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
abhinandan.raju –
Very good training and will recommend to others.
ian.storr –
This was the first instructor-led classroom course I have done for quite some time and it really was well worth the wait. John is an extremely versatile and capable trainer and nothing was too much trouble for him throughout the course. I would sincerely recommend TSG Training and would doubly recommend John Young as a trainer. Excellent overall!
stuart.wallace –
It was well delivered and covered about the right depth, at the right tempo. 11/11 have passed the exam so far (with one more to take it on Monday)
Rekha.sharma –
Angelina explained the details of the course very well.
callum.leech –
It was a very rewarding course to take, Angelina was very helpful and detailed when explaining each part of the course. Couldn’t have asked for a better trainer.
wayne.topham –
The course (when using the full 3 days) was a good length for the training being provided. Any less would have been too much in such a short time.
michael.gray –
The course was ran really well, Angelina knows her stuff, I’m just not 100% sure on how a lot of the syllabus is worded, I feel like it tested my word play skills rather than informing me of the actual QA knowledge, I guess we will see for definite after taking the exam.
Kelly Pygott | Analytics Test Analysis | MHR –
Really good course, very interactive! The course tutor happily answered all questions raised and walk through areas which seemed to be problematic.
Poornendulal Venugopalan | Principal Consultant | Capgemini –
Very clear and very detailed instruction. Perfect content delivery. Thank you so much.
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It was a lot of material that was covered very quickly but the support and the ability to go through example questions was very helpful.
Catherine Gould | Senior Test Analyst | Mission Marketing Group –
Really useful, interactive and well run course
Daniel Murphy | Business Analyst | Trace Solutions –
Very interactive and a lot of content covered
Gauri | Kaza | Barnett Waddingham –
Would be good if it was 4 day course
Jennifer Price | Test Analyst | New Look –
I think Rosie did a great job of explaining the course material and making it engaging with relevant examples.
Nicole (Nicki) Jackson | Test Lead | New Look –
The course was good, but I felt if day 3 was on day 1, that would have been a better as it was less to remember. Days 1 and 2 I found intensive to remember and day 3 wasn’t so much, but that’s just me personally.
Luke Waite | Test Analyst | New Look –
Well presented with good examples and practice questions, in particular the practice questions were really helpful to apply what we learned in the previous section
Vidhya Ethiraj | Test Analyst | Capgemini –
Very interactive and the concept was thought from basic to in depth. Well planned and received all the course materials well before.
Juliet Reed | Test Analyst | Office for National Statistics –
The course was presented well with good clear content on the power slides. Angelina’s delivery of the course was very clear and was presented in a jovial and professional way and managed to get good participation from all the attendees.
Nirojan Yogeswaran | Tester | Capgemini –
Course was presented in a very understandable manner, with Angelina making sure everyone understood the material. The Summaries and Excercises furthermore supplemented the course very well. Thoroughly enjoyed it and most important of all, I feel I am in a better place to pass the exam.
James Butchart | QA Engineer | Foundry –
The course was intense but Angelina made it as entertaining as possible and kept me engaged.