ISTQB

Loading

Tips for ISEB and ISTQB exams

CTAL (Advanced)
CTAL (Advanced)
Author
aliali27
Date
2016-06-05 23:35
Views
66929351

Just read a good link, so want to share it to everyone who want to get ISTQB certificate.
 If you want to know more about testing, please refer to my blog
http://myonlinecollection.wordpress.com/
-------------------------------------------------------
Introduction
I would like to share with you my experience with the exam. The opinions presented in this article are my personal thoughts, feelings and ideas.

Let's not go into debate if certification is needed and if it has real benefits. For arguments pro certification you can check http://www.testingexperience.com/testingexperience01_08_Black.pdf  and for arguments against you can refer to http://www.satisfice.com/blog/archives/36. The choice is yours.

After Foundation Level, you need to choose certification path ISEB or ISTQB. I took ISTQB since having advanced level with 3 specializations makes sense from carrier development point of view and the path Foundation -> Advanced seems to be straight forward. The Expert level created recently with 4 specialities seems to be over the top. You can read more about the ISTQB certification path here: http://istqb.org/display/ISTQB/Certification?atl_token=93VdaeFKJJ

ISEB tries to split hair in four with Foundation->Intermediate->Practitioner->Advanced levels. I think, it's too much effort to get to advanced level. More about ISEB certification path can be found here: http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=nav.10920. And actually ISEB has announced recently that Practitioner Level certification will be possible only till 15 March 2010 and they switch to ISTQB certification only. There is one, quite nasty effect of such solution. Nowadays you can see mistakes in job offers like ISTQB Practitioner level required. Who is going to tell which Advanced certificate you have? ISEB or ISTQB? So in most of cases you will have to defend yourself that you have chosen longer certification path.

I have passed exam for ISEB Certified Tester Foundation Level and ISTQB Certified Tester Advanced Level - Test Manager exams, so I will write a bit about both levels.
Preparation for exam

First of all for every exam you need to prepare. Question about preparation is the most asked one. Some people say that you don't need any preparation, others say that you can not pass the exams without proper training.

What is my opinion?

From my experience I can tell you, that answer to that question is tricky. For the Foundation Level the syllabus provided by the organization should be enough as source of theoretical knowledge, but ... Reading book about testing in general, like Software Testing by Ron Patton is highly recommended. Professional experience as a tester can both help you and disturb you. Why? That depends on terminology and methods used on the projects you took or take part in. If on the project everything is set-up and named according to ISEB/ISTQB syllabus and vocabulary, exam should be easier for you, you can refer to "how do we do that on the project?". If not, you will be very confused and the referring to "how do we do that on the project?" will just fool you. Preparing for foundation level, you don't need to worry much about the Reading List at the end of syllabus.

Don't forget to read vocabulary and learn the terms that are in there. Look at these simple questions: what is Test Case and what is Test Procedure, what's the difference between them? Did you get it right? It' s very easy to give a wrong answer if you are confused by terminology.

If you are not sure about following the standard on the project, go for training. Then you should have clarity and your knowledge will be ordered.

There is big question about self-preparation. Are you really going to seat and learn in the evenings and weekends? If not - better go for training.

With preparation for Advanced Level, the case is even more complicated. The Syllabus is for sure not enough. It looks more like set of guidelines, description of scope. Experience from projects can help you, but whatever is your experience, most probably you are not familiar or you simply don't remember all test process improvement methods and all software development methodologies, frameworks. Going for training is definitely a good idea.

Full certificate is split nicely into three parts with a reason. It's a lot of material to learn and understand, especially for Technical Test Analyst module. It's better to prepare to and pass them one by one.

When you study, a good idea is to make notes in form of Mind Maps. I find this form very useful and easy especially for quick refreshing of my knowledge.

For Advanced Level Test Manager, there are few books that can be used for preparation

The yellow one - Software Testing Practice: Test Management: A Study Guide for the Certified Tester Exam ISTQB Advanced Level by Andreas Spillner, Tilo Linz, Thomas Rossner, and Mario Winter

The black one - Advanced Software Testing - Vol. 2: Guide to the ISTQB Advanced Certification as an Advanced Test Manager by Rex Black

The green one - Guide to Advanced Software Testing by Anne Mette Jonassen Hass

I can recommend you the green one. It worked for me really well.

For the two Analyst modules we have a similar set:

The Software Test Engineer's Handbook: A Study Guide for the ISTQB Test Analyst and Technical Analyst Advanced Level Certificates by Graham Bath, et al.

Advanced Software Testing - Vol. 1: Guide to the ISTQB Advanced Certification as an Advanced Test Analyst by Rex Black
General tips and tricks for exam
1. The best and most successful trick is: do the study or go for training or do both.

2. For both ISEB and ISTQB you can find example exam questions in the internet. It is wise to take these exams and get used to the form of questions.

3. Studies show that when you have answered a question and you change the answer because you are not sure - usually you change it to wrong one.

4. Having the exam on the last day of training is not very good idea. You can be brain-fried and it will be difficult for you to focus and understand questions. But don't postpone the exam for longer that 2 weeks - then most probably part of the knowledge acquired on the training will be vanished and in practice you can start studying all over again.

5. Questions are quite long, often describing specific situation on the project, so useful thing is to highlight/underline the question itself and highlight the most important context of the situation i.e. safety critical/non-safety critical. Always search for keywords. Why is it so important? Because in the text there are introduced so called distractors. And as you can guess, the role of distractor is to bring your focus and attention to the least important information.
6. There are no negative points for incorrect answers. If you really don't know the answer, feel free to guess. In worst case you will get 0 points.

7. You don't have to answer questions in order. First go through the examination sheet and answer to questions, you are sure about. For questions where you have doubts mark the most likely answer on the side of page or just move to the next one. Mark that page with some sign like question mark to find it easily later. Why to use such a technique? Because if you are short on time you can just guess answers to the rest of questions having questions you were sure about answered.

8. Roman Type questions - it is a variation of multiple-choice question. You have presented several statements in an ordered list marked with letters or Roman numerals (thus the name). Your task is to chose the right combination of true statements. Let's see an example:

Which of the following answers reflect when Regression testing should normally be performed?

1) B & D are true, A, C & E are false
2) A & B are true, C, D & E are false
3) B,C & D are true, A & E are false
4) B is true, A, C, D & E are false

How to deal with that type of question? At the first glance they look like you have choice of 4 answers, what seems to be difficult. But

you can lower number of options by selecting 100% right and 100% wrong options. In the example above A, C are bold statements and are 100% false, therefore options 2 and 3 can be excluded.

A. Every week
B. After the software has changed
C. On the same day each year
D. When the environment has changed
E. Before the code has been written

1) B & D are true, A, C & E are false
2) A & B are true, C, D & E are false
3) B, C & D are true, A & E are false
4) B is true, A, C, D & E are false

We have 2 options now. B is in both, so it's clear that Regression Testing should be done after the software has changed. What about environment? Environment can also influence results of testing because it's changing the Test Conditions, therefore B and D are true, so the correct answer is option 1.
Foundation Level
1. On foundation exam you need to pay attention to previous questions. Sometimes answer to current question is in the stem of the previous one.
2. Quite a lot of questions contains parts of even whole sentences from Syllabus.
Advanced Level
1. At least in exams provided by GASQ questions are marked with level of difficulty and have weights K1 - 1 pts, K2 - 2 pts, K3 - 2pts. So if you have choice where to spend more time, go for K2 and K3 questions.
Conclusion

And that would be it. Pick you certification path. If you are just starting, better go for ISTQB path, which has future and takes less effort. The choice of taking training or not is yours. I hope you find this article helpful and have something to base your decisions on.

Good luck on exam!
Resources

http://www.academictips.org/acad/multiplechoiceexamstips.html
http://www.eviltester.com/index.php/2008/02/06/my-notes-on-how-to-study-...

-----------------------------------
Source: http://kaczor.info/pl/node/73

Total 2

  • 2014-10-06 12:44

    thanks for sharing useful information


  • 2020-12-11 12:09

    Reallly useful


Total 1,272
Number Title Author Date Votes Views
Notice
ISTQB_CTAL-TM_Syllabus v3.0
admin | 2025.06.16 | Votes 0 | Views 45974471
admin 2025.06.16 0 45974471
Notice
CTFL (Certified Tester Foundation Level) Syllabus 4.0
admin | 2024.09.15 | Votes 0 | Views 57933367
admin 2024.09.15 0 57933367
Notice
ISTQB Foundation - Certified Tester (2018) : Official Sample Exam Set 2 with Answer (4)
Testersbest | 2019.06.21 | Votes 0 | Views 66700141
Testersbest 2019.06.21 0 66700141
Notice
ISTQB Foundation - Certified Tester (2018) : Official Sample Exam Set 1 with Answer (3)
Testersbest | 2019.06.21 | Votes 0 | Views 67023135
Testersbest 2019.06.21 0 67023135
Notice
ISTQB Foundation Certified Tester (2018) : New Exam Rule (1)
Testersbest | 2019.06.21 | Votes 0 | Views 68589884
Testersbest 2019.06.21 0 68589884
Notice
ISTQB Foundation - Certified Tester Syllabus (2018)
VTB | 2018.11.14 | Votes 0 | Views 68294821
VTB 2018.11.14 0 68294821
Notice
ISTQB Advanced Level Syllabus (2016) Security Tester
VTB | 2018.10.26 | Votes 0 | Views 67163783
VTB 2018.10.26 0 67163783
Notice
ISTQB Advanced Level Syllabus (2012) Technical Test Analyst
VTB | 2016.05.06 | Votes 0 | Views 66218341
VTB 2016.05.06 0 66218341
Notice
ISTQB Advanced Level Syllabus (2012) Test Manager
VTB | 2016.05.06 | Votes 0 | Views 67525030
VTB 2016.05.06 0 67525030
Notice
ISTQB Advanced Level Syllabus (2012) Test Analyst
VTB | 2016.05.06 | Votes 0 | Views 67040093
VTB 2016.05.06 0 67040093
Notice
ISTQB Glossary of Testing Terms Version:2.2
VTB | 2016.05.06 | Votes 0 | Views 67304804
VTB 2016.05.06 0 67304804
Notice
ISTQB Expert Level (CTEL) Syllabus -Test Management (3)
VTB | 2015.09.13 | Votes 0 | Views 66731474
VTB 2015.09.13 0 66731474
Notice
ISTQB Expert Level (CTEL) Syllabus - Improving the Testing Process (1)
VTB | 2015.09.13 | Votes 0 | Views 67708884
VTB 2015.09.13 0 67708884
Notice
ISTQB Foundation Level (CTFL) Syllabus 2011 (12)
VTB | 2014.10.11 | Votes 0 | Views 66588473
VTB 2014.10.11 0 66588473
1258
ISTQB CTAL TAE Syllabus v2.0
admin | 2025.06.16 | Votes 1 | Views 45667611
admin 2025.06.16 1 45667611
1257
ISTQB Question and Answers (Advanced Level)
Steveskok | 2021.02.07 | Votes 0 | Views 67528721
Steveskok 2021.02.07 0 67528721
1256
ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level Syllabus Version 2018 V3.1
(TestExpert) | 2020.02.03 | Votes 0 | Views 67012508
(TestExpert) 2020.02.03 0 67012508
1255
ISTQB Advanced - Technical Test Analyst Sample Exam
ItSeTsQtB | 2019.08.08 | Votes 1 | Views 66712973
ItSeTsQtB 2019.08.08 1 66712973
1254
ISTQB Certification and Training Value
^Software^ | 2019.07.22 | Votes 0 | Views 67759811
^Software^ 2019.07.22 0 67759811
1253
ISTQB Foundation - Agile Tester (Sample Exam)
IT-Tester | 2019.07.08 | Votes 0 | Views 66084491
IT-Tester 2019.07.08 0 66084491
1252
ISTQB Advanced - Technical Test Analyst (Sample Exam)
IT-Tester | 2019.07.08 | Votes 0 | Views 66941266
IT-Tester 2019.07.08 0 66941266
1251
ISTQB Advanced - Test Analyst (Sample Exam) (1)
IT-Tester | 2019.07.08 | Votes 0 | Views 67325373
IT-Tester 2019.07.08 0 67325373
1250
Premium Question Paper 4 (3)
iknev | 2019.02.22 | Votes 0 | Views 68075481
iknev 2019.02.22 0 68075481
1249
Premium Question Paper 3 (6)
iknev | 2019.02.22 | Votes 0 | Views 66427553
iknev 2019.02.22 0 66427553
1248
Premium Question Paper 1 (2)
iknev | 2019.02.22 | Votes 0 | Views 67377960
iknev 2019.02.22 0 67377960
1247
ISTQB Question Bank_ Test Manager Sample Question Set 1
iknev | 2019.02.22 | Votes 1 | Views 67470123
iknev 2019.02.22 1 67470123
1246
ISTQB Certified Tester List (FULL)
VTB | 2018.10.31 | Votes 0 | Views 67334038
VTB 2018.10.31 0 67334038
1245
ISTQB Agile Exam (Auckland, NZ)
VTB | 2018.10.28 | Votes 0 | Views 67881070
VTB 2018.10.28 0 67881070
1244
ISTQB Foundation Exam (Auckland, NZ)
VTB | 2018.10.28 | Votes 0 | Views 67850086
VTB 2018.10.28 0 67850086
1243
ISTQB Foundation Course (Auckland, NZ)
VTB | 2018.10.28 | Votes 0 | Views 66819880
VTB 2018.10.28 0 66819880
1242
ISTQB Foundation Agile Course (Auckland, NZ)
VTB | 2018.10.28 | Votes 0 | Views 66210572
VTB 2018.10.28 0 66210572
1241
ISTQB Course + Internship (Auckland, NZ)
VTB | 2018.10.28 | Votes 0 | Views 67121881
VTB 2018.10.28 0 67121881
1240
ISTQB Expert - Improving the Test Process [Sample Exam & Answer] - ISTQB Official
VTB | 2018.10.26 | Votes 0 | Views 67351596
VTB 2018.10.26 0 67351596
1239
ISTQB Expert - Test Manager [Sample Exam & Answer] - ISTQB Official (1)
VTB | 2018.10.26 | Votes 0 | Views 67559544
VTB 2018.10.26 0 67559544
1238
ISTQB Advanced - Technical Test Analyst [Sample Exam & Answer] - ISTQB Official
VTB | 2018.10.26 | Votes 0 | Views 67768865
VTB 2018.10.26 0 67768865
1237
ISTQB Advanced - Test Analyst [Sample Exam & Answer] - ISTQB Official
VTB | 2018.10.26 | Votes 0 | Views 67660362
VTB 2018.10.26 0 67660362
1236
ISTQB Advanced - Test Manager [Sample Exam & Answer] - ISTQB Official (1)
VTB | 2018.10.26 | Votes 0 | Views 67815149
VTB 2018.10.26 0 67815149
1235
ISTQB Foundation - Model Based Tester [Sample Exam & Answers] - ISTQB Official
VTB | 2018.10.26 | Votes 0 | Views 68281639
VTB 2018.10.26 0 68281639
1234
ISTQB Foundation - Agile Tester [Sample Exam & Answer] - ISTQB Official
VTB | 2018.10.26 | Votes 0 | Views 66261614
VTB 2018.10.26 0 66261614
1233
ISTQB Foundation - Certified Tester [Sample Exam & Answer] - ISTQB Official (1)
VTB | 2018.10.26 | Votes 0 | Views 66731641
VTB 2018.10.26 0 66731641
1232
ISTQB Exam Tips and Tricks
VTB | 2018.10.16 | Votes 0 | Views 67788403
VTB 2018.10.16 0 67788403
1231
ISTQB Foundation Level Quiz 20 Questions (1)
aiitistqb | 2018.10.16 | Votes 0 | Views 67996428
aiitistqb 2018.10.16 0 67996428
1230
ISTQB Free Sample Exam and Answers
aiitistqb | 2018.10.16 | Votes 0 | Views 67633363
aiitistqb 2018.10.16 0 67633363
1229
ISTQB Foundation - Agile Extension Online Courses is live!!
VTB | 2018.10.16 | Votes 0 | Views 67080145
VTB 2018.10.16 0 67080145
1228
ISTQB Foundation Online Courses are Live!!
VTB | 2018.10.12 | Votes 0 | Views 68873288
VTB 2018.10.12 0 68873288
1227
ISTQB Foundation (Practice Exam)
VTB | 2018.10.12 | Votes 0 | Views 66969079
VTB 2018.10.12 0 66969079
1226
CTAL TM Questions (23)
ulissesmafra | 2018.10.09 | Votes 1 | Views 67128995
ulissesmafra 2018.10.09 1 67128995
1225
Syllabus 2012 (2)
ulissesmafra | 2018.10.09 | Votes 0 | Views 68076558
ulissesmafra 2018.10.09 0 68076558
1224
ISEB & ISTQB EXAM TIPS (3)
Sky Driver | 2018.09.24 | Votes 0 | Views 66833760
Sky Driver 2018.09.24 0 66833760
1223
Tips for clearing ISTQB Foundation Level Exam (1)
Sky Driver | 2018.09.24 | Votes 0 | Views 67714175
Sky Driver 2018.09.24 0 67714175
1222
Tips for passing the ISTQB Foundation Level exam – Do’s and Don’t’s
Sky Driver | 2018.09.24 | Votes 0 | Views 67649196
Sky Driver 2018.09.24 0 67649196
1221
Why do people fail the ISTQB Foundation Certificate? (1)
Sky Driver | 2018.09.24 | Votes 0 | Views 66969896
Sky Driver 2018.09.24 0 66969896
1220
ISTQB Foundation Mock Exam 2 (3)
peter_hey | 2018.09.19 | Votes 3 | Views 67647221
peter_hey 2018.09.19 3 67647221
1219
ISTQB Foundation Mock Exam 1 (3)
peter_hey | 2018.09.19 | Votes 0 | Views 66378142
peter_hey 2018.09.19 0 66378142
1218
What is ISTQB? (1)
master15 | 2018.09.19 | Votes 0 | Views 67737432
master15 2018.09.19 0 67737432
1217
Syllabus (2)
richp | 2018.09.18 | Votes 0 | Views 68271601
richp 2018.09.18 0 68271601
1216
Learning Objectives for ISTQB Advanced Level Technical Test Analyst Exam (1)
master15 | 2018.09.16 | Votes 0 | Views 67100301
master15 2018.09.16 0 67100301
1215
Software Testing Tools used by ISTQB certified Experts like Test Analysts and Technical Test Analysts (2)
master15 | 2018.09.16 | Votes 0 | Views 68627358
master15 2018.09.16 0 68627358
1214
What are the Advantages of ISTQB Certifications? (1)
master15 | 2018.09.13 | Votes 0 | Views 67434430
master15 2018.09.13 0 67434430
1213
How many Levels of Certification are provided by ISTQB? (1)
master15 | 2018.09.13 | Votes 0 | Views 67553640
master15 2018.09.13 0 67553640
1212
Syllabus CTAL-TTA - [BR] (1)
tcorteletti | 2018.09.09 | Votes 0 | Views 66391645
tcorteletti 2018.09.09 0 66391645
1211
Syllabus CTFL - [BR] (1)
tcorteletti | 2018.09.09 | Votes 0 | Views 66575513
tcorteletti 2018.09.09 0 66575513
1210
ISTQB Certification – Foundation Level syllabus
Sky Driver | 2018.09.05 | Votes 0 | Views 66866665
Sky Driver 2018.09.05 0 66866665
1209
Documents to be submitted at the time of registration of ISTQB Advanced Level (2)
Sky Driver | 2018.09.05 | Votes 0 | Views 67098025
Sky Driver 2018.09.05 0 67098025