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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Why Choose ISTQB Software Testing 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.
Course Highlights
- Duration: 3-day intensive training.
- Format: Available in Virtual, Classroom and E-learning
- 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.
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.
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
Who Should Attend?
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
Invest in Your Future with ISTQB Certification
Enhance your software testing skills and career prospects with our ISTQB Software Testing Foundation course. Join over a million certified testers worldwide and open doors to exciting opportunities in the field of software quality assurance.
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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
James McKeon| Software Developer| Revenue (Irish Government body) –
Bill was highly knowledgeable, thorough, and informative. I highly rate this course and will recommend it to future team members as part of the on-boarding process.
Gareth Parry| Redundant Engineer| Formerly Hewlett Packard –
Great course. Very dense but Bill’s knowledge is outstanding. Would highly recommend.
Brad Ellis| QA Engineer| ENSEK –
The course and especially John was a joy to take, I felt immersed in every section we went through. It was very information and heavy and a lot to take on board over the three days but i expected that. The way the course was broken down made it a lot more digestible. John was brilliant from the first moment until last, he has such a wealth of experience that allows him to draw on a lot of different experiences. The way he applies these to the work makes the learning a lot easier and more enjoyable.
Rahavi Gopi| Technology Consultant| KPMG –
Rosie was very nice and it was easy to ask her questions.
Laura Fan| Graduate Technical Consultant| KPMG –
Very informative and structured training. Very helpful trainer, thanks 🙂
Understand loads to cover in a 3-day course but I hope next time we can have 1 hour lunch break so I can refresh my brain:)
Quan Tran| Technology Consultant| KPMG –
Rosie was great at providing examples to help illustrate the content. She was clear in delivery and gave opportunities to ask questions. Whilst the content has been difficult she has been reassuring and carefully explained solutions where we did not understand.
Brian Weston| QA Analyst| Akixi –
The course was hard, but Angelina provided the information in a detailed way and tried hard to highlight important information.
Elizabeth Jillett| Quality Assurance Engineer| Great State –
The trainer was great – she explained really clearly. I found the course tricky based on the sheer amount of terminology and what to learn, not necessarily based on the delivery.
Gary Mathis| Principal Systems Engineer| Leonardo UK Ltd –
A great course. Rosie is very experienced and delivered the training very well.
Jenny King| Systems Engineer| Leonardo UK –
The course was well delivered and engaging. Lots of really usefuly content.
Sajeed Ali| QA Engineer| Bipsync –
Overall the deliverables, course instructor and activities where great. However I think the syllabus is a bit to grand with a lot of information to remember, understand and use, especially for a foundation course which feels more harder than more advanced courses. Maybe consider that advanced courses deep dive into these issues more, but overall has less to cover and can generally be seen as easier.
Julie Warwick| Test Analyst| RS Group –
This is a hard going course due to the about of learning required, however, Bill our trainer was excellent at not only explaining everything so well, but also keeping the course interesting.
Thomas Martin| Test Analyst| RS Group (Components) –
Very knowledgeable and could add real life examples to many scenarios to give great context
Laura Thorpe (Mason)| Finance Test Analyst| Diligenta –
Bill really made an extremely tough course more bearable. His approach to teaching is excellent. The content of the course is huge and 3 full days is too much in one go.
Daniel Doran| Software Tester| Nikon –
Very well instructed, clear and concise.
Bill went above and beyond.
Matthew Benton| software engineer| Waters Corporation –
Bill has excellent knowledge and experience. Its a real education to listen to this. Presentations are articulated really well and clearly. The information pack provided (example questions, syllabus etc) is excellent.
Sharafat Ali| IT Support Analyst| Energy Industry –
Trainer was amazing, gave great examples and went into extra detail in subjects. Trainer also gave his personal details where we can reach out and ask extra questions leading up to the exam date was an amazing experience
Harry Ashwin| Test Manager| Diligenta –
Very well delivered, Bill gave very in depth detail and was very clear and concise. Course itself has a lot of information but varied and interesting
Emma Dunne| Associate software QA| Emilio Cortegoso –
I’m very glad to have had Bill as an instructor. For a course as dense and theoretical as this one, he kept me engaged throughout and provided some very interesting anecdotal examples from his vast range of professional experiences as well as his general knowledge and wisdom. Despite a medical issue he had on the second day he still managed to deliver the entire course without any issues or delays. An intriguing and dedicated teacher, it’s been a pleasure learning from Bill.
Jaco Karsten| QA Engineer| Xceptor –
I enjoyed the way in which the content was presented. Bill made it engaging by noting lots of real world scenarios which made the content practical and is a great way to see how the content is applied.