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Pass the ITIL V3 Foundation exam in six easy and free steps

Blog entry submitted by skeptic on Sat, 2009-09-05 05:42. [nid:1613]
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This page is part of a set of pages: "About"
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‹ How to find free ITIL V3 Foundation trainingupThe real cost of ITIL V3 Expert certification ›

If you know something about IT operations (not just development) and your IQ is in triple figures then passing the ITIL V3 Foundation exam should be no big deal and no big investment. Follow these steps:

  1. Read itSMF's An Introductory Overview of ITIL® V3. Free.
  2. Then read Taruu's study guide. Free.
  3. If you are feeling like you need more and you like learning by video, watch these YouTube videos from Charles Sturt University. Free.
  4. Read our brief guide on how to pass multi-choice exams. Free.
  5. Do as many of these practice exams as you can stand. Free. If you need to look something up, use Google Books to refer to the core ITIL books. Free.
  6. Register with Prometric or Pearson Vue to do your exam (On Prometric you won't find it under "ITIL", that would be too customer-friendly. Look under "Information Technology (IT)" then choose "EXIN' or "ISEB" - both offer ITIL via Prometric, I think - it keeps changing) (warning: Pearson Vue site has rotating shots of photogenic people staring meaningfully out at you). Not free - a couple of hundred dollars depending on where you are in the world. OK we lied about the free but there is no way to get around paying for this step, sorry.

There is a high probability you will pass, but if you fail, we accept no liability sorry. If you really want the certification (or you just don't believe us about doing it without training), the next step might be to do one of the online traning courses such as those from ITIL Training Zone, ITSMSolutions or Taruu (or countless others). Or for a cheaper option the Art of Service book-and-training seems to sell a lot on Amazon - $90+sh. It's a buyer's market out there right now - shop around.

If you really want a textbook, buy Passing Your ITIL Foundation Exam - The Official Study Aid - also not free of course, but not too expensive: $24+sh second-hand on Amazon (updated to 2009 syllabus).

If you want a comprehensive reference book of all the content in ITIL's five core books, buy Foundations of IT Service Management Based on ITIL V3. Not free but much less than the ITIL books: $53+sh second-hand on Amazon.

If your boss is paying, you'll want the complete set of the actual ITIL books: the ITIL Lifecycle Publication Suite, Version 3 - pay lots on Amazon.

If you found this post useful, and you are a Facebook user, please Like this blog :

P.S. for those ITIL training vendors who are losing revenue to the online training providers, and those online providers who are losing revenue to the realisation that NO training is needed to pass ITIL V3 Foundation, I have this to say: The ITIL training industry, in the guise of the ITIL Qualifications Board, made a conscious decision to increase the marketability and decrease the cost of delivery by dumbing down the ITIL V3 Foundation syllabus to the point where it came to this. "As ye sow so shall ye reap".

If you wanted to maintain your stranglehold on training, you should have pumped it up into a one-week course with compulsory laboratory exercises and simulations (go back to your precious Blooms and understand the distinction between knowledge and skills), and a hard exam.

The way to save yourselves now is to convince the market that Foundation is a worthless sheep-dip and the real value comes with Intermediate and Expert. If you are smart you are already planning this.

This page is part of a set of pages: "About"
Turn the page:
‹ How to find free ITIL V3 Foundation trainingupThe real cost of ITIL V3 Expert certification ›

Comments

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itil v3 training and some

Submitted by visitor (not verified) on Mon, 2009-09-07 08:02.

Hi Skep,
Thanks for the info. I am a contractor who refuses to pay £400 for a training course. The Charles Sturt videos are really good. I'll let you know how I get on with the exam.

On a more general note training seems to have dropped in quality over the years yet is still expensive. When I was a permanent member of staff I always saw training as a bit of a jolly. Now I'm contracting I have to stay focussed and can't afford the time off or paying for a poor quality course!

Rgds Rob.

Passed the Foundation

Submitted by Visitor (not verified) on Wed, 2009-09-30 16:23.

Hi Skep,

Just passed the foundation without paying for training.
Steps taken.
1. Print out the syllabus.
2. Do all the Charles Sturtt videos on youtube.
3. Do the taruu online exam.
4. Buy a copy of passing the ITIL Foundation exam. Read it and do all the example questions and exam.
5. Take the exam. £100 at Pearson Vue with one of the unfriendliest receptionists I have ever met.
6. Hey Presto a pass!

Thanks for the info.
Rgds Rob.

Silly course. I did it

Submitted by Visitor (not verified) on Sat, 2009-10-03 11:00.

Silly course. I did it because I was forced to. Will never use it. 96% any good?

Regards,
DemneMaol

Thanks to itskeptic.org

Submitted by OO (not verified) on Sat, 2010-01-09 14:46.

I just wanted to drop a note of appreciation to IT Skeptic and everone else on the net who has helped me pass the ITIL V3 foundation.

1. Read the Taruu guide

2. Art of Service - Exam Prep Study Guide - How to pass on your First Try - Second Edition ITIL V3 Foundation.

3. And did as many of the ITIL sample exams as I could find. Lots of hints and recommendations right here on the IT SKEPtic site.

Scored 98%. Thanks be to God. I really did not think I could achieve such a good result.The exam was tough, especially the questions which are of the type choose : a) 1 only, b) 1 , 3 and 4, c) 1, 2, 4
d) all of the above.

Now I can move on to really much higher levels of certification and it is so nice to have crossed the first hurdle.

Unfortunately I am not sure there is any single book that really covers the exam syllabus very well, which is a bit of a pity really. THe body formulating ITIL should sponsor a really excellent writer to create a suitable book.

I regard dumps as cheating

Submitted by skeptic on Fri, 2010-02-05 07:53.

Dear Fairooz

Please do not solicit dumps for the ITIL exam on my website. Whatever your ethical framework, I regard dumps as cheating.

Passing the exam is not hard with the advice on this page. I suggest you try passing honestly. The value of the exams is sufficiently debased already thank-you without the practice of dumps

The IT Skeptic

P.S. writing your email address in open text on a website that allows you to hide it is pretty dumb. Maybe the spambots found it before I took your comments down.

awwwww

Submitted by riCh chestMat on Fri, 2010-02-05 07:58.

I wanted to feed it.

Thanks !

Submitted by Visitor (not verified) on Thu, 2010-03-25 21:25.

Hi IT Skeptic,

I followed your advice in these steps and passed the ITIL v3 Foundations exam today without any training class or purchasing any books. Just so you know, the practice exam on Taruu's site is very very easy compare to the real exam. It did help me through to memorize some of the concepts. Thanks again and keep up the good work. F Patel.

Passed today with 78 %

Submitted by Eddie (not verified) on Mon, 2010-05-31 12:44.

This course is silly indeed.

I only did the practice exams from Tabuu and made some notes about some things.
This test is just a formality, no sweat bro!

I recommend everyone to follow Taruu's study guide and you will pass it for sure.

Ed

this site and list was spot on

Submitted by paulJ (not verified) on Mon, 2010-06-21 20:10.

This site was a great find!!

I did exactly what it said to do and easily passed the test.

I did buy a book from amazon ('How to pass on your first try') which was a waste of time and $ as it was not nearly as good as the two free study guides listed in steps 1 & 2 above. I especially found the Taruu guide to be well structured and easy to understand/memorize.

The webinars were OK but a little slow for me.

I did the practice exams on Taruu and ITIL campus (and a few others), the ITIL campus was very thorough. Both helped me to better understand the material and I highly recommend them.

On the practice exams I was averaging 85% or so the last few times I took them. On the actual exam I did a 90%. So although the practice exams questions were not exactly the same questions as on the final, there was substantial overlap in the material so that they ended up correlating well. In other words, if you do well on the practice exams from Taruu and ITIL campus you should have good confidence that you will pass the real thing but the practice exams do not give you exact exam questions.

Does anyone know if there is site like this for free CCNA study or some other IT certs (e.g. microsoft MCTS, VMware VCP, etc) so that I can cheaply add them to my credentials?

Thanks a lot for this list Skep!

V3 online course for free in Spanish

Submitted by avallesalas on Mon, 2010-06-21 21:06.

If you want to prepare your certification in Spanish, a training organization offers the V3 foundation online course for free (strange business model!)

http://itilv3.osiatis.es/index.php

Antonio Valle
G2, Gobierno y Gestión de TI
http://www.gedos.es

Thanks for the useful information

Submitted by Veera (not verified) on Thu, 2010-06-24 06:43.

Hi itskeptic,

Thanks for the very much useful information. I just followed the 6 steps mentioned above and read the recommended study material and practice exams. I just completed my ITIL v3 Foundation exam with 90%.

Great. Thank you very much.

Best Regards.
Veera

I passed with these 6 easy steps.

Submitted by Mayur Sidhpura (not verified) on Mon, 2010-08-16 17:08.

Thanks IT Skeptic,

Guys, the steps explained in this post are very helpful. Taruu's virtual test practice is very helpful though questions are very easy as compare to actual test.

I purchased the Office Study Guide ($35) and did some sample-test paper from the links given in this post. I cleared the exam with 85%. At some point questions were complicated but overall the test was easy.

My suggestion is just to follow the steps given, avoid expensive classes or online training, may be you wanna purchase book and there you go!!!!

Thanks again for this site & info.... God bless you!

Cheers

--Mayur

Fantastic Post

Submitted by ITCons (not verified) on Tue, 2010-08-17 14:06.

Easily the most informative and comprehensive ITIL breakdown for training on the web.

Over 1000+ internets to you sir :)

You deserve a medal

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