ISTQB® Foundation Level - PLUS Agile Extension - 2025

Introduces the ISTQB foundation level course aligned with version 4.0, outlines exam options (3.1 or 4.0), and explains course structure, benefits, and the agile extension path.

Define software testing as a structured process that evaluates quality, verifies conformance to requirements, and reduces risk, while distinguishing testing from debugging through static and dynamic activities.

Explain why testing matters as part of quality control, reducing risk and defects while informing decisions; emphasize stakeholder participation and risk based prioritization for effective testing.

Explore the relationship between testing and quality assurance within quality management. Distinguish QA as process-oriented and preventative from quality control as product-oriented testing, including simulation, prototyping, and model checking.

Clarify the ISTQB definitions of error, defect, fault, and failure, and show how errors reveal root causes that lead to defects and eventual failures.

Explore the seven testing principles, including the presence of defects, exhaustive testing limits, early testing, defect clustering, the pesticide paradox, absence of errors fallacy, and verification versus validation.

Explore the fundamental test process and its seven test activities. See how testing integrates with development to meet stakeholders' business needs and inform testware, planning, and strategy.

Define testing objectives and select approaches that meet constraints, then plan schedules, resources, and test environments, linking test basis to exit criteria for a unified test plan.

Monitor and control testing continuously by comparing progress to the plan with metrics, taking corrective actions, and documenting progress with test progress reports and exit criteria.

Transform test objectives into tangible test conditions by analyzing test bases such as requirement specifications and risk analysis reports in the test analysis phase, aligning with IEEE test design standards.

Translate defined features and conditions into high-level and concrete test cases using design techniques. Achieve bidirectional traceability and economical, effective testing in the test design phase.

Organize test cases into prioritized procedures and suites, prepare manual and automated scripts, and configure test data and environments to ensure ready, traceable, and efficient test execution.

execute tests according to the test execution schedule, log anomalies as incidents, and perform confirmation and regression testing to verify fixes and prevent new issues.

Complete the test completion phase by logging follow-ups, closing defects, archiving testware, handing over to maintenance, and producing a formal test completion report with lessons learned for future projects.

Explore traceability between the test basis and testware, linking epics, features, user stories, and test cases to assess coverage, risks, and impact of changes in regression planning.

Distinguish the test management and testing roles, detailing planning, monitoring, and completion activities, and explain how responsibilities vary by project, product context, and organization.

Explore essential testing skills, including hard skills and soft skills, and the good practices used to improve software quality, with subsequent lectures covering these topics.

Learn the generic skills testers need, including testing knowledge, design techniques, prioritization, curiosity, attention to detail, domain knowledge, and active listening to enable constructive collaboration and communication within the team.

Practice the whole team approach in agile testing by co-locating testers, developers, and business representatives to share quality responsibility, drive value, and collaborate on acceptance tests and strategy.

Explore the independence of testing, from team peers to external testers, and how different degrees affect defect detection, validation, and collaboration across agile projects.

Explain the key testing keywords in context, detailing errors, defects, and failures, debugging, the root cause, and the full test process from planning to completion, including verification, validation, and coverage.

Explore sample questions and explanations for the ISTQB® foundation level with agile extension, covering risk definitions, test work products, and key testing principles to strengthen exam readiness.

Explore how agile and fast delivery reshape testing across the software development life cycle, covering test levels, test types, shift left, DevOps, and maintenance testing.

Learn how testing spans the software development life cycle, comparing sequential, iterative, and agile models, and review practices from waterfall and V model to scrum and kanban.

Adapt testing to the selected software development life cycle to optimize test scope, timing, techniques, and automation, and empower testers as quality coaches throughout agile and waterfall projects.

Differentiate verification from validation, asking whether we built the product right or built the right product, and map tests like unit, integration, system, beta, and acceptance.

Explore sequential software development lifecycle models like waterfall, the V-model, and the W-model, and learn how testing can begin early and support verification and validation.

Explore incremental and iterative software development, delivering product increments through analyzed and tested cycles, with client feedback guiding successive iterations and integration practices.

Explore agile software development through the manifesto values, Scrum and Kanban, focusing on early feedback, collaboration, lightweight documentation, and continuous testing to deliver value.

Reference the v-model to link each development activity with a corresponding test activity, enabling early testing, distinct test level objectives, and reduced risk across the life cycle.

Explore test first approaches, including test driven development, acceptance test driven development, and behavior driven development, and learn how early static testing and reviews prevent defects and align teams.

Discover how DevOps unifies development, testing, and operations to deliver high quality software fast through integrated pipelines, shift-left testing, code coverage, and automated testing with fast feedback.

Shift left emphasizes starting testing early in the software life cycle, using static testing of specs, early test cases, and continuous integration to reduce cost and boost quality.

Discover how continuous integration automates merging, building, testing, and deploying to a central repository for agile development. Achieve early defect detection through unit tests, static analysis, and regular integration tests.

Explore how retrospectives drive agile process improvements, highlighting benefits, timing, participants, and actions to improve testing, collaboration, and continuous improvement.

Explore test levels in the software life cycle, from component to acceptance testing, and learn how the test pyramid guides early testing, cost efficiency, and avoiding overlapping tests.

Conduct component testing, also called unit or module testing, using stubs, drivers, and a test harness to validate isolated components and support automated regression in iterative development.

Explore component integration testing, focusing on interactions and interfaces between integrated components after unit testing, using automated regression tests in continuous integration to reduce risk and verify interfaces.

System testing validates the end-to-end behavior of the whole system, verifying functional and non-functional requirements. It uses production-like environments and specification-based techniques to reduce defects, regression risks, and increase confidence.

explains how system integration testing validates interactions among subsystems, microservices, and external dependencies to reduce risk and verify functional and non-functional behavior.

Execute acceptance testing to verify readiness for release, confirm the system meets user needs and regulatory standards, and build confidence through alpha, beta, and contractual acceptance tests.

Explore functional and non-functional testing, including black-box and white-box approaches, and learn how test types apply across all levels to ensure quality and coverage.

Clarifies how confirmation testing and regression testing address changes after fixes, using impact analysis, traceability, and automation in continuous integration pipelines to prevent new defects.

Perform maintenance testing by evaluating changes via impact analysis and targeted regression. Manage planned and unplanned releases, upgrades, and disaster recovery tests to protect system reliability.

Master how keywords fit into the SDLC, from shift left to test levels, types, and change-related testing, and apply the test pyramid from component to system and acceptance testing.

Explore early test analysis and design, learn how different test levels with objectives shape functional, non-functional, and usability testing, and study incremental development through sample questions.

Explore static testing as a key yet neglected technique that finds defects before coding. Learn the value of static analysis, the review process, and early stakeholder feedback.

Learn the basics of static testing, its distinction from dynamic testing, and how reviews and static analysis use tools to detect defects and improve quality before execution.

Explore how static testing applies to a wide range of readable work products through reviews and static analysis, and why static analysis precedes formal reviews to find defects before failures.

Emphasize the value of static testing, including reviews and static code analysis, for early defect detection, reduced cost, and shared understanding of requirements among stakeholders.

Compare static and dynamic testing as complementary extensions. Static testing improves internal quality and finds defects in work products, while dynamic testing reveals failures during execution and external behavior.

Highlight early and frequent stakeholder feedback as the agile cornerstone, showing how fast customer input, shift-left testing, and fail-fast decisions prevent rework and deliver the right features.

Explore the formal and flexible ISO/IEC 2246 standard review process, covering planning, initiating, individual reviews, communication and analysis, fixing, and reporting with entry and exit criteria and roles.

Apply review techniques across informal to formal reviews, using ad hoc, checklist-based, scenarios, and dry runs, with role-based and perspective-based perspectives to improve defect detection and review effectiveness.

Identify the roles in a formal review—manager, author, facilitator, scribe, review leader, and reviewer—and outline their responsibilities per ISO IEC 2246, emphasizing management backing and safe collaboration.

Explore the four review types—informal, walkthrough, technical review, and inspection—and how formality, objectives, and checklists shape defect detection and audit trails in software reviews.

Define clear objectives for reviews in planning and use them as measurable exit criteria, and foster a trustful atmosphere with business analysts to tailor review types to the work product.

Master static testing concepts by examining reviews and static analysis, and distinguish informal, walkthrough, technical, and inspection reviews by their levels of formality.

Explore five sample static testing questions, review techniques, and formal review roles, covering artifacts such as software code, requirements, and test designs, and compare static analysis with dynamic testing.

Master test analysis and design with black/white/experience-based techniques, including equivalence partitioning, boundary value analysis, decision tables, state transitions, use case testing, error guessing, exploratory and checklist testing, and ATDD collaboration.

Apply black box, white box, and experience-based test techniques to design focused tests that balance static and dynamic testing for efficient coverage.

Explore how specification-based black box testing derives test conditions and data from a test basis, using test cases to validate input-output behavior, functional and non-functional, independent of internal structure.

Master equivalence partitioning, a black-box testing technique that splits data into valid and invalid partitions (equivalence classes), ensuring each partition is tested once for optimal coverage.

Explore boundary value analysis as an extension of equivalence partitioning, focusing on testing ordered partition boundaries and their minimum and maximum values, plus two-value and three-value approaches.

Explore two-value boundary value analysis in black-box testing and learn how to calculate coverage using boundary values, including minimum and maximum values per partition and their closest neighbors.

Master three value boundary value analysis, or full boundary value analysis, where each boundary is tested with its left and right neighbors to achieve 100 percent coverage.

Explore how equivalence partitioning and boundary value analysis combine to boost test coverage in black-box testing, with examples of discount thresholds and boundary values.

Master decision table testing, a systematic combinatorial technique for modeling inputs, conditions, and outcomes, identifying feasible rules, and achieving thorough 100% coverage.

Explore state transition testing for finite state machines, using diagrams and tables to cover all valid and invalid transitions, guard conditions, and coverage criteria.

Develop use case testing by modeling actor–system interactions to cover transactions with test cases, including happy path and alternative scenarios. Include preconditions, postconditions, and error handling; measure coverage.

Master white-box test techniques, including statement, decision, and branch testing, applied to the internal structure of code through static and dynamic testing.

Explore white box test techniques with a focus on statement testing and statement coverage. Learn to identify executable statements, visualize control flow, and design tests for 100% statement coverage, caveats.

Learn how decision testing and decision coverage extend statement coverage by testing true and false outcomes in if statements, loops, and case statements, using branch testing concepts.

Explore branch testing and branch coverage, define branches as transfers in control flow, and compare with decision and path testing through examples and coverage goals.

Explore experience-based testing, where tester knowledge, expertise, and stakeholder insight shape test conditions and data. Learn how this approach complements formal techniques and highlights error guessing, exploratory, and checklist-based testing.

Learn experience-based error guessing, using tester knowledge and intuition to anticipate defects and design focused tests. Apply fault attacks and test cases to improve software quality and reliability.

Experience-based exploratory testing uses session-based testing, test charters, and debriefs to learn, create focused tests, and improve coverage under time pressure in agile environments.

Explore how checklist-based testing uses experience-driven checklists to design and execute tests across functional and non-functional areas, promoting consistency, repeatability, and clear team communication.

Explore collaboration-based test approaches that prioritize defect avoidance through team collaboration and communication, while recognizing white box and black box techniques, and experience-based testing to detect defects.

Learn collaborative user story writing in agile contexts, using the three cs—card, conversation, and confirmation—to craft clear stories with acceptance criteria, involving testers for a shared vision and quality.

Acceptance criteria define when a user story is done, covering positive and negative scenarios, and can use scenario oriented (the given-when-then format) or rule oriented formats in behavior driven development.

Learn how acceptance test driven development (ATDD) orchestrates collaboration among business, developers, and testers to write acceptance tests before code, enabling regression testing and rapid defect resolution.

Learn to select a mix of test techniques based on context, risk, requirements, and documentation. Apply black box, experience-based techniques, plus equivalence partitioning, boundary value analysis, and use case testing.

Summarizes test analysis and design by linking test techniques to coverage items, covering static and dynamic testing, and white box and black box methods, including acceptance criteria.

Explore sample exam questions and detailed explanations on state transition testing coverage, black box testing techniques, equivalence partitions, boundary value analysis, and statement coverage.

Define test plans with entry and exit criteria, estimate effort. Apply the test pyramid and testing quadrants, manage risks, monitor with metrics, report status within configuration management, and defect report.

Discover how a test plan defines objectives, scope, risks, resources, and timing to guide testing and align with policy and strategy, while communicating with stakeholders as the project evolves.

Learn how testers contribute to release and iteration planning by crafting testable user stories, acceptance criteria, and testing strategies from the product backlog in agile lifecycles.

Define and compare entry criteria (definition of ready) and exit criteria (definition of done) across test levels and activities, with concrete unit, integration, system, and release examples.

Estimate test effort by considering product, process, and people factors in agile environments, using expert-based methods like Wideband Delphi and planning poker alongside metrics-based approaches.

Apply test estimation based on ratios using organization-specific metrics to estimate testing effort from development effort; here 1000 person-days yields 600 person-days.

Extrapolation uses current project trends and iteration data to estimate test effort, projecting remaining work and duration using velocity and story points.

Explore wideband Delphi and planning poker to estimate effort in agile release planning, balancing testing and development effort to achieve consensus using Fibonacci-based story points.

Learn three-point estimation for test effort, using optimistic A, most likely M, and pessimistic B inputs to compute E and SD, producing a range for the final estimate.

Prioritize test cases by balancing risk, coverage, and requirements while considering dependencies and resources. Learn to design efficient test execution schedules that maximize rapid feedback and tracing to high-priority requirements.

Explore the test pyramid concept, from unit, integration, system, to acceptance tests, organizing by layer and granularity to guide test automation and reduce defects.

Explore the testing quadrants, mapping unit to acceptance tests and techniques across technology facing and business facing perspectives, guiding agile teams in preventing defects and critiquing the product.

Learn how risk management guides software testing by identifying and assessing risks, mitigating and monitoring them, and applying risk based testing to prioritize and manage test activities.

Define risk as a potential event with likelihood and impact, and determine risk level from their combination. Explore factors that raise likelihood and impact and visualize priorities for mitigation.

Identify project risks and product risks that shape testing scope, schedule, and budget. Address organizational, people, technical, and supplier risks while guarding quality characteristics like functional suitability, reliability, and security.

Product risk analysis, part of risk-based testing, identifies risks and assesses their likelihood and impact to prioritize testing, guide scope, and inform risk assessment early in development.

Apply product risk control by implementing risk mitigation and monitoring, using testing, reviews, and independence of testing to guide mitigation, acceptance, transfer, or contingency plans.

Monitor test progress with metrics to compare actual results against the plan and exit criteria, apply control directives, and then complete with reporting, handover to maintenance, and lessons learned.

Identify and classify testing metrics into project, product, process, and people categories. Use a limited, balanced set to track progress, quality, and test effectiveness for stakeholders.

Explore the purpose, contents, and audience influence of test progress and test completion reports, aligning with ISO/IEEE standards and agile practices to inform management decisions.

Adapt testing status reports to stakeholders by organizational strategies, regulatory standards, and agile team dynamics. Use dashboards, burndown charts, and automated updates on Kanban or Scrum boards to visualize progress.

Manage configuration to maintain testware integrity across the project and product life cycle, ensuring version controlled test plans, test cases, results, and logs with clear baselines and traceability.

Apply a defined defect management workflow to log, analyze, and track defects from discovery to resolution. Understand anomalies, severity versus priority, and ISO/IEC incident reporting guidelines.

Design and communicate a comprehensive test plan from test planning to entry and exit criteria, aligning with policy and strategy, communicating with stakeholders, and applying risk-based testing and defect management.

Explore sample ISTQB material on risk and testing, covering product risk analysis with likelihood and impact, matrix-based estimation, dependency-driven test execution, and distinguishing product risks from project risks.

Explore test tools beyond popular options, understand how different tool types support testing, and examine the benefits and risks of test automation, which complements rather than replaces manual testing.

Explore how diverse testing tools, including AI assistance, management, static, test design and implementation, execution, and non-functional tools, boost efficiency, quality, and reliability while managing the test process.

Explore the benefits and risks of test automation using test execution tools. Learn how automation reduces manual work and speeds feedback, while cautioning on maintenance, costs, and non-automatable activities.

Select and implement test execution and test management tools with data driven, keyword driven, and model based testing, ensuring traceability to requirements and test object version information.

Select testing tools by matching capabilities to organizational needs and integrating with existing technologies and continuous integration. Pilot the tool, evaluate fit, and ensure training and ongoing support.

Explore how keywords explain exam objectives, define test automation, and shape testing strategy and risk management to improve testing quality.

Explore sample questions and explanations on test execution tools, pilot projects, risks, and selection criteria to assess how tools support testing and improve regression testing.

Explore industry standard test work products across the fundamental test process, guided by ISO and IEEE standards, including test plans, test design specification, test cases, and completion reports.

Practice with many questions and review unclear areas via slides, then take a full sample exam online based on syllabus version four, and answer all questions with steady time management.