CSTB Education 

The CSTB adheres to an international standard of knowledge put forth by the ISTQB. This body of knowledge is the basis for the education and examinations sanctioned by the CSTB, and by that association, by the ISTQB. 

There are three levels of education and examination which lead to international certifications representing increasing levels of expertise. For each level, the courses and exams are two distinct entities. A student can take the course followed immediately by the exam, the course alone with or without a subsequent exam at a later date, or attempt to take the exam without attending the preparatory course.

To ensure consistency and fairness ISTQB has created an examination format and question writing guideline that has been adopted by all National Boards and Examination Providers.

The Foundation Level of Certification is the first course/exam. It provides basic information to those early on in their testing career, and also sets the framework for the remaining ISTQB certifications.  Candidates must sit a 1 hour, closed book 40-question multiple choice examination designed to assess their knowledge and understanding of the entire Foundation syllabus. A grade of 65% must be attained in order to pass. All Foundation Level exams must follow strict guidelines as to content. This ensures that the ISTQB and its National Boards can examine and measure tester capability against a professional standard baseline. For more information on the Foundations exam, refer to the ISTQB Foundation Exam Format and Question Writing Guidelines.

The Advanced Level of Certification builds on the Foundation Level of Certification, and is comprised of three separate courses and exams, all of which must be passed to obtain the Advanced Level of Certification. The courses/exams are, in no particular order:

Test Manager
Test Analyst
Technical Test Analyst

A candidate may elect to be certified in one, two or all three of these areas. Upon successful completion of all three components, the candidate will receive an additional certification as Certified Tester Advanced Level (Full).

There are entrance criteria which must be met to allow a candidate to sit for an Advanced Level exam:

• Hold an ISTQB Certified Tester - Foundation Level certificate; and
• Have three (3) years of verifiable full-time work experience in software or systems testing, development, quality assurance, engineering or a related field.

Each 3 hour closed-book exam consists of 65 multiple choice questions. The passing score for each exam is 65% of the available points on the exam.

Application Form for Advance Level Exam

The Expert Level of Certification is being created by a working party within the ISTQB.

All examinations are controlled exclusively by the National Boards in their respective countries, such as the Canadian Software Testing Board. These National Boards, however, are not entitled to hold the training sessions; this provides an additional guarantee of the objective testing of examination participants.

Education is only available from approved ISTQB training providers (see Accedited Training page).

Costs for the courses vary by training provider.

For information on the Foundation Level Syllabus, Advanced Level Syllabus and the Glossary of Terms used for the examination, refer to http://www.istqb.org/display/ISTQB/Downloads.