Two requirements must be satisfied before the CSTP certification can be granted. These are:

1. Formal Education Requirement
2. Job Experience Requirement

Upon satisfying these two requirements, a candidate shall submit an application to the IIST Chairperson for the certification to be granted. Application forms can be obtained by calling the IIST office. The application must be accompanied by payment of the $120 non-refundable graduation fee. This fee covers the cost associated with record-keeping, grading exams, and certification plaque.

Candidates must complete a course of study consisting of at least one day in each of seven areas of the Body of knowledge listed below. A minimum of 10 days of education is required to complete the education requirement. The formal education requirement of the certification was designed to provide some flexibility for candidates in designing their own courses of study.

Candidates may select any of the courses offered by IIST that are marked as (CSTP) or any of the one-day tutorials offered in conjunction with PSQT that are marked as (CSTP). However, the course of study must cover all seven areas below. IIST will publish, for each course or tutorial, which areas it covers.

Candidates are required to attend a written exam for each course and pass with a level of performance no less than 80%. At this time, there is only one second chance to re-take the exam. There will be a charge of $100 for any re-take exams administered. Please contact sean@iist.org to set up a re-take exam.

Non-IIST delivered courses may be considered for a maximum of two days towards the certification upon approval of IIST’s chairperson. Candidates must submit evidence of successful completion from a recognized training institution along with detailed course material for evaluation. The fee for this evaluation is $25 per course.

Candidates holding the QAI CSTE  or ISTQB certifications may apply to receive TWO days credit toward the CSTP certification and which satisfy the CSTP Body of Knowledge Areas 1 and 2. A CSTP candidate may receive credit for only one of the two certifications. To receive this credit, a CSTP candidate must submit a proof of the award along with the CSTP Certification Application.

The time limit on completing all ten days of training is 5 years.

A certificate of completion of each course will be granted only after attending the course and passing a written exam at the end of the course with a level of performance no less than 80%.

To satisfy this requirement, a candidate must demonstrate that he or she has been working in a software test related job for at least one year and have had the opportunity to apply the formal training to their job. This requirement shall be met by means of a letter of support signed by the candidate's supervisor describing the candidate's specific role and responsibilities over a period of one year or more.

The CSTP Body of Knowledge was developed and approved by the IIST Advisory Board. The purpose of the Body of Knowledge is to define all knowledge areas that a test professional must be proficient with. To meet the Formal Educational Requirement of CSTP, a candidate may choose some courses that are identified as "CSTP Elective" to complete the 10 days of training required as long as all seven areas of the Body of Knowledge have been covered.

Levels of Testing Testing client/server applications Testing Internet and web applications Testing object-oriented applications Testing embedded systems The testing life cycle See course selection	Code-based test case design techniques Requirement-based test case design techniques Test design specification See course selection
Planning Scheduling Reporting Resources Risk Management Measuring and improving the test process See course selection	Test scripting Reporting Defect tracking See course selection
Writing testable requirements Exploring requirements Refining requirements Defining requirements Requirement verification Requirement tractability See course selection	Tool evaluation and selection Architectures Automation standards and guidelines Planning the test automation process Automation team roles See course selection
Types of static testing The process of static testing Defect data analysis Improving the process See course selection

Based on the objectives of the CSTP Certification and in response to the demands imposed on test professionals to handle a wide range of responsibilities using different development environments and technologies, re-certification through continuous education has become necessary. This necessity has also been confirmed by CSTP graduates, who continuously inquired about a mechanism by which they can further develop skills in more advanced and specialized areas of software testing. In response to this need, the IIST Advisory Board has approved the requirements for re-certification as outlined below.

CSTP Certification will expire 3 years after it is granted. As a result, all CSTPs must complete the re-certification requirements before that time.

An applicant for the re-certification shall complete a total of 10 educational units as described in the table below.

An applicant must complete at least 4 units from category A . The remaining units can be completed from categories B or C . However, the 10 units must not include more than 6 units from Category B or more than 4 units from category C . The table below shows some examples of number of units from each category to complete the re-certification requirements.

Activities that qualify for each of the categories are described below. In order to count towards re-certification units, activities must be performed during the re-certification period. Activities performed before the first certification will not count towards re-certification. Evaluation of all activities will be at the discretion of IIST Chairman. None of the courses need to be delivered by IIST.

An applicant for re-certification may submit Non-IIST courses for pre-evaluation for credits. An applicant must submit evidence of successful completion from a recognized training institution along with detailed course material for evaluation. The fee for this evaluation is $25 per course.

An applicant shall provide evidence that he or she has continued performing job responsibilities in software testing or related areas. This requirement may be satisfied through a letter from the applicant's manager describing the specific activities performed over the specified period of time.

An applicant for re-certification shall submit an application to the Chairman of IIST accompanied by evidence of completing both the educational and experience requirements and $180 processing fee no later than 60 days before the date the certification expires.

Please contact IIST at (763)546-0072 or email info@iist.org for any questions.