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
Iain Stanley | Test Analyst | Capgemini –
Very informative and broken into understandable (and logical) chunks, taken at a very good pace. Trainer was helpful, and answered any questions from the class as and when required.
Matthew Rogers | Test Engineer | Capgemini –
Course was fantastic, teacher was very enthusiastic and took time to carefully explain.
William Dambe | Junior Analyst Developer | Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust –
Angelina was clearly very knowledgeable, and the course material was interesting and relevant to my work.
At times, it did feel like subjects could have been covered in more depth, but given the limited time available the balance was probably about right for an introductory course.
Richard Alston | eForm Developer | Lancashire Teaching Hospitals –
This was my first look at formal software testing approaches/techniques. Whilst some of the course was a bit too in-depth for the low code platform I use, there were many aspects which I found useful. Testing is something I have already been doing but with no formal structure, so it was good to see that I was already following the correct methodology but also to learn a lot more about the techniques used and to learn some new/alternative techniques.
Susan Lythgoe | EPR Project Manager | Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust –
Angelina was very knowledgeable and engaging. She encourage lots of discussion amongst the group helping us translate what we were learning into our real life scenarios. It was a really enjoyable course and very interesting.
James Thorniley | Quality Assurance Officer | LSCFT NHS –
Angelina was very friendly and informative; I’ve come away with a lot more knowledge on testing than I did before.
Jason Watts | Information Manager | MLCSU – NHS –
A compehensive introduction to testing. Although a lot of material to cram in to a single session.
Chris Calderbank | NCA Child Health System Development, Training & Testing Lead | Northern Care Alliance NHS Group –
Excellent knowledge shown by trainer detailed explanations but was able to simplify for those who didn’t understand.
William Lugsden | Software Development Support Analysis | LTHTR (NHS) –
The course was very informative and presented very professionally.
Nathan Gray | Systems Test Engineer | ASMPT SMT UK Limited –
Lots of information, but very well delivered. Good pace. Regular breaks to digest. Good amount of example and homework questions with follow-up debrief.
Jordan Higson | Test Analyst | Capgemini –
It is a long course and I imagine doing it alone would get tedious so having someone like John able to explain and demonstrate made it easier to digest
Luke Fletcher | Software QA Specialist | Nextbase –
I found John to be very informative and helpful in not only explaining why something was correct but also why other things weren’t correct.
Harvinder Bedi | Test Analyst Consultant | Capgemini –
Course was taught extremely well in a lot of detail with many examples. John was very helpful and explained all the content thoroughly and effectively. I have learnt a lot from the past 3 days and would like to thank John again for all the support.
Steve Adams | Test Engineer | Foundry Visionmongers –
Clearly laid out, all resources are easy to access.
John clearly has the experience to answer our questions and pace the breaks!
Jodie Hooper | Junior Test Analyst | OVO Energy –
The course itself was taken really well by John – John presented all information thoroughly and clearly and was very attentive to supporting everyone’s learning needs, and allowing space for questions.
Kate Nettell | IT Trainee | Ordnance Survey –
Very well paced and thorough with friendly helpful advice and tips – extremely good 🙂
Erik Dulay | Senior Quality Assurance Engineer | Hoegh –
Richard is good in explaining and giving examples to the concepts being discussed. Not sure if he will give tips on what to focus on for the certification exam towards the end of the training . If he will then my rating would already be 5 stars!
Patricia Eugenio | IT Automation Tester | Hoegh Autoliners –
The slides are a bit too busy, thankfully Richard was drawing different diagrams to help understanding.
Rob Welsh | KPMG – Technology Consultant | KPMG –
Rosie was very good trainer but course was very slow and sometimes felt a little repetitive. We had internal KPMG training last week that was meant to build on this course (rather than precede it) so that timetable error may account for the slow pace.
Mina | Graduate Trainne | KPMG –
Rosie is a great instructor; she clarified my questions and made many analogies which helped me understand testing better.