Π In our article on ISTQB certification, we tried to answer the questions: To whom? and for what? need this certificate. small spoiler: cooperation with ISTQB opens more doors for the employing company than for the new certificate holder.
In Second part articles our employees will share their stories, impressions and insights on passing the ISTQB test, both within the CIS and abroad.
How to get certified abroad?
Pavel Tolokonin,
Leading Testing Specialist at the Quality Laboratory
I work remotely and spend a lot of time traveling, when the question arose about passing the exam for a certificate, I was not in Russia.
Next, I will talk about how to find an authorized certification authority in the right country, what organizational questions you should ask, what pitfalls can be before and after passing the exam, and I will share my personal experience of passing.
I was in Southeast Asia and considered several countries: Thailand (where I lived), Vietnam (where I traveled) and Malaysia (which is easy enough to get to). Each country participating in ISTQB has brief information on its official page:, which in turn contains information about:
- specific organizations where you can enroll in a preparatory course or get certified;
- levels of certification;
- the language in which certification is carried out;
- contacts of responsible persons.
Already at this stage, I crossed out Vietnam from the list: it is supposed to take an exam only in Vietnamese.
In most cases, after exploring the local site, it is enough to select a specific organization, but it may be that the local site is dead. with my thai that's exactly what happened. What can be done here: As a rule, if an organization is certified for training, then it is also certified for taking the exam.
You can also study the list of accredited operators in the section and see the contacts of local representatives on the website of these organizations. I also managed to write to the contact address on the main ISTQB site, but no one answered me.
So, after studying the Thai and Malay exam schedule, I settled on the only Thai center in Bangkok. The next step was correspondence, and this is what I asked (despite the fact that some of this information was on the site):
- main question: can I, a foreigner temporarily staying in the country on a tourist visa, take the exam?
- which documentsin what form and in what time frame should it be submitted?
- on what (the textbook on which the exam is built, at the time of writing the article, 2 options are possible - 2011 and 2018) can I take the exam and how to specify a specific one?
- how can you arrange extra time for the examif English is not your native language?
- how many days and how to spend payment?
- where and how long do you need to arrive on the day of the exam.
Speaking about my specific experience, I needed to provide information before the exam and payment about:
- name;
- address of current residence;
- telephone;
- as well as:
- send a copy of the passport spread (it is also a confirmation that English is not my native language);
- indicate the date and time of the exam from the proposed ones;
- indicate the syllabus.
Payment had to be transferred to a bank account so that the money would be on it no later than 5 days before the exam. By the way, the cost of passing the exam in different countries is different. If in the Russian Federation the cost of the ISTQB FL exam is 150 β¬, then in Thailand it is 10700 THB, or about 300 β¬.
In general, most of the foreign sites that I studied (Vietnamese, Malay, Thai) provide information quite fully and clearly. A Thai company also pleased me with quick answers (within 1-2 hours), including on official public holidays.
What I didn't ask, but it's worth asking:
- What is the form of the exam? (Agree, there is a difference - to solve questions from a piece of paper or mark options on a tablet, with the ability to reselect an answer and quickly sort unanswered / marked questions by you);
- How long will the results be processed?
- When and in what form is the certificate issued?
- where will the certificate information be placed?
Total: I chose the 2011 syllabus exam (because there are more preparation materials for it), sent all the information and made a bank transfer to the account, about which I immediately wrote to the company. They confirmed that I received the money and signed me up for the exam.
An important point! Three days before the exam, I received an official confirmation letter with all contact information. This question was not on my list, and I was lucky that the information was attached to the letter. My interlocutor indicated his mobile in contacts, and this played a decisive role in my story.
A few words about my training
I prepared on my own, according to the syllabus and glossary downloaded from the official website (all the necessary materials are), plus used to understand which sections are lame for me (the questions themselves from the dumps did not at all coincide with the real exam).
I made a Google tablet, wrote down my answers in it, compared it with the correct ones, noted which section it was, and reread it thoughtfully. Looking ahead, Iβll say that I eventually passed the most difficult topics for me by 100% - because I constantly worked through them.
The exam itself was held on a Saturday afternoon in Bangkok. The examining company was located in a large business complex in the city center, where I arrived a few hours before the exam, because. came from another city. I asked at the reception if the office I needed was located here, but when I tried to get through, I got a standard Thai phrase: βNo can, madam. Today is Saturday, offices are closed, come back on Monday.β AAAAAAAAAAA!!! βSo, it canβt be,β I thought, βthis is the right address, here is the office sign, here is the letter confirming my exam, Iβll try again.β
Company hall
The secretaries honestly called the internal telephone to the office and again repeated that everything was closed and no one was answering. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! And here the mobile number of a company representative came on the scene. I called him and found out that on that day there were already two people taking the exam in the center, including me, so the office will open half an hour before the start of my exam, and now it is empty. When I waited for the right time, I was all alone, although the office is large, with a bunch of classrooms for classes and exam rooms.
Exam rooms and classrooms
Because there was no one else to wait for, I was offered to start βeven nowβ. The exam was held in a small room: a table, a chair, a cell for things, a tablet, a piece of paper, a pen, a pencil.
A similar room, instead of a picture with a deer, I had a tablet
They showed me the interface of the program, and the countdown of 75 minutes started. Submission in electronic form is very convenient, and another huge plus is that you will find out the results immediately.
What happens after the surrender?
First, you will most likely receive an official letter with the results from the center where you took the exam. Secondly, you will receive a letter from an accredited organization, which, in fact, issues the certificate itself. In my case it was GASQ. They also sent a letter with a link for registering me as a certified specialist on their website and subsequent registration on the website . At this point, you need to be careful with the data: my first and last names were mixed up, which required additional correspondence to correct. A few days after all the formalities, if you took the exam after 2017, you should appear here:
- https://www.izakayasushilounge.com
- https://www.izakayasushilounge.com .
You will also receive an electronic certificate.
In my experience, if you have questions, it is best to correspond with the company where you took the exam - as with the most interested party. For example, I received a certificate, appeared on the GASQ website, but on I was added with a delay of a couple of months - I just had to correspond with the operator, who, in turn, resolved the issue with GASQ about where they lost my registration on .
In general, as it turned out, it is not difficult to get certified abroad. I hope this description will help you if you decide to repeat my experience.
How I prepared for certification in Belarus
Anna Paley
test manager at Quality Lab
For the first time, I thought about taking the ISTQB certificate exam something like this: βAn international certificate confirming competencies in testing? It's great, you should definitely take it!"
Then there was a period of critical reflection:
1) Will this certificate give me any advantage in the labor market and in my company?
2) The format of the exam in the form of a test and the choice of the correct answer? Will it correctly assess the level of my knowledge?
3) Why is it so expensive?
4) And why are there so many certified specialists - is the game worth the candle?
There were a lot of doubts and I decided to test the waters by signing up for the course "Comprehensive system for preparing for ISTQB FL (KSP)" from Natalia Rukol. Why not on your own? I am a procrastinator, I do a lot of things at the same time, I often cannot concentrate in order to learn a book from cover to cover, so the presentation in the form of a syllabus laid out on the shelves seemed the most optimal. Plus, they bribed practical exercises that will definitely come in handy at work.
All for good reason, I decided, and began to study the course. Additionally, I used a glossary and a syllabus when I felt that the knowledge of the webinar was not enough (for example, on the topic of testing types).
In addition, I received:
1) Feedback from experts testing is useful.
2) Practicum-simulator after each theoretical lesson (a person remembers only 50-60% of the information based on the results of the presentation and up to 90% - if he puts the theory into practice on his own).
3) Analysis of all complex and narrow topics from a syllabus, sort of like static testing.
4) As the most useful bonus: I still use practical tasks on basic and advanced TD techniques.
After completing the course and some more time of reflection, I nevertheless decided to take the exam. I myself am from the small town of Mozyr, in the Republic of Belarus. Now we can rent only in two cities: Minsk and Gomel, which is not very convenient for other residents. Personally, I had to get up at 4 am to get to Minsk and be in time for the exam.
Otherwise, there were no problems. Belarus has its own ISTQB partner and certification center. I met the curator of the ISTQB direction in Belarus, Natalya Iskortseva, at the training courses at the Quality Laboratory, she helped with consultations.
Having thoroughly prepared, I registered without any problems, passed, received a certificate and approved it on the site. The efforts paid off, now I am a certified software testing specialist.
Was certification required?
For me personally, yes, but not as a fact of its presence, but as a confirmation of the skills and experience of a certain level. By no means as an end point, but rather as a logical conclusion of the passed stage and a kind of βcheckpointβ.
That's all the stories for today
I hope this information will somehow help you on your way to the coveted certificate. But these are all our stories, but how did you prepare, pass and receive your ISTQB? Who has the most exotic delivery country? What are your impressions and, perhaps, adventures associated with certification? Share your stories in the comments and let's discuss!
Source: habr.com