A Comprehensive Guide to Preparing for ISTQB® Certified Tester Foundation Level

Introduction

The ISTQB® Certified Tester Foundation Level (CTFL) certification is a globally recognized credential that demonstrates your expertise in software testing. Whether you are an aspiring tester looking to kick-start your career or a seasoned professional seeking to validate your skills, this certification is a valuable asset. To achieve success in the CTFL examination, thorough preparation is key. This article will provide you with a comprehensive guide on how to prepare for the ISTQB® CTFL exam.

Understanding the CTFL Exam

Before diving into the preparation process, it's crucial to have a clear understanding of the CTFL exam. The exam consists of multiple-choice questions, with the duration and number of questions varying by country and language. Typically, it spans over an hour and includes 40 questions. The passing score is 65%.

Key Knowledge Areas

1. The CTFL exam covers several key knowledge areas that you should focus on during your preparation:
2. Fundamentals of Testing: Understand the basic principles, concepts, and processes of software testing.
3. Testing Throughout the Software Development Lifecycle: Learn how testing activities are integrated into different phases of the software development process.
4. Static Testing: Comprehend the various static testing techniques and how they help in identifying defects.
5. Test Design Techniques: Master test design methods, including specification-based, structure-based, and experience-based techniques.
6. Test Management: Familiarize yourself with test planning, monitoring, and control, as well as risk analysis.
7. Test Tools: Explore the use of various testing tools and understand their roles in the testing process.

Preparation Strategies

1. Study the ISTQB® Syllabus: ISTQB® provides a comprehensive syllabus that outlines the topics you need to cover. Use this syllabus as your study guide.
2. Recommended Books and Resources: There are several textbooks and online resources available that are specifically designed to help you prepare for the CTFL exam. Utilize these materials to gain in-depth knowledge.
3. Practice Tests: Taking practice tests is an effective way to gauge your understanding of the material and improve your time management skills for the exam.
4. Join a Training Course: Consider enrolling in an accredited training course that offers expert guidance and interactive learning.
5. Create a Study Plan: Develop a study schedule that covers all the knowledge areas, allocating more time to your weaker areas.
6. Peer Discussions: Engaging in discussions with fellow aspirants or experienced testers can provide you with valuable insights and a different perspective on various topics.
7. Consistent Revision: Regularly review the material you've studied to reinforce your understanding and memory.

Exam Day

On the day of the exam, ensure that you arrive early, well-rested, and with all the necessary identification documents. Read each question carefully during the exam, and don't hesitate to skip challenging questions and return to them later.

Exam can be taken from home as well following the required guidelines.

Conclusion

Preparing for the ISTQB® Certified Tester Foundation Level is a significant step in your testing career. With dedication and a structured study plan, success is well within your reach. The knowledge and skills you gain during this journey will not only help you pass the exam but will also empower you to excel in your testing role. So, embark on your CTFL preparation journey with confidence and commitment, and you'll be well on your way to becoming a certified software testing professional. Good luck!

Writing Test Automation using IntelliJ

IntelliJ IDEA is an integrated development environment (IDE) for Java, which provides features to write and run tests for Java applications. Here are the steps to write test automation using IntelliJ IDEA:

1. Create a new Java project in IntelliJ IDEA by selecting "New Project" from the "File" menu.
   
   
2. 
   Once you have created the project, add the necessary libraries and dependencies for your project. These dependencies will include JUnit, TestNG or any other testing framework you wish to use.
   
   
3. Create a new package in your project, and then create a new Java class within that package. This class will contain your test code.
   
   
4. Import the necessary classes and packages you will need for your tests. These will include the testing framework you are using, as well as any other classes or packages that are required for your tests.
   
   
5. Write your test code within the new class you have created. This code will include the test methods you want to run and any assertions you need to make.
   
   
6. To run your tests, right-click on the class or test method you want to run, and select "Run" from the context menu.
   
   
7. If your tests pass, congratulations! If your tests fail, you will need to investigate the reason for the failure and modify your code accordingly.
   
   
8. Once you have completed your tests, you can package and deploy your application.

In summary, writing test automation using IntelliJ IDEA involves creating a new project, adding necessary libraries and dependencies, creating a new package and class for your test code, importing necessary classes and packages, writing your test code, and running your tests.

20 Software Testing Considerations

Before going into details of Software Testing Consideration. Let's understand what is Consideration?

- It is a careful thought, i.e. the act of thinking carefully about something you will make a decision about.

Following are the list of 20 ways to achieve Software Testing Consideration (all of these may not be applicable in each testing scenario. However, this is an exhaustive list which can be used to choose what would be relevant in certain scenarios):

1) Create Realistic Test Cases

Assessing how a software application will respond in a real-world scenario is essential to ensure the success of performance testing. Thus, creating realistic tests that keep variability in mind and taking into consideration the variety of devices and client environments to access the system is essential. Also important is mixing up device and client environment load, varying the environment and data, and ensuring that load simulations do not start from zero.

2) Proofread the content and Peer Review

Your content should be consistent, grammatically correct, and error-free. Don’t forget to check headings, labels, email notifications, and alerts.

3) Test using the most popular web browser/browsers

If you're developing a web application, your system should look and function the same regardless of the web browser you use. We test ours on the latest versions of Edge, Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Safari.

4) Test it using the most popular devices

If your system will be used on mobile devices, you should test styling and functionality on a variety of screen sizes. We test on an iPad, iPhone, Android Nexus 7 tablet, and a subset of Android smartphones.

5) Validate all links

Each button and link should perform as expected—whether that’s an action within the system or an external link.

6) Review visuals

Fonts should follow a consistent style, and the graphics used throughout the system should align with your brand standards.

7) Verify site security

Validate each page is secure with HTTPS over SSL for general data security. We also recommend testing data access at the account level to make sure only accounts with appropriate access can see the data. 

8) Validate forms

If your system has forms, make sure you can fill them out and that the submit buttons work. Double-check field validation and that form data is collected and stored according to requirements. You’ll also want to make sure users are directed to the right place upon submission.

9) Validate email notifications are sent as expected

This line item is two-fold. First, ensure the appropriate people at your organization receive notifications when users take action in the system. Second, ensure the email notifications sent to users are clear and are triggered at the appropriate times.

10) Validate business logic

Run scenarios in the system to verify the output is what you’d expect as an expert in your organization.

11) Role play

Every system is different. For the best results, if you aren’t really a user of the system (maybe it’s your clients who will ultimately use it), put yourself in the mindset of a true end user and attempt to accomplish common tasks as well as edge cases that may not have been communicated to the developer.

12) Test Early And Test Often

Leaving performance testing as an afterthought is a recipe for testing disaster. Instead of conducting Performance testing late in the development cycle, it should take the agile approach and be iterative throughout the development cycle. This way the performance gaps can be identified faster and earlier in the development cycle.

13) Focus On Users Not Just Servers

Since it is real people that use software applications, it is essential to focus on the users while conducting performance testing along with focusing on the results of servers and clusters running the software. Along with measuring the performance metrics of clustered servers, testing teams should also focus on user interface timings and per-user experience of performance.

14) Performance is Relative

Performance might mean something to you and something else to the user. Users are not sitting with a stopwatch to measure load time. What the users want is to get useful data fast and for this, it is essential to include the client processing time when measuring load times.

15) Correlating Testing Strategy With Performance Bottlenecks

In order to be effective in performance testing creating a robust testing environment and gaining an understanding of the users perspective of performance is essential. It is also essential to correlate performance bottlenecks with the code that is creating these problems. Unless this is done problem remediation is difficult.

16) Quantifying Performance Metrics

In order to assess the efficacy of the performance tests, testing teams need to define the right metrics to measure. While performance testing, teams should thus clearly identify:

The expected response time – Total time taken to send a request and get a response.

The average latency time.

The average load time.

The longest time taken to fulfill a request.

Estimated error rates.

The measure of active users at a single given point in time.

Estimated number of requests that should be handled per second.

CPU and memory utilization required to process a request.

17) Test individual units separately and together

Considering that applications involve multiple systems such as servers, databases, and services, it is essential to test these units individually and together with varying loads. This will ensure that performance of the application remains unaffected with varying volumes. This also exposes weak links and helps testing teams identify which systems adversely affect the others and into which systems should be further isolated for performance testing.

18) Define the Testing Environment

Doing a comprehensive requirement study, analyzing testing goals and defining the test objectives play a big role in defining the test environment. Along with this, testing teams should also take into consideration logical and physical production architecture, must identify the software, hardware, and network considerations, and compare the test and production environment when defining the testing environment needed.

19) Focus on Test Reports

Test design and test execution are essential components of good performance testing but to understand which tests have been effective, which need to be reprioritized and which ones need to be executed again testing teams must focus on test reports. These reports should be systematically consolidated and analyzed and the test results should be shared, to communicate the results of the application behavior to all the invested stakeholders.

20) Monitoring and Alerts

To ensure continuous peak performance, testing teams have to set up alert notifications that can intimate the right stakeholders if load times fall below normal or in the event of any other issue. This ensures proactive resolution of performance bottlenecks and guarantees good end user experience.