK –
It was very informative and even the parts that we were bogged down with theory were made easy to follow & understand.
Adam Jones | Software Architect | Capgemini –
Trainer was good, well explained and friendly.
Course was presented well, but covered more than the scope of the testing course I signed up for. I don’t feel like the SDLC, Reviews, etc needed covering in this course and the section on actual test techniques was quite short.
Sam Liu | Graduate Technology Consultant | KPMG –
The training was interactive and Angelina is really helpful and engaging.
Joshua Smith | Senior validation engineer | Advanced Electronics –
Rosie did a fantastic job. she was very clear and very informative in the way she explained everything. The course isn’t simple, so explaining everything in detail was a great help. Thanks!
James Thomas Isted | Level 4 Software Tester Apprentice | HMRC –
Overall the course was good, unfortunately I will have to revise more afterwards due to the way I take in information. For some reason a person reading it out to me just doesn’t stick in my brain. Other than that a great course.
George Stephens | Software Test Apprentice | IBM –
Overall the course was good despite challenging content. Rosie was helpful, kind and friendly. She gave us frequent breaks and plenty of time to complete the excersises.
I think a smaller class would enable more interactive activities that would have benefited my learning more than the lecture style learning that had open questions.
Mohammed Hafijour Rahman | Graduate V+V engineer | Northrop Grumman –
Lovely guy and a great teacher but he asked if we were okay a little too much.
Ian Cook | Tester | Precision –
In depth & well explained, made sure everyone understood properly before moving on
Sam Reed | Lead Developer | Capgemini –
I found the course engaging and interesting, i would have preferred fewer words per slide and more breaks to digest. I also found that the length given for the questions during class time was not always proportionate to the effort required for the question. Angelina was a good host and i enjoyed chatting about real life examples.
Ormond Jones | Seniore Quality Assurane Analyst | Merit Software –
Course, whilst being intensive, was informative and thorough.
John was patient and explained any items clearly.
Genreal frustration at some of the exam questions, which I am sure have been mentioned many times before.
Jasvinder Marwaha | Test engineer | Capgemini –
Course was great, Lot of information to take in limited amount of time. I believe students will benifit if course trainig time could be increased from 3 to 4 days.