QA Roadmap
One path from “what is software testing?” to a professional QA specialisation. Every topic has a lesson, a practical exercise and Mutqan tools to practise with.
26 modules · 278 topics · 12 specialisation exams
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Start here
- Follow the recommended path: the core comes first, specialisations branch from it.
- Study each topic and mark it complete when you have done the exercise.
- Practise with the Mutqan tools linked from every lesson.
- Take a specialisation exam once you have completed its topics.
- Earn a Mutqan Soft certificate of achievement you can share and verify.
Start here
- Follow the recommended path: the core comes first, specialisations branch from it.
- Study each topic and mark it complete when you have done the exercise.
- Practise with the Mutqan tools linked from every lesson.
- Take a specialisation exam once you have completed its topics.
- Earn a Mutqan Soft certificate of achievement you can share and verify.
You have completed every topic on the roadmap.
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Your progress
Overall
By track
By specialisation
The roadmap
The core is sequential. After it, branch into the tracks your work needs.
Core foundation
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Module 1 · Beginner Software & QA foundations Explain what software, quality, QA and testing are, and why testing exists.
- What Is Software? Not started
- How Software Is Built Not started
- What Is Software Quality? Not started
- QA, QC and Testing Not started
- Verification vs Validation Not started
- Why Software Testing Matters Not started
- What Is Software Testing? Not started
- Error, Defect, Failure and Root Cause Not started
- Testware, Test Basis and Test Oracles Not started
- Testing Roles and Responsibilities Not started
- Tester Skills Not started
- Testing Mindset and Psychology Not started
- Quality Culture Not started
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Module 2 · Beginner Software development lifecycle Place testing inside Waterfall, the V-model, Agile, Scrum, Kanban and DevOps delivery.
- SDLC and STLC Explained Not started
- Software Development Models Not started
- Waterfall and the V-Model Not started
- Agile for Testers Not started
- Scrum for Testers Not started
- Kanban for Testers Not started
- DevOps for Testers Not started
- Continuous Integration, Delivery and Deployment Not started
- Shift-Left and Shift-Right Testing Not started
- Quality Engineering Not started
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Module 3 · Beginner Testing fundamentals Name the test levels and test types, and choose the right one for a change.
- The Seven Testing Principles Not started
- Test Levels Not started
- Component (Unit) Testing Not started
- Integration Testing Not started
- System Testing Not started
- Acceptance Testing Not started
- End-to-End Testing Not started
- Functional Testing Not started
- Non-Functional Testing Not started
- Positive and Negative Testing Not started
- Edge Cases and Corner Cases Not started
- Confirmation and Regression Testing Not started
- Smoke vs Sanity vs Regression Testing Not started
- Maintenance Testing Not started
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Module 4 · Beginner The test process (STLC) Run testing as a process: plan, analyse, design, implement, monitor, report and close.
- Software Testing Life Cycle (STLC) Not started
- How to Write a Test Plan Not started
- Test Analysis Not started
- Test Design Not started
- Test Implementation Not started
- Test Monitoring and Test Control Not started
- Test Reporting Not started
- Test Completion and Closure Not started
- Entry and Exit Criteria Not started
- Definition of Ready and Definition of Done Not started
- Test Coverage Not started
- Test Metrics That Drive Decisions Not started
- Quality Gates Not started
- Tool Support for Testing Not started
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Module 5 · Beginner Requirements & static testing Read, review and trace requirements, and catch defects before any code exists.
- What Are Requirements? Not started
- Functional and Non-Functional Requirements Not started
- Business Rules Not started
- User Stories Not started
- Acceptance Criteria Not started
- Static Testing Not started
- Software Review Types Not started
- How to Review Requirements Not started
- Requirement Defects Not started
- Testability Not started
- Requirements Validation Not started
- Requirements Traceability Not started
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Module 6 · Beginner Test scenarios & test cases Write scenarios and test cases that another tester can run, with the right data and priority.
- Test Scenarios Not started
- How to Write Test Cases Not started
- Test Data Not started
- Test Environments Not started
- Test Case Priority Not started
- Reusable and Regression Test Cases Not started
- Test Case Quality and Review Not started
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Module 7 · Intermediate Test design techniques Derive few, strong test cases with black-box, experience-based, white-box and risk-based techniques.
- Test Techniques Overview Not started
- Equivalence Partitioning Not started
- Boundary Value Analysis Not started
- Decision Table Testing Not started
- State Transition Testing Not started
- Use Case Testing Not started
- Pairwise Testing Not started
- Combinatorial Testing Not started
- Error Guessing Not started
- Checklist-Based Testing Not started
- Reading Code for Testers Not started
- White-Box Testing and Code Coverage Not started
- Statement Coverage Not started
- Branch and Decision Coverage Not started
- Condition and Path Coverage Not started
- Risk-Based Testing Not started
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Module 8 · Beginner Test execution Run tests, record results and evidence, and handle failed and blocked tests.
- Manual Test Execution Not started
- Test Suites and Test Runs Not started
- Test Evidence Not started
- Reproducing Failures Not started
- Failed and Blocked Tests Not started
- Environment and Test Data Problems Not started
- Execution Reporting Not started
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Module 9 · Beginner Defect management Report, classify, triage and follow defects from discovery to closure.
- Defect Lifecycle Not started
- How to Write a Bug Report Not started
- Severity and Priority Not started
- Defect Triage Not started
- Regression Defects Not started
- Defect Metrics Not started
- End-to-End Product Quality Assurance Not started
Branch tracks
Manual & exploratory
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Module 10 · Intermediate Exploratory testing Explore with charters, heuristics and time-boxed sessions, and report what you learned.
- Exploratory Testing Not started
- Session-Based Test Management (SBTM) Not started
- Bug Hunting and Risk-Based Exploration Not started
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Module 11 · Intermediate User acceptance testing Plan and run UAT with business users and reach an evidence-based sign-off.
- Planning UAT Not started
- UAT Scenarios Not started
- UAT Execution and Sign-Off Not started
Web, API & data
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Module 12 · Beginner Web application testing Understand how a browser builds a page and test forms, navigation, storage, layouts and browsers.
- How Browsers Work Not started
- HTML Basics for Testers Not started
- CSS Basics for Testers Not started
- JavaScript Basics for Testers Not started
- The DOM Not started
- Browser DevTools for Testers Not started
- Testing Web Forms Not started
- Testing Links and Navigation Not started
- Cookies and Web Storage Not started
- Browser Cache Not started
- Responsive Testing Not started
- Cross-Browser and Cross-Device Testing Not started
- Web Performance Not started
- Web Security Basics Not started
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Module 13 · Beginner HTTP & web fundamentals Read and build HTTP requests and responses: methods, URLs, headers, status codes, cookies, caching and CORS.
- HTTP and HTTPS Not started
- HTTP Requests and Responses Not started
- HTTP Methods Not started
- URLs, Path and Query Parameters Not started
- HTTP Headers Not started
- HTTP Status Codes Explained Not started
- Cookies and Sessions over HTTP Not started
- Authentication and Authorization Not started
- HTTP Caching Not started
- HTTP Redirects Not started
- Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (CORS) Not started
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Module 14 · Intermediate API testing Test REST, SOAP, GraphQL, WebSocket and webhook APIs: requests, validation, auth, contracts and automation.
- What is API Testing? How to Test a REST API Not started
- REST API Basics Not started
- What is JSON? Not started
- Building API Requests Not started
- API Response Validation Not started
- API Schema Validation Not started
- What is Base64? Encoding Explained Not started
- API Authentication Not started
- What is a JWT? JSON Web Tokens Explained Not started
- OAuth 2.0 Concepts for Testers Not started
- API Authorization Testing Not started
- Negative API Testing Not started
- XML and SOAP Not started
- GraphQL Testing Not started
- WebSocket Testing Not started
- Webhook Testing Not started
- Contract Testing Not started
- API Mocking and Service Virtualization Not started
- API Test Automation Not started
- API Testing Approaches Compared Not started
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Module 15 · Intermediate Database testing Query relational data with SQL and verify integrity, transactions, migrations and ETL.
- Database Fundamentals Not started
- Keys and Relationships Not started
- CRUD Operations Not started
- SQL Basics: SELECT, WHERE and ORDER BY Not started
- SQL JOINs Not started
- SQL Aggregation and GROUP BY Not started
- SQL INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE Not started
- SQL for Testers Not started
- Constraints and Data Integrity Not started
- Stored Procedures, Triggers and Views Not started
- Database Testing for QA Engineers Not started
- Testing Transactions and DB Migrations Not started
- ETL and Data Pipeline Testing Not started
Quality characteristics
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Module 16 · Intermediate Performance testing Design load, stress, spike, soak and capacity tests and read percentiles and bottlenecks correctly.
- What is Performance Testing? Not started
- Performance Metrics Not started
- Percentiles: p50, p95 and p99 Not started
- Concurrent Users and Workload Models Not started
- Scripting a Performance Test Not started
- Load Testing Not started
- Stress Testing Not started
- Spike Testing Not started
- Soak and Endurance Testing Not started
- Capacity and Scalability Testing Not started
- Analysing Performance Results Not started
- API Performance Testing Not started
- Performance & Security Resilience Testing Not started
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Module 17 · Intermediate Security testing Test authentication, sessions, access control, input handling and data protection against the OWASP risks.
- Security Testing Fundamentals Not started
- The OWASP Top 10 Not started
- Intercepting Proxies Not started
- Authentication Testing Not started
- Session Management Testing Not started
- Access Control Testing Not started
- Input Validation and Output Encoding Not started
- Injection Testing Not started
- Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Not started
- Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF) Not started
- Business Logic and File Upload Testing Not started
- Sensitive Data Exposure Not started
- Cryptography Basics for Testers Not started
- API Security Testing Not started
- Web Security Testing in Practice Not started
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Module 18 · Intermediate Accessibility testing Test against WCAG 2.2 with the keyboard, a screen reader, contrast checks and automated rules.
- Accessibility Testing Not started
- Semantic HTML for Accessibility Not started
- Keyboard Accessibility Testing Not started
- Screen Reader Testing Not started
- ARIA and Widget Patterns Not started
- Visual Accessibility Testing Not started
- Testing Video, Audio and Time Limits Not started
- Pointer and Motion Accessibility Not started
- Accessible Forms Testing Not started
- Automated Accessibility Testing Not started
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Module 19 · Beginner Usability & compatibility Evaluate user flows, messages and navigation, and plan browser, device and OS coverage.
- Usability Testing Not started
- UX Testing Not started
- Compatibility Testing Not started
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Module 20 · Intermediate Localization & internationalization Test language, right-to-left layout, encoding, dates, numbers, currency and time zones.
- Localization Testing Not started
- Internationalization (i18n) Not started
- Character Encoding and Unicode Not started
- Dates, Numbers, Currency and Time Zones Not started
- RTL Testing for Arabic Interfaces Not started
- Translation and Linguistic Testing Not started
Mobile
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Module 21 · Intermediate Mobile testing Test Android and iOS apps across devices, interruptions, networks, permissions and releases.
- Mobile Testing: A Practical Guide Not started
- Android and iOS for Testers Not started
- Device Fragmentation Not started
- Mobile App Test Scenarios Not started
- Deep Link Testing Not started
- Mobile Accessibility Not started
- Mobile App Performance Not started
- Mobile Security Testing Not started
- Mobile Test Automation Explained Not started
Automation & CI/CD
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Module 22 · Intermediate Test automation fundamentals Decide what to automate and build stable tests: assertions, locators, waits, data, structure and reports.
- What Is Test Automation? Not started
- What to Automate (and What Not To) Not started
- Manual vs Automated Testing Not started
- The Test Automation Pyramid Not started
- Test Automation Strategy Not started
- Programming Basics for Test Automation Not started
- The Command Line and Test Runners Not started
- Assertions Not started
- Regular Expressions (Regex) for Beginners Not started
- Locator Strategies for UI Tests Not started
- Waits and Synchronization Not started
- Test Data, Fixtures and Hooks Not started
- The Page Object Model Not started
- Test Automation Architecture Not started
- Test Isolation and Parallel Execution Not started
- Flaky Tests Not started
- Automation Reporting and Debugging Not started
- BDD and Gherkin Not started
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Module 23 · Advanced Browser automation tools Apply the fundamentals in Playwright, Selenium WebDriver or Cypress.
- UI Test Automation Not started
- Playwright Basics Not started
- Selenium WebDriver Not started
- Cypress Not started
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Module 24 · Advanced CI/CD for QA Run automated tests in pipelines with Git, reports, artifacts, secrets, quality gates and failure handling.
- Git Basics for Testers Not started
- Branching and Pull Requests Not started
- CI/CD Testing Not started
- Running Tests in CI Pipelines Not started
- Environment Variables and Secrets Not started
- Debugging Pipeline Failures Not started
- Deployment Verification Testing Not started
AI & LLM systems
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Module 26 · Advanced AI & LLM testing Test AI and LLM systems: prompts, injection, hallucination, evaluation, safety, RAG and agents.
- AI Testing Fundamentals Not started
- Machine Learning Basics for Testers Not started
- LLM Fundamentals for Testers Not started
- LLM Testing: How to Test LLM Applications Not started
- Prompt Testing Not started
- LLM Security Testing: Prompt Injection and More Not started
- Hallucination and Groundedness Testing Not started
- LLM Output Validation Not started
- LLM Evaluation: How to Evaluate LLM Outputs Not started
- Safety, Bias and Robustness Testing Not started
- Test Techniques for AI Systems Not started
- RAG Testing: Retrieval, Grounding, Citations Not started
- AI Agent and Tool-Calling Testing Not started
- AI-Assisted QA Not started
Test management
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Module 25 · Advanced Professional QA & test management Set strategy and scope, manage risk, estimate, report quality and decide release readiness.
- Test Strategy: A Practical Guide Not started
- Test Scope Not started
- Project Risk Management Not started
- Test Estimation Techniques Explained Not started
- QA Metrics and KPIs Not started
- Reporting Product Quality to Leadership Not started
- Release Readiness and Go/No-Go Not started
- Stakeholder Communication Not started
- Building and Leading a Test Team Not started
- QA Documentation Not started
- Test Management and Tools Not started
- Production Quality and Monitoring Not started
- Learning from Production Incidents Not started
- Continuous Improvement Not started
- In-House QA Team vs Outsourced QA Not started
Specialisations and exams
Each specialisation is a reading of the map for one job. Its exam opens when you have completed its required topics.
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Manual QA
The complete core path plus exploratory testing, UAT and usability: everything a manual tester does.
Modules Software & QA foundationsSoftware development lifecycleTesting fundamentalsThe test process (STLC)Requirements & static testingTest scenarios & test casesTest design techniquesTest executionDefect managementExploratory testingUser acceptance testingUsability & compatibility
Outcome You can take a feature from requirement review to an evidence-based test report on your own.
0 of 105 required topics completed -
Web QA
Browser fundamentals, HTTP and the web-specific checks: forms, storage, layouts, browsers, accessibility and security basics.
Modules Web application testingHTTP & web fundamentalsAccessibility testing
Outcome You can test a web application end to end, read what the browser and the server exchange, and report precise defects.
0 of 65 required topics completed -
API QA
HTTP, REST, JSON and the full API testing toolkit: validation, authentication, negative tests, contracts, security and performance.
Modules HTTP & web fundamentalsAPI testing
Outcome You can design, run and automate API tests that check status, headers, body, schema, auth and contracts.
0 of 78 required topics completed -
Automation QA
Automation fundamentals, one browser automation tool of your choice, and running suites in CI/CD.
Modules Test design techniquesTest automation fundamentalsBrowser automation toolsCI/CD for QA
Outcome You can decide what to automate and build a maintainable, stable suite that runs in a pipeline.
0 of 73 required topics completed -
Mobile QA
Android and iOS testing: devices, interruptions, networks, deep links, accessibility, performance, security and automation.
Modules Mobile testingUsability & compatibility
Outcome You can plan device coverage and test a mobile app through its whole lifecycle and real-world conditions.
0 of 61 required topics completed -
Performance QA
Metrics, percentiles, workload models and every kind of load test, with analysis of the results.
Modules HTTP & web fundamentalsPerformance testing
Outcome You can design a realistic performance test, run it safely and explain what the numbers mean.
0 of 69 required topics completed -
Security QA
HTTP and the security tester’s checks: authentication, sessions, access control, injection, XSS, CSRF, data and APIs.
Modules HTTP & web fundamentalsSecurity testing
Outcome You can test an application against the common OWASP risks within an authorised scope and report findings responsibly.
0 of 76 required topics completed -
Accessibility QA
Semantic HTML, WCAG 2.2, keyboard and screen reader testing, contrast, forms, ARIA and automation.
Modules Web application testingAccessibility testing
Outcome You can evaluate a page against WCAG 2.2 AA and write defects developers can fix.
0 of 54 required topics completed -
Database QA
Relational basics, SQL from SELECT to aggregation, integrity, stored logic, transactions, migrations and ETL.
Modules Database testing
Outcome You can verify data behind the UI and API with SQL and test migrations and data pipelines.
0 of 50 required topics completed -
Localization QA
Internationalisation, encoding, locale data, right-to-left layouts and translation quality.
Modules Localization & internationalization
Outcome You can test a product in Arabic, Hindi and English and find the i18n defects before users do.
0 of 50 required topics completed -
AI & LLM testing
How AI systems fail and how to test them: prompts, injection, hallucination, evaluation, safety, RAG and agents.
Modules AI & LLM testing
Outcome You can build an evaluation set and a test plan for an LLM feature on top of solid QA fundamentals.
0 of 52 required topics completed -
UAT
Requirements, acceptance criteria and the business side of testing: planning, running and signing off UAT.
Modules Requirements & static testingUser acceptance testingUsability & compatibility
Outcome You can organise acceptance testing with business users and turn it into a clear release decision.
0 of 105 required topics completed -
Test management
The process, planning, metrics, defect triage and leadership skills to run testing for a team or a release.
Modules Software development lifecycleThe test process (STLC)Defect managementProfessional QA & test management
Outcome You can write a strategy, steer testing with risk and metrics, and give an honest release recommendation.
0 of 80 required topics completed
Mutqan Soft certificates of achievement confirm that you passed a Mutqan Soft assessment. They are not an accreditation by a government, university, ISTQB or ISO body.