CTAL-TAE practice examsIn development
ISTQB Advanced Level Test Automation Engineer
Automation is where testing hiring has gone, and this is the credential that follows it: automation as an investment with its own maintenance cost, the layered architecture that separates test definition from the interface it drives, designing observability and controllability into the system, the approaches from capture and replay to keyword-driven, then treating the solution as software, the pyramid and pipeline placement, why a flaky test is worse than none, verifying that the suite fails when it should, and watching triage effort as the metric that matters.
What you get
Papers are cut from the bank and weighted like the real exam, and no question appears in two of them. Every wrong answer comes back on later days until you have it right.
What the exam covers
| Purpose, design and architecture of test automation | Not published |
| Implementation, deployment, reporting and improvement | Not published |
Two sample questions
1. What is a verification point or assertion in an automated test?
- A point at which the test pauses for an input
- A record of the time the step took
- A marker showing which script is running
- A check of the actual against the expected — correct
Why: An assertion compares the actual result with the expected one and decides pass or fail, and without meaningful assertions a test can execute code while verifying nothing.
2. What does the engineer do when a test fails due to a genuine defect?
- Disable the test until the fix arrives
- Rewrite the test so it matches the behaviour
- Lower the assertion so it passes
- Report it and keep the test guarding it — correct
Why: A genuine failure is confirmed and reported so the defect is fixed, and the test is retained so it guards against the defect returning, which is the regression value of the suite.
The real CTAL-TAE exam
| Length | 90 minutes, with extra time for non-native speakers |
|---|---|
| Questions | 40 |
| Pass mark | 65% |
| Price | Sold through national ISTQB boards and accredited providers |
| Recommended before you sit it | ISTQB Certified Tester Foundation Level is required. |
| Valid for | Does not expire |
Exam facts as published by ISTQB; always check the vendor’s page before you book.
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