How to Write ISTQB CTFL Practice Items from Pasted Objectives
CTFL items fail when they paste a remembered stem and mint a 65 cut score. Tag FL-1.2.1 as pasted. Leave Guide UNKNOWN. FL-4.2.1 stays NOT IN INPUTS.
The matching generator is the ISTQB CTFL Item Writer from Pasted Objectives (No Dump) prompt. Browse related cards in the PromptDig library (Browse more prompts). When a filled run survives, share the version you actually use (Share a prompt).
Banner that this is not an exam dump
Write ISTQB CTFL practice items from pasted objectives. Stem plus distractors. Not an exam dump. Start by filling Inputs, not by asking the model to remember last week's run. If a field is blank, write NONE or NOT IN INPUTS and leave it blank through Generate. The card is built so the model cannot honestly invent a number, owner, URL, or command that you did not paste.
Paste these fields before you hit run:
Pasted objectives I lock: [Objectives]
Syllabus label I may use (or UNKNOWN): [Syllabus]
Item count I lock: [Count]
Words I must not use: [Banned]
What I must never invent (remembered stems, cut scores, exam IDs): [Never]
Output format: [Format]
Language: [Lang]
Syllabus URL I lock (or UNKNOWN): [Guide]
Audience I may name: [Audience]
That inventory is the honesty ledger. Anything that does not appear there is forbidden in the draft. If you catch yourself adding a nice-to-have after the run, you are no longer using the card. You are ghostwriting. Put the extra fact in Inputs and run again.
Write stem plus four options from pasted objectives
Generate is numbered on purpose. Do not skip a step because the first paragraph looked done. The early steps exist to stop later prose from smuggling claims.
Walk the Generate list in order:
- Honesty ledger: Objectives IDs, Syllabus, Count, Guide, Lang, Audience. Forbidden: remembered stems, cut scores, live form IDs.
- Banner: not an exam dump, not certification advice, unofficial practice only. Verify against Guide if Guide is not UNKNOWN.
- Items: Count stems. Each stem tagged to one pasted objective. Four options. One key. Three distractors with a one-line why-wrong.
- Discussion notes: unofficial. Do not claim ISTQB wording. Do not invent a passing score.
- Refuse list: CTAL-TA stems, CompTIA SY0-701 items, CSTE dumps, PBQ walkthroughs, cut score integers.
- Guide: quote Guide or write GUIDE UNKNOWN.
- Never: do not paste a stem you remember. Do not invent objective FL-4.2.1 if Objectives omitted it.
- Compliance pass: quote Banned and Never hits. Cut them. Format as Format.
If a step asks for a version lock, quote the version from Inputs in the output. If a step asks for a refuse list, keep the refuse list in the published artifact, not in a sidebar you delete. Reviewers should see what the model was not allowed to do.
Keep discussion notes unofficial
Most failures are the same shape: a missing field gets a confident fill. A conversion rate appears. A Gradle task appears. A flash point appears. A caption appears on a job that asked for slide text only. Your review is to search the draft for numbers, names, and commands, then grep Inputs. No match means cut.
Honor the constraints as hard stops, not vibes:
- CTFL items from pasted Objectives only. Not Advanced and not CompTIA.
- Never dump remembered exam items or mint a cut score.
- Stay at Count items.
- No emojis.
When the card says not legal advice, not certification, not an exam dump, or not a caption engine, that sentence belongs at the top of the output. Deleting it to look more finished is how you inherit risk.
Refuse Advanced IDs and live-form claims
Finish with the compliance pass the prompt already asks for. Quote the banned-word hits. Cut them. Print character counts when the job has a cap. Print word counts when the job has a budget. List gaps as gaps. Five missing facts are more useful than one smooth paragraph.
Tags on the card (istqb ctfl item writer, pasted objectives only, no exam dump) are a reminder of the job shape, not an invitation to wander into a neighboring cluster. If you need a different surface, open a different PromptDig card rather than stretching this one.
Fill the card, then run
Replace every bracket. Run on ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini. Read the ledger first, then the artifact. If the model invents a commit, KPI, DOI, PEL, bid, or logo, discard the run. Tighten Inputs. Run again. Share the filled card that survived, not the first draft that sounded done.