QA Specialist ISTQB Certification. Basic Level (CTFL)
Why do you need certification of a specialist in the field of software quality assurance?
The main answer is one - to confirm that your knowledge corresponds to a certain level.
All the rest are opportunities that can be realized by a specialist and the company in which he works after receiving a certificate.
There are several well-known and reputable organizations that certify QA specialists.
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Details on the types and differences between the QA certification schemes (IIST, CSTE, ISTQB and ISEB) can be found in [1]
ISTQB is the most famous and accessible of them in the post-Soviet space for a number of reasons: lower price, the possibility of full-time conduct in the country of residence and the absence of mandatory preliminary training.
ISTQB has 3 levels:
1. Basic (Foundation - CTFL)
For passing a basic level exam, there are no requirements for work experience, an advanced level exam requires practical experience as a QA and a basic level certificate, an expert level exam - besides having the corresponding certificates of previous levels, requires at least 5 years of experience as a QA, of them - at least 2 years of specialization, for which the exam.
Many moments about ISTQB are covered on the official site - istqb.org .
If you have already decided that you need an ISTQB certificate, then CTFL (Certified Tester Foundation Level) is your first step.
In the post-Soviet space, with a certain periodicity (for example, very often ISTQB certification is held during SQA-Days, and if there is a quorum, it can be announced by one of the local QA clubs) face-to-face certifications are held.
Exam preparation is the most important part. Well prepared, you pass the exam well and get a certificate.
The main source of information that must be read, and for the successful passing of the exam - learned and understood - is Foundation Level Syllabus.
At the office, in the “Downloads” section, an English-language version of the outline is available. Translation into Russian is available on the rstqb website , in the "Materials" section.
The name "summary" says that the necessary information is provided in a very concise form. For a better understanding (especially the new one), additional materials on the topic being studied will need to be searched in a search engine. You can use the so-called. Flashcards
There are also books that have been “sharpened” for passing the exam, and in which the topics under study are covered in more detail:
Foundations of Software Testing: ISTQB Certification by Rex Black, Dorothy Graham, Erik Van Veenendaal
Software Testing: An ISTQB-ISEB Foundation Guide by Peter Morgan, Angelina Samaroo and Brian Hambling
ISTQB Foundation Exam Preparation Guide - Rex Black
If there is a possibility and desire, it is good to use them.
An integral addition to the abstract is the ISTQB Glossary of Testing Terms - a glossary of terms that are found in the text of the abstract.
The glossary, in the same way as the outline itself, is obligatory for reading: on the exam there are questions for which you need to know the exact interpretation of a particular term.
Also, to prepare for the exam, authorized trainings are held, which save time to prepare for the exam, but such trainings cost extra money (about 300 euros), and not all countries have authorized trainers .
The material itself consists of 6 main sections:
At the beginning of each section, the terms that will be studied and whose interpretation is necessary to know are indicated (the meaning of each term can be found in the glossary). I also advise you to take a responsible approach to the study of terms: for example, there may be a question on the exam, where you will be asked to indicate the difference between a defect, a defect, a fault, a bug, and a mistake (error), a mistake.
On the Internet you can find trial versions of exam questions (for example, on the requests of “ISTQB Sample Question”, “Foundation Level PRACTICE EXAM”) - they help you to assess your strength after basic training, but the questions on the exam will be more difficult. The level of questions on the trial and real exam is very well illustrated by the picture:
In addition, we should not forget that test questions and answers on the Internet may contain errors.
The CTFL level exam can be passed not only in English, but also in any available national language (Russian is on the list of available languages), but the coordinators strongly advise against passing the exam in Russian. What caused this, in part, it became clear later - I, like a true QA, decided to test the exam in Russian (despite the fact that for me there is not much difference in the English-Russian language for passing the exam). A representative from Germany attended the exam, he personally presented my version of the exam questions and shook hands (I was the only one who chose to take the exam in a language other than English). Actually, the cons of the exam is not in English:
The newsletter from the exam coordinators also stated that it is permissible to have a PAPER Russian-English-Russian dictionary on the exam, but in fact, when one of the girls tried to use it, the head of the examination committee present at the exam asked to remove it.
The exam contains 40 questions printed on A4 paper sheets, each of which has 4 answer choices, from which you need to choose only one correct one.
To pass the exam, you must correctly answer at least 26 questions.
Exam requirements are standard: corrections are not counted, you can not fill in with a pencil and try to write off from a neighbor. During the exam, you can not go (therefore, plan the elimination of natural needs in advance). And more, take with you an identity document and a pen.
Approximately, the result will be known in a week after passing the exam; it is sent by e-mail to the address you provided earlier.
In case of successful delivery, the text will be something like this:
It further states that the certificate for % USERNAME% will be issued and sent by regular mail within four weeks from the time you pass / pay for the exam.
I, unfortunately, do not have an example of a letter about failed certification.
As for obtaining a well-deserved certificate within a month, there are also some nuances here: a colleague with whom we passed the exam together received a certificate about 3 weeks after passing the exam (as the delivery address, Kiev, Ukraine was indicated), I I have not received my certificate so far, although a little less than 2 months have passed since the date of delivery (I have specified one of the cities in the Luhansk region, Ukraine) as the delivery address. It is likely that a beautiful and large (A4) envelope with inscriptions in a foreign language was simply stolen in our mail, because the certificate is sent in a regular, rather than by registered mail.
For an additional fee of 60 euros, they offer to get acquainted with those questions that you answered incorrectly, but only within 30 days after the exam and in person at the company's office (in Germany).
If you received a certificate, another good news: the certificate is valid throughout your entire life.
[one]. QA Certification - Sergey Revko and QA Certification - Anna Sheretova
[2]. ISTQB certification. Pros and cons - Victoria Ptitsyna
[3]. ISTQB Flashcards
[four]. Wikipedia Testing Materials
The main answer is one - to confirm that your knowledge corresponds to a certain level.
All the rest are opportunities that can be realized by a specialist and the company in which he works after receiving a certificate.
There are several well-known and reputable organizations that certify QA specialists.
')
Details on the types and differences between the QA certification schemes (IIST, CSTE, ISTQB and ISEB) can be found in [1]
ISTQB is the most famous and accessible of them in the post-Soviet space for a number of reasons: lower price, the possibility of full-time conduct in the country of residence and the absence of mandatory preliminary training.
ISTQB has 3 levels:
1. Basic (Foundation - CTFL)
- Foundation level
- Test manager
- Test analyst
- Technical Test Analyst
- Improving Test Process
- Test management
- Test Automation (in development, currently not available)
- Security Testing (in development, currently not available)
For passing a basic level exam, there are no requirements for work experience, an advanced level exam requires practical experience as a QA and a basic level certificate, an expert level exam - besides having the corresponding certificates of previous levels, requires at least 5 years of experience as a QA, of them - at least 2 years of specialization, for which the exam.
Many moments about ISTQB are covered on the official site - istqb.org .
If you have already decided that you need an ISTQB certificate, then CTFL (Certified Tester Foundation Level) is your first step.
In the post-Soviet space, with a certain periodicity (for example, very often ISTQB certification is held during SQA-Days, and if there is a quorum, it can be announced by one of the local QA clubs) face-to-face certifications are held.
Exam preparation
Exam preparation is the most important part. Well prepared, you pass the exam well and get a certificate.
The main source of information that must be read, and for the successful passing of the exam - learned and understood - is Foundation Level Syllabus.
At the office, in the “Downloads” section, an English-language version of the outline is available. Translation into Russian is available on the rstqb website , in the "Materials" section.
The name "summary" says that the necessary information is provided in a very concise form. For a better understanding (especially the new one), additional materials on the topic being studied will need to be searched in a search engine. You can use the so-called. Flashcards
There are also books that have been “sharpened” for passing the exam, and in which the topics under study are covered in more detail:
Foundations of Software Testing: ISTQB Certification by Rex Black, Dorothy Graham, Erik Van Veenendaal
Software Testing: An ISTQB-ISEB Foundation Guide by Peter Morgan, Angelina Samaroo and Brian Hambling
ISTQB Foundation Exam Preparation Guide - Rex Black
If there is a possibility and desire, it is good to use them.
An integral addition to the abstract is the ISTQB Glossary of Testing Terms - a glossary of terms that are found in the text of the abstract.
The glossary, in the same way as the outline itself, is obligatory for reading: on the exam there are questions for which you need to know the exact interpretation of a particular term.
Also, to prepare for the exam, authorized trainings are held, which save time to prepare for the exam, but such trainings cost extra money (about 300 euros), and not all countries have authorized trainers .
The material itself consists of 6 main sections:
- Basics of testing .
This section explores the basics of testing. It explains what testing is and why it is necessary, what the presence of defects in software can lead to, it tells about the purposes of testing at different stages of the software life cycle. 7 principles of testing are given, a separate chapter is devoted to the psychology of testing and the code of ethics of the tester. - Place testing in the software development lifecycle .
This section describes the software development models ( V-model , iterative-incremental models), basic testing levels and their interrelations ( component , integration, system and acceptance testing), types of testing (functional / non-functional, structural, confirmatory and regression). testing), about the features of testing during the maintenance period. - Static testing methods .
This section describes static testing methods:
- reviewing, it tells about the types of reviewing (informal, end-to-end control, technical analysis, inspection), roles and responsibilities - applicable to each type, about the factors of successful reviewing;
- static analysis using tools. - Test design methods .
It describes the development process of tests based on specifications (these are black box methods, this includes equivalent splitting, analysis of boundary values, testing the decision table and transition tables, testing using usage scenarios), on the structure (these are white box methods). operator and coverage testing, alternatives and coverage testing, and other methods that are based on software structure) and experience. It explains how the selection of test methods. - Test management .
Describes the organization of the testing process and why testing independence is important, the tasks of the test manager and the usual tester, testing planning (entry / exit criteria, testing testing), monitoring progress and monitoring testing, configuration / version management, possible testing risks (project risks, product risks), incident management. - Testing support tools .
This section describes the types of tools used in the testing process, their classification (tools for test management and tests: test management tools and requirements, configuration management tools; static testing tools: reviewing tools, static analysis, modeling, tools for working with test tools). specifications: test design tools, test data preparation, test execution and logging tools: test tools neniya tests IDE unit testing, test comparators coverage measurement and testing of security tools; tools for performance testing and monitoring: tools for performance testing , load / stress testing and monitoring, data quality assessment tools). The following discussion deals with the efficiency of using tools, the possible benefits and risks, and the basic principles for introducing new testing tools into the organization.
At the beginning of each section, the terms that will be studied and whose interpretation is necessary to know are indicated (the meaning of each term can be found in the glossary). I also advise you to take a responsible approach to the study of terms: for example, there may be a question on the exam, where you will be asked to indicate the difference between a defect, a defect, a fault, a bug, and a mistake (error), a mistake.
On the Internet you can find trial versions of exam questions (for example, on the requests of “ISTQB Sample Question”, “Foundation Level PRACTICE EXAM”) - they help you to assess your strength after basic training, but the questions on the exam will be more difficult. The level of questions on the trial and real exam is very well illustrated by the picture:
In addition, we should not forget that test questions and answers on the Internet may contain errors.
Exam
The CTFL level exam can be passed not only in English, but also in any available national language (Russian is on the list of available languages), but the coordinators strongly advise against passing the exam in Russian. What caused this, in part, it became clear later - I, like a true QA, decided to test the exam in Russian (despite the fact that for me there is not much difference in the English-Russian language for passing the exam). A representative from Germany attended the exam, he personally presented my version of the exam questions and shook hands (I was the only one who chose to take the exam in a language other than English). Actually, the cons of the exam is not in English:
- the exam time is shortened and equals 1 hour (for those taking the exam in English - 75 minutes);
- Objectively, the questions are more complicated and differ from the questions in the English version, where the set of questions was the same (it turned out after talking with colleagues who took the exam in English);
- additional complexity - you need to know the exact correspondence of English terms to their Russian counterparts, and accurate translation is not always possible.
The newsletter from the exam coordinators also stated that it is permissible to have a PAPER Russian-English-Russian dictionary on the exam, but in fact, when one of the girls tried to use it, the head of the examination committee present at the exam asked to remove it.
The exam contains 40 questions printed on A4 paper sheets, each of which has 4 answer choices, from which you need to choose only one correct one.
To pass the exam, you must correctly answer at least 26 questions.
Exam requirements are standard: corrections are not counted, you can not fill in with a pencil and try to write off from a neighbor. During the exam, you can not go (therefore, plan the elimination of natural needs in advance). And more, take with you an identity document and a pen.
Result
Approximately, the result will be known in a week after passing the exam; it is sent by e-mail to the address you provided earlier.
In case of successful delivery, the text will be something like this:
Congratulations!
Dear % USERNAME% ,
You have successfully passed the examination to the ISTQB Certified Tester, Foundation Level.
You scored x out of y possible credits.
This equals z% .
It further states that the certificate for % USERNAME% will be issued and sent by regular mail within four weeks from the time you pass / pay for the exam.
I, unfortunately, do not have an example of a letter about failed certification.
As for obtaining a well-deserved certificate within a month, there are also some nuances here: a colleague with whom we passed the exam together received a certificate about 3 weeks after passing the exam (as the delivery address, Kiev, Ukraine was indicated), I I have not received my certificate so far, although a little less than 2 months have passed since the date of delivery (I have specified one of the cities in the Luhansk region, Ukraine) as the delivery address. It is likely that a beautiful and large (A4) envelope with inscriptions in a foreign language was simply stolen in our mail, because the certificate is sent in a regular, rather than by registered mail.
For an additional fee of 60 euros, they offer to get acquainted with those questions that you answered incorrectly, but only within 30 days after the exam and in person at the company's office (in Germany).
If you received a certificate, another good news: the certificate is valid throughout your entire life.
Some links
[one]. QA Certification - Sergey Revko and QA Certification - Anna Sheretova
[2]. ISTQB certification. Pros and cons - Victoria Ptitsyna
[3]. ISTQB Flashcards
[four]. Wikipedia Testing Materials
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/146064/
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