CT - Model-Based Tester Simulator

Updated on 10 October 2026. What’s new: the exam requires the ISTQB Foundation Level certificate first and runs on syllabus v1.1, dated February 2024

Counting the cost of CT-MBT starts one step before the exam: ISTQB requires the Foundation Level certificate first, so a newcomer pays for two papers, not one. The Model-Based Tester paper is listed at USD 199 for 40 questions in 60 minutes, and the syllabus sets 725 minutes of accredited teaching, just over twelve hours, before any practice of your own.

That makes CT-MBT a small purchase measured in money and a larger one measured in attention. The syllabus is short, but it is not a memory exercise: three of its five chapters ask you to apply a technique, which means drawing a model and deriving tests from it. This guide adds up the real bill, explains what each chapter expects, and ends with a study plan you can size to your own week.

What does CT-MBT really cost in money, prerequisites and hours?

Three costs sit behind the single exam fee. The first is the exam itself, listed at USD 199. ISTQB's own certification page does not print a fee, because exams are sold through national boards and exam providers who set their own prices, so treat USD 199 as the reference figure and confirm the amount when you book.