I’ve just recently passed the ISTQB so can maybe offer a few helpful tips to passing.
In terms of passing the exam:
-
Download the syllabus off of the ISTQB/BCS website for the version of the exam you’re taking and keep reading through that, you don’t need the large book. Download the 3 mock exam papers off the website and have a go nearer the time of the exam, so that your final revision is more focused on what you need to brush up on.
-
In the beginning of each chapter they list keywords/glossary, learn the meanings of those words and you’re pretty much halfway there already - ISTQB are obsessed with keywords. In that same respect, if you’ve done lots of revision and come across a word in the one of the answers of the exam that you don’t recognise, you can pretty much rule it out as a correct answer.
-
If you take the exam remotely as most people do, you’re not allowed to use paper/notepad, but you can use a mini whiteboard and marker pen - that helped me, esp. for test techniques.
If you want my two penneth, I didn’t like ISTQB. It seemed archaic and so far off what I experienced in my time testing that sometimes I wondered if I was still reading the correct book.
I totally get why people feel that they need it, I had to as part of my apprenticeship, and it’s good to see another perspective of testing but in my opinion, do what you need to do to pass and then look for other approaches to testing to see what is beyond the horizon.