ISTQB General information
Software Testers can get an International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB) Certification, that proves the solid knowledge of the individual regarding the principles and practices of Software Testing.
Foundation Level of this Certification is a very good starting point for a Software Tester in his future career in quality assurance.
The documentation for the exam preparation is very well structured and defined. The topics that can be found and learned from include fundamentals of testing, testing throughout the software life cycle, static techniques, test design techniques, test management, and tool support for testing. It covers everything that is good to know as a tester, who joined recently or will join the industry.
Learning process
My ISTQB Certification experience was a good one, although at first it seemed like a lot to learn and quite scarry. I have been working for already a year in testing, and I thought that it was a good time to also get certified. The only thing that made me a bit anxious was the fact that the syllabus had changed recently, so I had no idea what to expect.
What helped, for me, personally, was a mix between self-study and tutorials, as well as the experience I already had as a manual tester for over a year. The support of my colleagues and BBHT was of course one of the key factors that helped me to get my certification.
I started by searching for the best exam dates, and after I decided on the exam date, I registered, so there was no turning back from there, I had to prepare now for the exam.
The ISTQB exam is a multiple-choice test, that consists of 40 questions, and the passing score is 65%, 26 right questions. For the non-English speakers, the exam time is 75 minutes.
After doing a little bit of research and receiving some recommendations from my colleagues, I started learning. The tutorials I found on Udemy and YouTube on the new Syllabus were very helpful, as some notions and definitions were explained with examples, and it was way easier to understand them. I read the Syllabus once and watched the tutorials and then I thought of taking some mock exams. At first, I found those questions very tricky, and I was wondering if I would pass the exam. There is a great chance that if you pass all mock tests from every chapter of the Syllabus with more than 80%, you will also pass the exam. After I got an overview of the type of questions one can be asked for the certification, I went to the Syllabus again, and afterwards I took some more tests, and almost without notice, the exam day was knocking on the door.
The exam day
Before the exam, I received all the information that is needed regarding the exam: platform, browser, general rules, mandatory items and the code for entering the exam. I had to make sure that I was ready, and the environment was prepared for me not to have any distractions.
The exam day came. I took the exam in the morning, and I had to connect to a platform with the user I received. My identity was checked, and I had my camera on during the exam. The online exam was proctored. The exam was not the easiest exam I ever took, I needed a lot of concentration and attention to details, as some of the questions were somewhat tricky. I found really hard questions as well as easier ones. I also returned to some of the questions as I was not sure about the answer and I needed more time for them, before I submitted the answers. I really wanted to use all the time I was given, so it took me almost 75 minutes to finish my exam. I had finished the exam after 60 minutes, but I just checked my responses once again for every question, to make sure I had not made any mistakes. After submitting the responses, I also got my score and the status for the exam: passed.
All the information regarding the exam, with the percentage of correctly answered questions from each of the chapters I had to learn, I received in an email. Therefore, it was easy to see which of the chapters could use more reading and tutorials after the exam, to understand certain topics better.
In a separate email, I received also the ISTQB Foundation level Certificate, that is proof of being a certified tester.
Conclusion
As a conclusion, the ISTQB Certificate is beneficial. By preparing for this exam, I have learned a lot of best practices, which I am sure will be very helpful in the future.
