GUIDELINE - FOUNDATION

How to prepare for Foundation exams and crack exam in first attempt

Firstly get the study material:

• Syllabus: foundation level exam can be downloaded from here. In fact my opinion is that just studying this is not enough or didnt give me impression that I am well prepared so I wanted to get a book which gives more details and gives more examples.

• The perfect book is " Foundations of Software Testing ISTQB Certification by Rex and Black" 
  

This book gives more examples on relevant topics. Gives indication about K levels of each chapter and at the end of the chapter it gives sample questions. 

You can buy this book from amazon if you want to have latest edition. There is also a pdf version of this book available online but that is old edition. I would suggest to buy latest edition book. 

There is also a site which is very close to that of book. which you can refer to as well. Good news is that, they also have mock test papers.

I think I have given enough information about the study material.

If you remember we spoke about K levels. what does it indicate? answer is here.

Now, lets talk about later part of this topic. "Crack exam in first attempt" in this part I am going to talk things that worked for me ( I am sure that also works for everyone if they do it seriously :) ) 

1. Estimate time that you might take to complete each chapter ( could be based on number of pages you can read in an hour and total number of pages in a chapter) and mark it down next to each chapter in appendix
2. Now, just start reading. When you read you see K levels right there so based on K level try to make mind note of the topic. Friendly advice only if needed :) if you cant concentrate at a stretch take breaks of 10 min after every hour.
3. After you finish one chapter, take sample/mock exam given at the end of the chapter. Don't worry if you are wrong in most of the question! that happens with every one also with me :). Now its time to look back go to those section from where questions were asked and try to understand why the answer you chose was wrong. This actual helps you to remember the answer for next time. Note: Do not mark answers when you take exam yet on the book itself! I will tell you why soon. 
4. Yes now go on... following same on each chapter.
5. Just take one sample/previous year question paper and solve and count your score. if you fail! dont worry now go back and start over again from first chapter. yes, i mean it. When you read same chapter for second time you understand it better and you try to recall those things from you memory of first reading
6. This time when you take sample question at the end of each chapter mark answers on the book itself and check for your answers. I am sure you would have got more count than previous.
7. Again go over each chapter with same spirit.
8. Now if you take another sample/previous year exam and solve it you are there right :) I am sure you are.

Now, you might be thinking I did not talk about what to do if you were pass in step 5. you should exactly do same thing as in case of fail. This it to make you more prepared and confident to take exam. trust me it works wonders :)

Do you still have confusion or questions when solving certain examples ?Look here for "Sample questions with step by step approach to solve the questions"