When we think of certifications, most of us think that “Do I really need a certification?”, “Is it worth putting the labour and money(a good amount most of the times) for just a piece of paper from some XYZ organisation?” , “Will it help me at a later stage of my career?” These thoughts flood sometimes our brains so much and leave us so confused that we take a lot of time only to decide that whether we should go for a certification or not, leave the preparation part aside.

All of us during our careers might have surely felt the need of certification in some way or the other. The need may be as simple as gaining more knowledge or as complecated as the determination to become one of the best certified resources available in the field.

As a tester I prepared for the ISTQB (International Software Testing Qualifications Board) examination and during the preparation we found out some ways which helped us to clear the exam successfully.I would like to share those with all who are preparing for the ISTQB certification. These ways or tips were the outcome of the group preparation we had and found out only through discussions and the Q&A sessions.

1) Go through each and every line of the study material :

While preparing for the examination it is very important that you know the study material completely and for this you need to go through each and every single line of it,even if you know the concept. We might think that “Yes, I know this particular concept,so I may leave this part.” But NO. Sometimes there is a small deviation in the explanation and that can cost you 1 or 2 marks in the exam which are very vital.

2) Remembering the “Standards” raise the “Standard”:

While preparing for the ISTQB examination we come across many standards like ISO9126,IEEE 829 etc. There are certain concepts which come under these standards. It is a good practice(rather I would say a MUST DO) to note down the standards and the contents covered under it whenever we encounter them in the material. At the end we can consolidate everything to get all the concepts under a particular standard. There are at least 2 questions in the exam which are related to standards.

3) “Keywords” are the keys to success in ISTQB:

There would be instances during prepartion where we might find difficulties in remembering the complete concept exactly as described in the book. So it is always better to remember the related keywords.It helps in recollecting the concept and thus the chances of getting the correct answer to the question increases.

4) One should not waste time on questions which (s)he finds difficult:

During the exam dont waste time on questions which you find to be difficult/taking more time to solve.You might miss easier questions due to lack of time.

5) Learn the tricks to solve the questions through diagrams

There are questions from certain part of the syllabus which could be solved easily by drawing diagrams or flow charts e.g questions related to coverage such as Statement Coverage,Branch Coverage,Condition Coverage etc. Learn the tricks.It helps to solve the questions quickly and accurately.

Hope the above tips would help you prepare better for the certification exam. Happy Preparing 🙂 🙂