ITIL Exam training can be a very contentious issue!

Paper Based vs. Online  

Both EXIN and ISEB offer paper based exams but both have now moved toward the typical industry standard type exams that are provided by organizations such as Prometric and VUE on behalf of industry giants such as Microsoft and Cisco Systems.

The current beauty of ITIL Exam Training is that it still does have a true industry focus where the cynic amongst us may believe that some industry accreditation exams have become the cash cow for organizations and are not truly representative of the needs of the industry.

The focus of ITIL Exam Training

The specific focus of each individual ITIL exam training should be focused on the individual course. Let me explain further. As you are probably aware, there are three levels of ITIL training, that is, Foundations, Practitioners and Managers.

Because off the totally different focus of each course, so should the exam training aspect be different.

ITIL Exam Training for Foundations

The Foundations course is far more memory focused and is a relatively simple exam. This consists of 40 multiple choice questions of which one answer is correct and the pass mark is 65%. The best way to study for this is to do as many questions as possible to get a ‘feel’ for the way the questions are asked and then do a process of elimination inside each question.

There are typically four possible answers per question of which one will be blatantly wrong, one more than likely is reasonable but not quite what the question was asked about. Then out of the last two – one is usually a more complete answer. The trick is to really read the question well as sometimes the context of the question leads you one way when the actual question is about another!

ITIL Exam Training for Practitioner

The ITIL exam training in this case is totally different for this level of knowledge. This is also a multiple choice test but with an entirely different focus. This revolves around a case study, and then asks you to apply the theory! The best way to study for this is to absolutely know each and every piece of knowledge for that process. I’m not suggesting memory by rote but really understand the process. Course providers should provide a mock exam for your practice.

ITIL Exam Training for Managers

This exam is by far the hardest! Broken down into 2 x 3hr exams – one on Service delivery Processes and the other on Service Support. The only strategy for ITIL exam training is to know all your processes with particular emphasis on the goal, the objectives, the activities, the metrics and KPI’s where you understand how all these things interrelate with each other and are able to apply that to an organization. The focus of this exam is to see if you have the capability to transform theory to practical application and how well you ultimately understand the concepts. There is no easy way to train for this, but my final advice is to think laterally!