(hover for more info)
USEFUL STUFFBy the IT Skeptic Owning ITIL® a skeptical guide for decision makers Essential reading for everyone planning, proposing, owning or approving ITIL projects The Worst of the IT Skeptic : all the good stuff from three years of this blog There aren't many funny ITSM books
According to all the reader feedback so far, the satirical Introduction to Real ITSM is funny! Special Also out now, a new book The IT Skeptic Looks at CMDB What the IT Skeptic is reading...
The new PMBOKFourth Edition (December 31, 2008): Favourite BooksTell us about your favourite ITSM books, in print or not, obscure or well known... Social networking links |
Skep's Pick: ITIL 101 for software vendors This link is here because...(hover) Feedback on the ITIL V3 manager's bridge exam
Blog entry submitted by skeptic
 on Sun, 2008-08-10 04:34. [nid:702] in
The ITIL V3 examinations are seriously flawed. "Subjective" and "multi-choice" don't go together.
Private correspondence from someone who just did the ITIL V3 manager's bridge (or is that "Expert's bridge"?):
Exactly aligns with what we are saying about the ITIL V3 Intermediate exams. The marking scheme is (for multi-choice) bizarre in the extreme. When will APMG and the ITIL Qualifications Board grasp the seemingly obvious concept that "subjective" and "multi-choice" don't go together? The day there is no financial advantage to the examination industry in having it that way I guess. 
The monthly newsletter of the IT Skeptic: all the news on ITIL, CMDB and other IT topics that is fit to print... and then some! Subscribe here. Privacy respected. No registration required. Bookmark this post with: Trackback URL for this post:
http://www.itskeptic.org/trackback/702
Other things the IT Skeptic is up toIt may be egotistical to think anybody cares, but for those of you visiting this site while at work, here are some links for your idle curiousity:
|
Recent commentsSkep, this is the most Visitor Better word for incident Roland Judas Professional Ethics mwalter CMDB ROI Pearson Get on tracks pjotrg Not sure how we got here buraddo Let's go even further pjotrg Ethics alexjones Catalogues and CMDB Miles N Why is ITSM just ITIL? ianclayton The old 'implementing ITIL' fallacy...? ianclayton ITIL is good practice - lets remove the religion! Robert E Stroud Indeed Itil V2 Foundation + pjotrg improving configuration process not tools Alex Honor Value is in the eye of the beholder... Cary King PRINCE2:2005 vs. 2009 George Brooke making things nice and tidy skeptic Commitment to a concept JamesFinister There's a time for all things Cary King lucrative skeptic Reason for vendor focus on CMDB Cary King Credit JamesFinister Good design approach JamesFinister Aren't Ethics Built In? ITILvangelist ICCP Cary King Business Case mbuzina Aren't ethics built in ? buraddo 2011 and beyond skeptic Someone has to comment buraddo professional code of conduct skeptic 
NavigationPopular contentAll time:
Blog entries: 655 |
Blog
Made in New Zealand 
Comments
ITIL or ITSM?
I had a very interesting conversation yesterday with a very well regarded founding figure of ITIL. His view, which once he said it made obvious sense, is that the new exams are about ITIL, not about ITSM. I looked at the sample managers bridge paper with his comments in mind and he is 100% right - they appear to be asking questions about diagrams that only appear in the ITIL 3 books. In other words the only knowledge they are testing is about what is in the book. The funny thing here is when he and I first crossed swords was when he was an examiner and I was a delegate who took issue with an exam question that was patently wrong and said so in my exam answer, earning a distinctionn in the process. You can't imagine that happening today,
exams are marked by a machine
You are dead right about the exams testing what is in the book. Adn equally about how challenging the questions is impossible ... because they are marked by a machine!. APMG have automated the marking as a cost-cutting measure which is why all the multi-choice
instant gratification
Along with cost cutting I fogot another point: fulfilling the modern world's desire for instant gratification. ooh you can't ask people to wait weeks for results while a human marks the papers. We can't have ITIL certification being solemn or important. It's a product and people want it snap snap snappy: short courses, multi-choice, instant results...
Pay for the training... and check your experience at the door
Yup, the exam is absolutely all about the ITIL content and not about ITSM practice. The training I had was instructive in how to properly read and answer the exam questions... no answers were given and the guidance wasn't improper, but I was better able to concentrate my study and focus on how to answer the questions. You need to think about ITIL as written and trained to, not ITSM, not real-world experience beyond basic business/IT logic. To pass... you study and memorize, drink the kool-aid... do not overthink.
Presumably the written exam for v2 Managers Certification was supposed to require a demonstration of real-world experience and understanding. This would then in turn increase the value of the certification. Judging by the a few of the people in my v3 bridge class... the bar was not nearly high enough. When asked about whether the 20-question multiple choice exam would lower the bar the trainer suggested that the bridge exam required previous ITIL certification and therefore didn't lower the bar, and that someone seeking v3 Expert Certification for the first time was required to take a series of classes and tests that would generally take 3 years to complete (based on class scheduling and typical corporate training funding) and so this person would most likely have experience and couldn't simply study for the test. I'm not entirely sure this is true, but I am certain that this will generate increased revenues for training providers.
just how deficient their new low-cost exams are
They realise just how deficient their new low-cost exams are, so that (along with the additional revenue) is why everyone is being gated through training courses
University/Higher Education Examples
True points regarding the focus on cattle-herding the masses through the exam process. To change topic slightly, has anyone attended or heard good feedback regarding any post-graduate programs with a large ITSM (ITIL or otherwise) focus?
Graduate ITSm discussion
For discussion see here and here (several comments) and here here
EXIN - who are they
I am surprised in all the discussion around certification that no one has bothered to mention The Examination Institute for Information Science (EXIN).
Just in case you don't look at your ITIL certificate, they are the body that endorses your ITIL certification.
Directly from the EXIN website:
"EXIN establishes educational requirements and develops and organizes examinations and learning tracks in the field of IT, giving IT professionals the ability to prove appropriate competencies and skills for improved job performance."
Just who are these EXIN folks anyway, does anybody know?
And does any university care to recognize the certification that they provide?
Not all of us
I don't fully understand the current system, on more levels than I care to admit, but I'm glad to say Exin doesn't appear anywhere on my certification, which was under the original ISEB/BCS scheme. I used to have to administer Exin Foundation exams and the quality was appalling - badly translated into something resembling Emglish and on some papers the same question appeared twice.
EXIN developed most of the ITIL exams
EXIN is an examination institute in the Neherlands that has been around as a professional organization for decades. They provide a wide series of exams on management and information technology. It was EXIN that developed the ITIL Essentials exam (now widely known as ITIL Foundation) in 1994. I was part of that team, so I remember it well. Actually this project was the reason we installed the Dutch ITSMF later that year.
That first ITIL foundation exam was licensed to ISEB in the following years. ISEB didn't start developing any exam questions of their own till years later.
It was also EXIN that developed the ITIL Practitioner exams - which were then copied by ISEB.
The large majority of the ITIL certified folk have been certified through an EXIN exam - maybe without knowing it, but they have. And I bet the number of ITIL certificates has exceeded the total of 1.000.000 this year.
EXIN is now offering the ITIL exams that are outsourced by OGC to APMG (and we've all seen the result of that), but they also developed a series of exams on ISO 20000. Maybe you should take notice of that....
As fas as I know, EXIN certificates carry no weigt for universities, but neither do other business trainings or exams. ITIL Foundation certificates (an original EXIN product) however are among the minimum requirements for most Dutch IT jobs.
Who is behind ITIL certification?
Citizen, see this new post
I think some academic institutions recognises ITIL certification for ITSM degrees.
I am totally disatisifed
I am totally disatisifed with the whole v3 Managers' Bridge malarky.
I'm not embarrassed to say that I've taken the exam twice now and failed both times. I'm almost proud of the fact as it proves my point.
In my opinion if I had passed the exam I would hate to be considered an ITIL Expert because of it.
Where on Earth did that the term 'ITIL Expert' come from? Isn't ITIL v3 all about working with other methodologies?
Shouldn't it at least be 'IT Service Management Expert'?
In no way does the exam test your knowledge of ITIL v3- all it tests is the candidate's abiltity to recount what was in the course notes. It doesn't matter if you have a case for questioning the examiner's answer - as long as your answer is the same as the examiners - you're ok. At least in v2 you could give your own interpretation and be rewarded for it. Isn't being an expert all about questioning 'the Correct way'?
To be called an 'Expert' I would like to be able to contest 'the books' and give an explanation that I know works and would be accepted by an adopter of ITIL. I don't want to be told that I am wrong irrespective of my reasoning.
And then on top of all this you get questions about resourcing levels on the Service Desk that could be applied to v1, let alone v2 of ITIL?!!?
WHEN WILL APMG SIT UP AND LISTEN TO ALL OF THE DISATISFACTION WITH THIS APPROACH INSTEAD OF SITTING IN THEIR IVORY TOWERS WITH THE ATTITUDE OF 'WHO CARES? WE'RE MAKING MONEY'
As above, I'm slightly....no
As above, I'm slightly....no more than slightly...hugely perturbed by a failure which is based on the fact that 18 of the questions in the live exam were similar if not the same as example questions during the course. Obviously I answered all of these the same (as marked correctly by the instructor) so where did I go wrong?
As with previous practitioner courses, trying to get any feedback is impossible, so I am left with thinking maybe I didn't get it....despite all the evidence to the contrary.
Any One else concerned about the need to submit case studies
To reach the pinnacle you now will have to demonstrate your expertise. By submitting case studies. to APMG.
What is done with them, who reviews them, how they are managed is unclear.
So I will stick with my expert title for V3 and use my red badge to provie I can structure a solution.
Not happy, but resigned. ISO 20000 looks so much more appealing to my clients.
Has anyone heard any news on whether EXIN will be offering a version of ISO2000 based certifications?
Case studies is a start
Case studies is a start - better than multi-choice :-D One hopes the process will be transparent.
Anyone who wants to leak to me the details I'd be grateful :-D
ISO 20k Foundation
I'm busy training the ISO20k Foundation course with certification exam by EXIN. Check here
Br Aale
Sour grapes
OK, I understand where you are coming from,- I wrote and passed.
Yes they test the books, but that is the key, the new books are about ITSM, and although the V3 Bridge is just that, we formed an independant study group on the books before we did the course and exam, I think they are 200% better than the old stuff, and hughly more applicable.
am I an Expert - mmm if they want to call me that - fine, the essence of V3 is about understanding that what you know and do, can be improved on, and if that is what an expert is I am cool with the idea.
A