Tips to crack the ITIL 4 Foundation exam based on personal experience

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Good day, community!

Do you want to know more about the ITIL 4 Foundation exam and pass it on your first attempt? I’ve got good news for you! Here are some tips and tricks for self-study I've prepared based on my examination experience. 

What is the ITIL 4 Foundation exam for?

In April 2022, Atlassian announced the ITSM Partner Specialization Program. Specialization is the next logical step in the evolution of the Solution Partner Program. Specialization helps partners focus on their offerings and deep expertise around ITSM, fulfilling a greater role in overall business strategy and enjoying increased recognition and customer satisfaction. To earn the ITSM Specialization, partners need to obtain Atlassian ITSM accreditations. One of those accreditations requires getting the ITIL 4 Foundation certification outside of Atlassian. 

What to expect on the ITIL 4 Foundation exam?

The exam evaluates your understanding of ITIL processes, functions, and concepts, not how your organization implements ITSM. To obtain the ITIL Foundation certificate, you must answer 26 out of 40 multiple-choice questions. The duration of the exam is 60 minutes. You may take the examination online and be proctored via a webcam by a representative from PeopleCert — a global leader in the assessment and certification of professional skills. 

How to prepare and pass the exam? 

Preparing is a key, so I highly recommend doing it in a timely manner to pass with flying colors. In this article, I will guide you through the preparation process, including tips on how to study, what materials to use, and how to approach the exam itself.

Study the official textbook

The ITIL 4 Foundation exam is all about getting the basic understanding of the ITIL best practices. ITIL Foundation: ITIL 4 Edition book is enough to prepare for the exam within a busy career. A careful reading of the official textbook will help you gain a solid foundation.

Learn the terminology 

Many questions will be presented with altered wording to confuse you. So make sure that you have a good grasp of all special terms and know various ITIL-based definitions, from abbreviations to jargon. When taking the ITIL 4 Foundation exam, think only of ITIL processes and best practices. Remember that the exam tests you on ITIL knowledge and not on your own organizational practices. 

Understand the relationships between ITIL concepts

Concentrate your study time on the most important ITIL concepts and strive to understand the ‘why’ behind them. Understand the concepts and remember only the key words like service strategy, service design, service transition, service / operational level agreements, etc. Relate the concepts to the key words. For example, customer value is linked to a service strategy. Similarly, maintenance is linked to continual service improvement, and so on. This will help you answer the questions correctly and at a quicker pace. 

Practice with sample exams

Put your knowledge into practice. There are many ITIL 4 Foundation free practice tests on the internet. Among all the tests I’ve passed, I recommend the ones available on GitHub and GoCertify, as the format and types of questions are very similar to those that are on the actual exam (as it turned out after passing the exam:)). Practice tests also help familiarize yourself with the ITIL exam pattern. 

Keep an eye on the clock

One of the most common reasons for failing is running out of time and turning in an incomplete test. That’s why, while working on ITIL practice tests, make sure that you adhere to the time constraints. But don’t hurry up — the hour limit on the exam gives you about 1.5 minutes to answer each question. The questions and answers are short compared to the Atlassian exams. If time remains, go through all questions and double-check your answers. Make sure you’ve answered all 40 questions before clicking “End Exam.”

Understand the question 

Some questions can be tricky. For example, they contain negatives that might trip you up — e.g., “which of the following is not a life cycle module?” If you miss the ‘not’ in this question, you might end up submitting the wrong answer.  To answer correctly, take more time to read each question carefully to ensure that you have not fallen into any traps and answer what the question is asking.

Install examination software

When you prepare for the exam, you shouldn’t have much to worry about. A few days prior to taking the exam download a program called ExamShield from PeopleCert and visit it to learn all you can about the test experience. Note that it's better to use a short and simple password. Don't auto-generate it. If the password is complex, the system may be down and you will spend a lot of time on this issue. If you experience a technical difficulty, such as an internet outage or a computer failure, contact your proctor as soon as possible to discuss what to do.

Finally, please share in the comments, if these tips were useful to you and helped gain a good understanding of the ITIL 4 Foundation exam and pass it successfully. Best of luck!

[Rob Horan]

Is this the recommended book?

https://www.amazon.com/ITIL-foundation-Axelos/dp/0113316070