The story of one exam
Hi all! My name is Polina, I am a testing specialist at ITFB Group. I would like to raise the topic of passing exams for advanced training, and specifically the ISTQB (International Software Testing Qualifications Board) exam. This international organization develops standards and certification for software testing. ISTQB certification is a recognized way to confirm competencies in the field of testing and improve professional level in this field.
In this post, I will share my experience of taking the ISTQB FL Syllabus 2018 exam last year and share some lifehacks that helped me pass the exam. Who is interested in my story, welcome under cat)
Selecting an exam version
I wouldn’t like to delve into the philosophical question of whether an ISTQB certificate is needed or not, but if you have the opportunity to pass the exam, then why not test your knowledge.
There are two options: take the 2018 Syllabus (v. 3.1.1) or the 2023 version (v. 4.0). Exams for the old version 3.1.1 will be held until May 9, 2024 (English) and until November 9, 2024 (Russian, etc.). My choice fell on the 2018 version of the exam because:
There is much more information on the Internet about the old version, but there was practically no information about the new version at the time of taking the exam.
At the time of preparation for the exam, there were no sample exam questions for v on the RSTQB website. 4.0 (can be found now). According to the old version, there are two versions in Russian and three in English.
The Foundation Level certificate is valid for an indefinite period and does not require retaking in the case of a new current version
When choosing a language, the following advice seemed useful to me: if you can immediately and in the context of QA translate the words root cause, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS), ad hoc reviewing, inspection, boundary value analysis, equivalence partitioning, entry/exit criteria , approach, estimation, data-driven testing, keyword-driven testing, then you will probably master the English version of the Syllabus. If the translation of these terms causes certain difficulties, then, most likely, you should put aside the English version and prepare in Russian. I couldn’t handle the translation, so I chose the Russian version.
useful links
The most important and basic link is ISTQB® Materials. You can find the ISTQB Glossary here, which has all the information you need to pass the exam. In chapter Sample Exams You can take the trial version and at the same time familiarize yourself with it so as not to get confused during the real exam. Let me get ahead of myself: during trial testing, I came across an option that corresponded to the paper version. I didn’t receive any new questions, but I began to feel more confident when interacting with the exam system.
ISTQB Trainer – training apparatus. Please note that the main page states that the questions are relevant to the 2011 Syllabus, so I wouldn't spend much time here. However, it can be safely used. With its help, I increased the speed of reading tasks, understanding them and choosing an answer. If you have a free minute in line or while commuting, then the simulator is a good way to warm up your brain.
How to use materials
To successfully pass the exam, you need to learn all the materials, but no one is perfect, so I suggest the following scheme.
At the very beginning of the Syllabus, you should familiarize yourself with the levels: K1 – remember, K2 – understand, K3 – apply, K4 – analyze.
Each chapter has “Learning Objectives” at the beginning and is assigned a different level. After reading the chapter, I suggest going through these goals and retelling the content for yourself, paying attention to the level. Somewhere you just need to remember the definition, think and analyze the question. I also recommend taking notes on difficult topics. I had problems with topics 1.4.2 – 1.4.3, so I created a table for myself, where for each group of testing activities I completely described them, added examples and working products.
This way it turned out more clearly: the difference between the groups became more noticeable, there was no need to endlessly flip through the same pages, everything was in one place. At the beginning of each chapter, before the Learning Objectives, there is a Key Words block. This block describes the use of the glossary.
I did this: I created a document where I wrote down definitions by chapter. As I studied, I expanded my vocabulary. Both the materials from Syllabus itself and your own creativity are well suited here: we insert or draw diagrams ourselves, highlight the text in different colors, etc. It seems to me that visual techniques make memorization much easier.
I advise you to use other people's glossaries only as a last resort. A text written by you personally, with your notes and a unique structure, is better remembered. While you are looking up and writing down definitions in your dictionary, your brain is already remembering the information.
Materials that were not at all memorizable, I wrote out schematically on pieces of paper and attached them to the board or simply laid them out on the table. It seems to me that when you see the same notes in sight throughout the workday, it is impossible not to remember them. I recommend making short notes or diagrams, not writing out entire paragraphs, so as not to waste time reading notes, and short text immediately catches the eye and thus is easier to imprint in memory
In your spare time, you can use the simulator.
We go through two trial versions of the exam. There will be a lot of life hacks here, so I propose to give tests a separate part of my story
Mock exams
The exam contains 40 questions, which are given 60 minutes to solve (non-native speakers – 75 minutes). You need to score at least 65%, i.e. answer at least 26 questions correctly.
During training, I highly recommend timing yourself, as this is one of the key points of the exam. There really isn't enough time to really think through it. Therefore, during training you have the chance to safely, without any consequences, check whether you have enough time for the exam, and thereby prepare yourself mentally. It is very useful to take notes. For example, here is one of the test questions:
It's quite easy to make a mistake here, forgetting which methods you assigned which numbers. At first, this advice seemed like an unnecessary waste of time to me, but practice with a timer showed that it is much faster to write down your answers schematically than to go through the question several times.
The problems, with some exceptions, require a little logic and care. I made very stupid mistakes myself several times. Again, our best guide is notes. Let's look at an example:
To make your decision easier, it will be very useful to number the transitions, at least visually:
Next, for each answer option, we write down the transition numbers:
Please note that option b is no longer suitable, since it contains the state “Charging”, not “Charged”.
We get the following combinations:
Please note that option b is no longer suitable, since it contains the state “Charging”, not “Charged”.
We get the following combinations:
a) 2 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 – 7 transitions out of 10 possible are affected;
b) save time and immediately remove this answer option;
c) 6 7 8 9 10 3 10 3 – 6 transitions out of 10 possible;
d) 3 4 5 6 9 10 1 2 – 8 transitions out of 10 possible.
Therefore, the correct option is d. It is possible to solve this problem in your head, without numbering and notes, but much more time will be spent on it.
The RSTQB link has answers to test cases. During the check, I recommend reading not only the transcript of those questions to which an incorrect answer was given, but also the questions with the correct answer. It is important to understand the logic of the questions and answers of this particular exam. You can also choose the correct answer at random or based on some other logic different from that proposed in the transcript. If such luck happened with one question, it is not a fact that the same will happen on the exam.
Next to each answer there is a “Learning Objective” field, which indicates the Syllabus chapter to which the task relates. The following practice helped me a lot: I wrote down the numbers of the questions in which I made mistakes, along with a link to the chapter. After which I went through the “weak” areas separately.
I applied the same practice when I passed both trial versions of the exam. We write down the “error – chapter” combinations for both test options. Next, we compare them with each other. In my case, about 70% of the errors in both versions were made in questions related to the same chapters. That is, it was possible to see a clear trend in which chapters were mastered the worst.
Thus, you need to first pay special attention to the “problem” chapters.
What's the timing?
I started preparing on May 19th at a fairly relaxed pace. By the way, I recommend finding a friend or company to prepare for, because it’s more fun together and you can motivate each other, help in analyzing questions and difficult topics. I successfully passed the exam on September 1, because I no longer had the strength to prepare, and I overheated. Well, the due date is beautiful – the day of knowledge.
Two weeks before this, I began to prepare in an intensive mode. It turns out that it took me 3.5 months to prepare. The training course with a teacher is designed for 16 hours, that is, with self-propelled training you will need about 32 hours.
I would not recommend delaying the process, as you can forget everything, waste time ineffectively, lose motivation due to such a grandiose, unclosed gestalt, and simply burn out.
Exam
You can take the exam in two formats: online And offline. I really wanted to rent it offline, because I wasn’t eager to show the room on camera and was worried about the performance of the equipment and the stability of the Internet. But despite the fact that my city was on the list of those available for taking offline, after booking the manager contacted me and said that the exam would be cancelled. Apparently there weren't enough people there. Therefore, I had to take it online, which requires preparation of equipment and environment. The instructions are on the website, you can even watch the video. All details are sent by email in advance, so you can prepare in advance.
What helped me:
You need to check the equipment in advance. If you have an unstable Internet, then it is worth considering backup options. An obvious but important note: it is worth turning off all pop-up notifications, updates, etc. in advance.
The evening before the exam, I cleared everything from the table, left only my laptop and passport, closed the board with notes, put all my things on the chest of drawers and covered them with a blanket. All this is so that the proctor does not have questions for me, and in the morning I do not waste time preparing my workplace.
Also, the evening before the exam, I tested the placement options for the camera phone, since it must be positioned in a certain way and provide sufficient visibility. To do this, I had to place a stepladder three meters from the table and build a structure from a phone holder, charger, and extension cord. Again, everything is done in order to minimize the fuss before hour X. It is better to spend this time reviewing the material.
During the exam, we keep track of the time.
I answered the questions in the following sequence:
First, questions to which I know the answer for sure, and which will take no more than a minute to think about
Tasks
Remaining questions with which problems arose
Used the capabilities of the examination environment:
Note field
Questions can be tagged using a pin. Thus, it is immediately clear which questions have not yet been answered. It is better to also remove the pins before completion, although this was not written in the instructions. You can go through the questions out of order, there will be links to them on the left so you can move freely between them
Bottom line
I finished the task when there were only 3 minutes left on the timer. This is another reminder that time is an important factor when taking the ISTQB. In the remaining minutes, I no longer began to re-read all the questions and answers, I just went through it and checked that the answers were, in principle, written down, that I had not missed any question.
Immediately after completing the exam, you will see your score and percentages. In this case, a transcript of which questions you made a mistake will not be provided at any stage. The test results will be confirmed if there are no comments from the examiner, who monitors your actions throughout the entire testing process. The final result comes within a week.
I was lucky, the result and the long-awaited certificate itself arrived in the mail on September 3. This is what the answers look like:
Again, where exactly the mistakes were made is unclear. But at least you can roughly determine the topics for yourself.
At the end of my story, I would like to wish you patience and strength in preparing for the exam and good luck when passing)
