TTA1 Exam Information and Guideline
ISTQB-BCS Certified Tester Advanced Level- Technical Test Analyst
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ISTQB® Certified Tester Advanced Level - Technical Test Analyst
Explore the role and responsibilities of the technical test analyst and develop your skills at a recognised, advanced level.
Successful completion of the ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation level and a minimum of three years testing experience is recommended.
The Intermediate Certificate may also be helpful but is not required.
Training with a BCS accredited training provider is recommended.
The technical test analysts tasks in risk-based testing
Structure-based testing
Analytical techniques
Quality characteristics for technical testing
Reviews
Test tools and automation
0.1 Purpose of this Document
This syllabus forms the basis for the International Software Testing Qualification at the Advanced
Level for the Technical Test Analyst. The ISTQB® provides this syllabus as follows:
1. To National Boards, to translate into their local language and to accredit training providers.
National Boards may adapt the syllabus to their particular language needs and modify the
references to adapt to their local publications.
2. To Exam Boards, to derive examination questions in their local language adapted to the
learning objectives for each syllabus.
3. To training providers, to produce courseware and determine appropriate teaching methods.
4. To certification candidates, to prepare for the exam (as part of a training course or
independently).
5. To the international software and systems engineering community, to advance the profession
of software and systems testing, and as a basis for books and articles.
The ISTQB® may allow other entities to use this syllabus for other purposes, provided they seek and
obtain prior written permission.
0.2 Overview
The Advanced Level is comprised of three separate syllabi:
Test Manager
Test Analyst
Technical Test Analyst
The Advanced Level Overview document [ISTQB_AL_OVIEW] includes the following information:
Business Outcomes for each syllabus
Summary for each syllabus
Relationships between the syllabi
Description of cognitive levels (K-levels)
Appendices
0.3 Examinable Learning Objectives
The Learning Objectives support the Business Outcomes and are used to create the examination for
achieving the Advanced Technical Test Analyst Certification. In general all parts of this syllabus are
examinable at a K1 level. That is, the candidate will recognize, remember and recall a term or
concept. The learning objectives at K2, K3 and K4 levels are shown at the beginning of the pertinent
chapter.
0.4 Expectations
Some of the learning objectives for the Technical Test Analyst assume that basic experience is
available in the following areas:
General programming concepts
General concepts of system architectures
Certified Tester
Advanced Level Syllabus - Technical Test Analyst
International
Software Testing
Qualifications Board
1. The Technical Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based Testing - 30 mins.
Keywords
product risk, risk analysis, risk assessment, risk identification, risk level, risk mitigation, risk-based
testing
Learning Objectives for the Technical Test Analyst's Tasks in Risk-Based
Testing
1.3 Risk Assessment
TTA-1.3.1 (K2) Summarize the generic risk factors that the Technical Test Analyst typically needs to
consider
Common Learning Objectives
The following learning objective relates to content covered in more than one section of this chapter.
TTA-1.x.1 (K2) Summarize the activities of the Technical Test Analyst within a risk-based approach
for planning and executing testing
The Test Manager has overall responsibility for establishing and managing a risk-based testing
strategy. The Test Manager usually will request the involvement of the Technical Test Analyst to
ensure the risk-based approach is implemented correctly.
Because of their particular technical expertise, Technical Test Analysts are actively involved in the
following risk-based testing tasks:
Risk identification
Risk assessment
Risk mitigation
These tasks are performed iteratively throughout the project to deal with emerging product risks and
changing priorities, and to regularly evaluate and communicate risk status.
Technical Test Analysts work within the risk-based testing framework established by the Test Manager
for the project. They contribute their knowledge of the technical risks that are inherent in the project,
such as risks related to security, system reliability and performance.
1.2 Risk Identification
By calling on the broadest possible sample of stakeholders, the risk identification process is most
likely to detect the largest possible number of significant risks. Because Technical Test Analysts
possess unique technical skills, they are particularly well-suited for conducting expert interviews,
brainstorming with co-workers and also analyzing the current and past experiences to determine
where the likely areas of product risk lie. In particular, the Technical Test Analysts work closely with
their technical peers (e.g., developers, architects, operations engineers) to determine the areas of
technical risk.
Sample risks that might be identified include:
Performance risks (e.g., inability to achieve response times under high load conditions)
Security risks (e.g., disclosure of sensitive data through security attacks)
Reliability risks (e.g., application unable to meet availability specified in the Service Level
Agreement)
Risk areas relating to specific software quality characteristics are covered in the relevant chapters of
this syllabus.
1.3 Risk Assessment
While risk identification is about identifying as many pertinent risks as possible, risk assessment is the
study of those identified risks in order to categorize each risk and determine the likelihood and impact
associated with each risk.
Determining the level of risk typically involves assessing, for each risk item, the likelihood of
occurrence and the impact upon occurrence. The likelihood of occurrence is usually interpreted as the
likelihood that the potential problem can exist in the system under test.
The Technical Test Analyst contributes to finding and understanding the potential technical risk for
each risk item whereas the Test Analyst contributes to understanding the potential business impact of
the problem should it occur.