• to prepare candidates for the ISEB Foundation Certificate in Software Testing based on the ISTQB syllabus;
• to improve understanding of software testing - its purpose and nature - and to raise awareness of issues and constraints around testing;
• to provide a professional qualification widely recognised by employers, customers and peers;
• to introduce test techniques (static, white box and black box) to delegates as well as providing practical experience of some key techniques;
• to learn standard terminology;
• to provide a complete picture of the test activities and processes from requirements review to system implementation; and
• to discover good sources of information.

• enabling software suppliers to hire certified testers and thereby gain commercial advantage over their competitors     by advertising their tester recruitment policy; and
• enabling comparison of testing skills across different countries, testers to move across country borders more easily and multi-national/international projects to have a common understanding of testing issues.

This Foundation Level qualification is also appropriate for anyone who wants a basic understanding of software testing, such as project managers, quality managers, software development managers, business analysts, IT directors and management consultants.

It is strongly recommended by the syllabus board that candidates also have at least a minimal background in either software development or software testing, such as six months experience as a system or user acceptance tester or as a software developer, and take an accredited course such as this one.

Syllabus – Key points

1. The fundamentals of testing:

• Why testing is necessary; harm caused by defects in software; root causes; testing and quality assurance; what  testing is; general testing principles; fundamental test process and the psychology of testing.

• Software development models; relationship between development, test activities and work products in the development life cycle, project and product characteristics and context; test levels, objectives, typical objects and    targets of testing; functional, non-functional, structural and change-related testing; confirmation and regression    testing; maintenance testing; regression testing and impact analysis in maintenance. 

• Reviews and the test process; software work products and the different static techniques; importance and value of    static techniques; difference between static and dynamic techniques; typical formal review process; different types of    review: informal review, technical review, walkthrough and inspection; explain the factors for successful    performance of reviews; static analysis by tools; defects and errors identified by static analysis; typical benefits;    typical code and design defects identified.

• Identifying test conditions and designing test cases; categories of test design techniques; specification-based (black-box) and structure-based (white-box) approaches; equivalence partitioning; boundary value analysis; decision tables;     state transition diagrams, use case testing; structure-based or white-box techniques; code coverage; statement and     decision coverage; control flows using statement testing and decision testing; coverage; experience based techniques; choosing techniques.

• Test organization; independent testing; tasks of typical test leader and tester; test planning and estimation; ‘Standard     for Software Test Documentation’ (IEEE 829); typical factors that influence the effort related to testing; estimation    approaches (metrics-based and expert-based); test preparation and execution tasks; exit criteria; test progress    monitoring and control; metrics and reporting; configuration management; risk and testing; incident reporting and    management.

Course Format

This course is a three-day tutor-led course, with the examination on the afternoon of the third day.