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
Mark Cabia-an|Software Test Engineer|Mirada-Medical –
Lots of extremely valuable information which I can already feel seeping into my mindset and way of working. Course leader was incredibly engaged throughout and there is an impressive amount of information for just three days. I would recommend this to other testers.
Claire Ray|Test Engineer|Sainsburys –
Course was on lines were engaged and checked understanding well
Ben Poore | Senior Test Analyst | Quilter –
John kept everyone engaged over the 3 day course and made sure that everyone understood the material before moving on. This is difficult to do via a video conference but was successfully achieved by John.
rajyalakshmivijay –
The trainer was helpful in terms of how to approach questions, broken down complex items.
anshu.jaisinghani –
She made it very interesting by engaging all of us and relating it to our practical day-to-day scenario. Absolutely satisfied with the course learning.
becky.sullivan –
Second time taking the course, as I just missed the pass mark on my exam. Angelina is very knowledgeable, friendly and made me understand things that I previously didn’t. She took some time out to make some questions up to help me which I really appreciated.
Tasmeen_p –
Really informative. Well paced. Interactive – Enjoyed the snippets of Angelina’s experience which she shared throughout
georginagirasoli –
Angelina was amazing. Extremely knowledgeable, knew how to break down complex topics and ensured it was interactive. My only surprise was that she didn’t have her camera on and also didn’t ask the delegates to turn theirs on as well. This makes it really hard to follow and very impersonal. We are so used to being virtual that I would expect cameras turned on as standard. Of course you can’t force delegates, however, at the very least I would expect the trainer to be on.
mark.baber –
The course was quite intense (theory wise) with a lot of new words being thrown at me – but after raising this was my weakness Angelina mentioned ways of reading and testing my knowledge (and double checking the syllabus).
She was fun and friendly throughout the 3 days and I have learnt a lot.
lucy.haselum –
Very informative and very well presented.
Nicholas Hammond | Test Analyst | A2Dominion –
The training course was excellent
Will Blakeney | Apprentice Software Tester | HMRC –
John was very helpful in explaining everything I needed to learn for the ISTQB exam, he was also very friendly and approachable. I was initially a bit worried about the remote learning, but John made the change from classroom learning to remote learning very easy.
Sanchita Das –
I’m very pleased about the course. Instructor was excellent, he explained every bit very clearly. I have passed my ISTQB Foundation Level exam successfully
???? TOURSIDOU | IT Consultant | European Dynamics –
It was an online course due to the corona lock-down. The presentation was very good and the trainer spoke very clearly and was very friendly. However, there was no interaction between the participants and the trainer. Furthermore, we could not take exercises in teams. Hence my preference is training in a class.
In my opinion, online training should be distributed over time. For example, once a week an online course and then prepare a task. The online exam also is not very comfortable. I prefer a written exam. Please in the next online exams allow the use of a notepad or sheet of paper. It’s not very convenient to write on an online notepad
Eftychia Nalpantidou | Java Developer | European Dynamics –
The course was quite interesting and the extra material was really helpful and adequate.
Panagiotis Omiliadis | Software Tester | European Dynamics SA –
The trainer showed that she had the knowledge, but it was a little bit monotone. Some more examples and a little bit richer explanation would have been great.
Pranay Patel | Business Solutions Programmer | Euroclear –
Overall, it was a very pleasant experience and I think John managed the course very well. He set a strong, consistent pace and explained all the content very well as well. I think the course content was a little heavier to understand towards the end of the first day and the first half of the second, especially as I have not had any experience in testing, which made it slightly harder to retain the theory.
Andreas Zimnas | Senior Software Engineer / Technical Manager | European Dynamics –
Rosie did an excellent job, giving us also the information we needed to successfully complete the examination.
Stamatis Tzatzakis | Software Tester | European Dynamics –
Course was very good. However, exams with Proctor Exam was horrible.
Garifalia Koinari | Software Developer | European Dynamics –
Course was very good.