The Information Systems Examination Board (ISEB) of BCS (www.bcs.org.uk/iseb)
instigated the Foundation Certificate in Software Testing in 1998; since then over
40,000 Foundation Certificates have been awarded. An intermediate level qualification
was introduced in 2007 as a step towards the more advanced Practitioner
qualification.
The International Software Testing Qualifications Board (ISTQB) (www.istqb.org)
was set up in 2001 to offer a similar certification scheme to as many countries
as wished to join this international testing community. The UK was a founding
member of ISTQB and, in 2005, adopted the ISTQB Foundation Certificate
Syllabus as the basis of examinations for the Foundation Certificate in the UK.
The Foundation Certificate is now an entry qualification for the ISTQB Advanced
Certificate. The Certified Tester Foundation Level Syllabus has been updated
and released in a 2010 version, and this book relates to the 2010 version of the
syllabus.
This book has been written specifically to help potential candidates for the
ISTQB–ISEB Certified Tester Foundation Level examination. The book is
therefore structured to support learning of the key ideas in the syllabus quickly
and efficiently for those who do not plan to attend a course, and to support
structured revision for anyone preparing for the exam.
In this introductory chapter we will explain the nature and purpose of the
Foundation Level and provide an insight into the way the syllabus is structured
and the way the book is structured to support learning in the various syllabus
areas. Finally we offer guidance on the best way to use this book, either as a
learning resource or as a revision resource.