Foundation Study Material

[thevampire]

[UKVIKING]

[thevampire]

[UKVIKING]

[LizGallacher]

[dam]

Thanks Liz for this very useful information! (I've been working with ITIL for a while and now I've finally decided to pass the exam...)

At the riskof repeating myself...
ITIL V3 Foundation Handbook ISBN: 9780113311712
and/or
Foundations of IT Service Management Based on ITIL V3
ISBN: 9789087530570
and/or
Passing your ITIL Foundation Exam - The Official ITIL Foundation Study Aid
ISBN: 9780113310791

[dam]

Hi Liz,
a quick update (I've just ordered these books ), the third one is now available in a new edition (Published: 30 Sep 2009):

Passing your ITIL® Foundation Exam - 2nd Edition
ISBN: 9780113312061

cheers,
Dam

[Timo]

I think people put way too much emphasis and effort in obtaining the study material. I studied for V3 out of a 50 page ITIL v3 summary. Was enough to pass. The bigger question is always WHY you are doing the exam? If ITIL is your cup of tea then no book will replace the experience. Books give guidance and suggestions but then there is a real world where "the best" (or the good now) practice from the book goes out the door because of XYZ.

IMHO if you just discover the ITIL acronym you won't full appreciate it from reading 5 ridiculous boring volumes of V3. You will get a far greater benefit from attending a class where topics can be discussed and mapped to real life experiences and scenarios. That's how the knowledge gets solidified.

Sorry, went on a bit of a rant here and probably didn't address the question in the first place.

[dam]

Hi Timo,
I understand your position but I don't agree with you on one point, you say "no book will replace the experience". I think that when you have field experience, even ITIL oriented field experience as in my case, you have to get trough the books to have a look a what you have done and what you know from a strict ITIL point of view. Then what is nice about ITIL is that you can adapt it to reality but to pass the exam I think you have to stick to the books. This also a reason for me to go for the exam beside the certificate: getting back to the fundamentals of ITIL after a lot of operational ITIL.
I agree with you a training class is far better than study alone (even if... I've heard people complaining about trainings focused on "how to pass the exam" more than truly understanding ITIL) but I've not been clever enough to make my last company pay for it so now I'm in between jobs and I go for a self-study for pure budget reasons...
Regards,
Dam

[Timo]

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound like discouraging you from studying the books. I guess the meaning of my rant was that you'd get a better value from a classroom. (provided the trainer is good)

[Diarmid]

... you have to get trough the books to have a look a what you have done and what you know from a strict ITIL point of view.m

Dam, I don't disagree with your post, except there is no such thing as strict ITIL other than in exams. The ITIL point of view is broad. So what you will step back to is the bigger picture to give perspective to your experience.

I'm sure that is what you were saying and I only mention it for the benefit of others (beginners) reading this thread.