BCS-ISTQB

Certified Tester Foundation Level

BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, has partnered with the International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB) to deliver a comprehensive software testing certification programme to the global testing community.

Software Testing

Software testing is increasing its status as a profession across the world, as businesses need to ensure that they have qualified employees, able to test ever more complex IT systems.

Software Testing certification, including Agile testing is available from BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, at Foundation, Intermediate and Advanced levels to support software testing professionals educational requirements at each stage of their career path. Certifications in software testing will provide an insight in to the different types of testing and the techniques and tools which can be used to carry out and manage testing.

The Software Testing certifications available from the Institute offer an international benchmark of skills and experience for software testers. The Institute is also a Certified Agile Tester Exam Provider. The introduction of the Certified Agile Tester scheme further enhances the software testing certification portfolio, ensuring we offer software testers across the globe the support they need at every step of their career development.

What are the learning outcomes?

The following learning objectives are defined as applying to the syllabus. Each topic in the syllabus will be examined according to the learning objective for that topic.

• Level K1: Remember - Recognise, remember and recall a term or concept.
• Level K2: Understand - Select the reasons or explanations for statements related to the topic, and can summarise, compare, classify and give examples for the testing concept.
• Level K3: Apply - Select the correct application of a concept or technique and apply it to a given context.
• Level K4: Analyse - Separate information related to a concept or technique into its constituent parts for better understanding, and can distinguish between facts and inferences.

Who is it aimed at?

The certificate is principally aimed at anyone involved in software testing. This includes people in roles such as testers, test analysts, test engineers, test consultants, test managers, user acceptance testers and software developers.

This Foundation Level certificate 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.

Entry Requirements:

There are no formal requirements for entry to the course although the candidate should have a basic working knowledge of IT and it is recommended that all candidates attend a training course run by an accredited Training Provider.

Testing

These professional certifications are delivered worldwide via a variety of methods. One of the most popular choices for sitting the examinations is by computer based exams.

The Institute sees the following advantages in computer-based exams:

• Candidates can obtain the Institute’s certification throughout the year rather than on pre-set exam dates
• Examinations can be booked with less than two days’ notice
• Results are immediately available
• Computer based exams eliminate the need for examination papers and answer sheets and give an extra level of security

Currently two different providers offer these exams: Prometric and Pearson VUE