Need info on ITIL Foundation exam

[newitil]

Hi
I am currently in USA and recently passed my PMP certification. I just came across this forum today when i was hunting for some documentation on ITIL foundation certification. I did go through the previous posts and was quite informative. But, i would like to know something put in a nutshell,

1. Are the training courses necessary to pass the foundation certification?. I mean that do i have to show any contact hours before i sit for the exam in my appication kit or i can take buy some study materials from your website for example for my PMP certification i needed to produce 35 contact hours as a requirement

2. What are the prerequsites if any ie educational qualifications

3. Do i have to take training from some accredited ITIL Training provider as a part of my pre-requisite to pass the exam and show them during my application process


Thanks

Gautam Sinha

[Ed]

newitil

welcome to our forum

answers at Foundation level are

1. No

2. IT experience is always a help, but not a pre-requisite

3. No

I hope this helps.

Regards

Ed

[LizGallacher]

To sit the Foundation exam you can either attend a course, or study on-line or with a CBT provider (Computer based training). If you have attended a course, you usually sit the exam in cl;ass on the 3rd day, with an invigilator. The results take a couple of weeks. The alternative (usually if you have studied independently) is to sit the exam online at a pro-metrics or similar exam centre offering this facility. The results are immediate. Most people pass the Foundation without too much difficulty

You will receive course notes whichever method you use. You may also receive the fundamentals pocket book itSMF IT Service Management: A companion to the IT Infrastructure Library ISBN
The EXIN exam and the ISEB exam have equal value, but the EXIN exam includes security.
ISBN: 0952470616 (available in several languages). YOU DO NOT NEED THE RED AND BLUE BOOKS AT THIS STAGE!

The Foundation is the pre-requisite to all the other courses.
Thw practitioner courses are useful if you want to concentrate on one area. Thay are not necessary before the Managers (called the masters in the USA). ie you can go straight to it without the practitioner qualifiction. The Practitioner and Managers MUSTbe done through formal training. You alsoneed at least 5 years experience in IT. The managers consists of two 5 day courses, 1 revision day and two 3-hour written exams held quarterly. It is very demanding, requiring a good knowledge of both red and blue books, and the pass rate is only about 55% of candidates. You can resit just 1 paper if you only fail one. about 5% of candidates get 65% or above in both papers at the same sitting, and are awarded a distinction.
Hope this helps
Liz (accredited trainer and recently appointed ISEB examiner)
_________________
Liz Gallacher,
ITIL EXPERT
Accredited ITIL and ISO/IEC20000 Trainer and Consultant - Freelance

[sach0111]

Just to add on to the queris, i would like to know that if attending the course is not essential then how do i register for the exam. any link provided will be appreciated. also how long does the preparation require?

[LizGallacher]

All you need to do is to study the books (see above) or get hold of a self-study course on a CD, then apply to sit the exam at a Pro-mmetric or Pearson testing centre - turn up, get 26 out of 40 and that is it.
as for time - it deoends on your current level - 2-3 weeks of reading the books in the evening couls be enough, some people could do it with an intensive 1 week. The course is 3 days - with 11 topics, so you get an idea of what is involved. Do make sure you practise mock exams
_________________
Liz Gallacher,
ITIL EXPERT
Accredited ITIL and ISO/IEC20000 Trainer and Consultant - Freelance

[nagarajgoud]

Hi,

Can someone name the good books of ITIL Foundations, am newbie for ITIL and planning to study and prepare for exam soon.

Appreciate if you have any information on the training organization in singapore, about their standards, charges.

Thanks very much.

[LizGallacher]

The fundamentals pocket book itSMF IT Service Management: A companion to the IT Infrastructure Library ISBN: 0952470616 (available in several languages).
and
Foundations of IT Service Management: based on ITIL (Paperback)
by Van Haren Publishing
ISBN:9077212582 (not the "official " book, but excellent
_________________
Liz Gallacher,
ITIL EXPERT
Accredited ITIL and ISO/IEC20000 Trainer and Consultant - Freelance

[tlsty]

Hi Liz,
I'm a total freshman on ITIL. I read 2 different dumps from SS and SD - several times. I understand the point, but the mock test downloaded form inet killed me at 28/40 [i know I passed it, but it's like geting the certificate but understanding it at all ]. I have SS and SD book, but it's cca. 700 pages and I simply don't have the time to read it. What would you recommend me to do excluding taking a course [I can't pay for it myself - over 1,5 monthly salary and I have a family as well] ?

Thanks for info and time.

Tlsty

[LizGallacher]

I would stick to the books I recommended above, rather than SS and SD which are way to much at this level. An on-line course might also be a bit cheaper
_________________
Liz Gallacher,
ITIL EXPERT
Accredited ITIL and ISO/IEC20000 Trainer and Consultant - Freelance

[UKVIKING]

I would recommend that in order to get the feedback etc and explanations from the instructors and the insights you get from other students to take the foundation class - physically

The online course does not convey the same level of information

Check the itSMF website for whether there is a country specific chapter and find out if the local universities are offering the foundation course.

From what I can tell this is starting to happen
_________________
John Hardesty
ITSM Manager's Certificate (Red Badge)

Change Management is POWER & CONTROL. /....evil laughter

[Wolf]

Hi,

I am new to ITIL. I have learnt a lot from this forum about ITIL.

I am plannng to go for the foundation exam by doing selfstudy. I would like to know if the book suggested by Liz "Foundations of IT Service Management: based on ITIL (Paperback) by Van Haren Publishing ISBN:9077212582 " is more than enough or should I take the ITIL tollkit also?

[UKVIKING]

You should invest in one of the Online STudy courses..

mainly because the courses are geared to making sure you get enough information so that you can pass the exam

The foundation exam is a tricky one

Part of the exam is to make sure you understand the 10+1 disciplines and can differentiate between them.

There usually is a question which would read like

There have been several server crashing causing multiple outages .. blah blah

Question : Under Problem Management blah blag

answers

incident management oriented answer - sounds the best response
incident management oriented answer - sound almost like the first
Problem mgmt answer - the correct one but sounds wrong
incident mgmt answer - sounds similar to the problem mgmt one

If you just read the little books, you might not get enough data to cover those.

But it all depends

If you are in IT in a ITIL oriented world, try to get your company to pay for it......as an incentive to keep you ... could not hurt to ask
_________________
John Hardesty
ITSM Manager's Certificate (Red Badge)

Change Management is POWER & CONTROL. /....evil laughter