Short Diploma in Software Testing and Quality Assurance Concepts is a free program on ARPS, the Arab Platform for Professional Studies. An applied foundation in software testing and quality assurance, moving from requirements and evidence to case design, quality measurement and a conditional release recommendation in a fictional appointment service.
Important notice: Independent education; not a university degree, professional licence or endorsement by cited organizations.
Optional certificate fee 50% launch discount
$100 instead of $200
368 AED or 375 SAR
How can you tell whether booking works, stores the right appointment and protects another person's private note? This program starts with the gap between a written rule and what a small number of attempts actually show. Learners define test conditions, select boundaries and inputs that could reveal defects, and record outcomes without overstating coverage. A fictional appointment-service case connects five subjects: foundations and evidence; case design; test levels and regression; performance, authorization and accessibility; and planning with a release decision. Lessons include written and numerical applications and each subject has a summative assessment. Figures and cases are invented for learning, not a description of a live service or a market performance standard. The focus is conceptual judgment supported by observations; the program does not claim preparation for an external credential or authorization to test a system without permission.
The case and evidence-record method can transfer to a small authorized project after its own rules and permissions are established. The fictional numbers are not mandatory targets for a real service.
A success screen can appear sound while storage is wrong or another account can read a private resource. The program links each judgment to specific evidence, names the untested scope and selects the next check by risk.
Suitable for people beginning work with development, product, support or quality teams who read tests and defect reports. It develops a shared vocabulary but does not establish professional experience or guarantee employment.
Quality testing separates the requested rule, observed result, and remaining assumption. Three delivered messages establish delivery only for those attempts; they do not prove correct storage or usefulness to every user. Identify the quality attribute, environment, inputs, expected outcome and observation before making a claim. An ambiguous rule, such as a missing time-zone label, needs a clarified meaning. Test levels locate where evidence can be collected without naming an unproved root cause.
This subject turns a booking description into testable conditions. Input partitions and boundaries identify what changes at a neighbouring value rather than a middle value. When the rule allows booking from 48 to 720 hours ahead, cases around both boundaries need a reference clock. A decision table handles interactions between appointment status, user role and cancellation rule; one passing branch cannot cover other combinations.
This subject connects unit, integration and system paths to change. A function can pass alone while the link between booking and notification services fails, so each case identifies input, output, service boundary and evidence. A change is mapped to connected paths instead of triggering an unexplained full rerun. A changed cancellation rule shows why an old pass cannot prove the new route.
Non-functional quality needs a measurement rule and context, not merely a label. Define the sample, observation window and denominator before calculating a response-time percentile or pass fraction. Comparing two runs requires knowledge of load and environment; otherwise the measurement conditions may have changed with the number. For authorization, the owner's successful request does not prove another account is denied; inspect a direct request, server response and returned data.
The final subject connects planning, automation, measurement and release decisions. Entry and exit conditions include a blocker that may prevent evidence collection; a planned check is never counted as a pass. Automation effort is compared with manual effort over an explicit period, favouring stable rules and observable oracles while new or ambiguous behaviour stays available for human exploration.
Subjects unlock in sequence as you progress.
Public material from ISTQB, ISO, OWASP, NIST and W3C supports specific concepts. Reading a public standards overview does not mean access to a full paid standard; citation does not imply institutional endorsement.
Lessons link worked fictional cases to two exercises each and a summative assessment per subject. Current review is assisted self-review and does not establish psychometric reliability.
Short Diplomas are relatively comprehensive learning pathways that cover a major subject through five connected learning subjects and structured assessments, with a diploma transcript available with the credential.
Self-paced sequential study. Content unlocks progressively and each subject combines reading, examples, exercises, knowledge checks, and assessment.
Each Short Diploma contains five subjects, each with an approved assessment. A sixth final exam is not required when the five assessments adequately cover the learning outcomes.
Assessment attempts: 2 per assessment, 7 days apart
The pass mark is announced before the program is published.
Successful completion makes the learner eligible for the Short Diploma certificate and Diploma Transcript under the credential policy.
Every certificate has a public verification code. Verify a certificate
The real design with fictional details; opens in a new window.
Verification example: a real issued certificate
Disclaimer: Training completion, not a university degree or professional licence.
The program explains when automation helps, how to estimate its effort and why an observable oracle matters. It does not promise specialist training on one tool.
No. The release decision considers build, environment, coverage and unresolved defects. A high-impact risk can block release even with many passing cases.
Examples are fictional learning scenarios. Named Arab cities illustrate possible use contexts without asserting local market or legal rules.
No. It is an independent educational completion diploma that cites public sources; it is not issued or endorsed by ISTQB or another cited body.
Five subjects, each with four lessons and a summative assessment. Every lesson includes two applied exercises.
No. The lessons supply the fictional case data and expected outputs; no production service or real personal information is required.
A failure is an observed mismatch with an expected criterion. An unperformed check is an evidence gap, neither a pass nor a confirmed product defect.
No. The decision examines defect impact, coverage, blocked checks, build and environment limits, and the authorized decision owner.
Yes. Short Diploma in Software Testing and Quality Assurance Concepts is free on ARPS: every lesson, exercise and assessment is free, the first subject is open to read without an account, and the program is available in Arabic and English. Issuing a certificate is optional; it is a training completion certificate showing you passed the program's assessments, not a university degree, a professional licence or an endorsement by an external body.
The subject of this program is also known as: software testing, software quality assurance, QA testing, software QA. Learners usually find it by searching for: software testing course, software testing course free, software testing and quality assurance course, how to become a software tester, QA testing fundamentals.
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