How NOT to pass the ISTQB Foundation Level Certification Exam

Very recently I took the ISTQB (CTFL 2018) certification exam - and failed it by missing only one question, 26 correct answers is the passing grade, and I had 25.. If you also do not wish to pass the exam, keep reading I'll share a few tips bellow that are guaranteed to work!


So, let's start!
  1. Procrastinate and delay scheduling the exam for as long as possible - by registering for exam you will set a deadline for yourself and it will be a constant reminder for you to keep learning consistently on a regular basis. Why would you want that?
  2. Study all by yourself - if you surround yourself with other people who are learning the same thing it will be much easier, and we don't want that now do we...?
  3. Forget about reading books and the syllabus - the textbook “Foundation of Software Testing: ISTQB Certification” by Rex Black, Dorothy Graham is a very useful resource and so is the official syllabus, why waste time with helpful resources?
  4. Ignore the glossary when you encounter unknown terminology - there will be quite a few terms that are new, looking up definitions of those, and understanding what they mean takes away the mystery...
  5. Place all your hopes of passing into the brain dumps - there are quite a few of those mock exams online with incorrect answers, so putting all your eggs in that basket will turn out great!!
  6. Pay no attention to the structure of the exam - for example 20 of exam questions (50%) are K1 level which means that, for example, that you only need to remember a certain definition without having too deep of an understanding of subject at hand.
  7. Don't take notes while learning - since humans remember about 20% of the information they read after 24 hours, make sure you don't rely on repetition and revision of what you've learned.
  8. Disregard the questions that contain hints - Lot of answers will be presented in a way that makes them look all similar to one another, paying attention to terms like NOT or NEVER withing a question will help you spot that. And we wouldn't want that, would we? 😄
  9. Be stubborn and waste time on tough questions - there is an option to flag a question for review and to get back to it later, there's plenty of time in the exam, so why not waste it?
  10. Don't use the board if taking the online exam - marking your questions on the board and scribbling down might help you considerably, although lot of test centers have backups and tests results get saved offline, but why would you want to avoid additional worries?

While you can be a good tester without holding any official certification, but in really it can't hurt having it since ISTQB Foundation is a prerequisite for all other ISTQB (specialist) certification, it's a big plus on your professional resume, and to top it all of it doesn't expire!

Hope this blog post wasn't entirely useless.

I plan to give that exam what-for on the next try. Wish me luck!





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