I passed ITIL 4 Foundation with a 39/40 score— Here’s how I did it (2024)

Disclaimer: The following information does not guarantee that you will pass the ITIL 4 certification. What I am sharing here is the process I underwent to understand ITIL and eventually pass the certification. The process I shared below is meant not only to pass the certification but also to retain the knowledge as it is vital to my day job.

After I submitted my answers, the final result was shown on the screen, so you will not be left wondering how the exam went. The image below shows my score for each topic, which gives me a picture of where I should improve myselfon.

But what is ITIL? For me, it is a tool that helps businesses become agile in the ever-changing dynamics of the business world with the help of technology. For example, it helps a software company to curate processes with best practices to ensure quality deliverables and high customer satisfaction. Here’s another definition from Axelos:

ITIL approach provides guidance to organizations and individuals on how to use IT as a tool to facilitate business change, transformation and growth. ITIL advocates that IT and digital services are aligned to the needs of the business and support its core objectives and goals.

For some of you who are looking for TL;DR, here it is. The strategy that worked for me is below. I will explain them later.

1. Take one sample test to gauge my knowledge
2. Understand the coverage by reading the syllabus
3. Read ITIL 4 Foundation book
4. Write notes and review
5. Take sample tests to finally test your knowledge

So before anything else, let us start with the mindset first. Are you familiar with the Pareto principle? It says 80% of the result comes from 20% of our effort. In short, there is always an optimal way of doing things, and in our topic, there is always an efficient way of learning. This is especially important for me because I jugglemydayjob,schoolwork, and personallife. For me to maximize output with minimal effort (yes, I quoted an ITIL practice here), I employed Jim Kwik’s mind tool called FAST, which stands for Forget, Active, State, and Teach.

Forget everything — when I started, I thought my years of experience in the IT industry will get me the certification easily, so I took a sample test, and you might have seen it coming: I failed. I thought that my incident management skills will get me through it. There is so much more than that. This means we must be curious and not let our experience and prior knowledge get in the way of learning.

Active — we learn by actively participating and engaging our minds. This means we need to write notes and become at present. Here are what worked for me:

• Do the reading during your most active time. It varies from person to person, so you have to gauge yourself. If you have not done any studying for some time, take time to test the water.
• Spaced repetition. The key to remembering information is through repetition, and not just repeated memorization — you need to do it periodically. I used a productivity app called “Remnote” that I used for taking notes and generating flashcards. What is amazing about this app is that is it automatically generates what flashcards and which order they will appear based on the difficulty of questions you set as you go through the cards. For example, a question you tagged as difficult will appear again the next day while the easier ones will likely return after a few days.
• Active recall. This entails recalling what you have learned to the most specific details as possible, strengthening the neural connections in your brain, and allowing you to be aware of which topics you need to study most

State — this refers to your state of mind. Do you easily recall names of the people you just met or the name of the onlooker that appeared in one scene in the film you just watched? Most likely not except when you feel and know the need to remember them. This is because you are more inclined to remember important information. It is how our brain works. Ask these three questions before you study:

1. How do I use this? Ex.: I will use this in my everyday work as a support engineer and help my organization.
2. Why must I use this? Ex: To become a more efficient and effective support engineer and to boost my profile
3. When will I use this? Ex: In my current work as a support engineer

Teach — if you can simplify what you have learned in a way a child (or someone you know that is not in the same field as you)canunderstand, this means you have broken down the jargon and high-level ideas into a granular and much simpler nugget of information. In other words, you already understood the topic at the basic level.

A study plan lays out the topics you will study, the deadlines, and the date you plan to take the exam. This helps you stay on track and set priorities. Take note that this is flexible, meaning it can change depending on factors in your life such as unexpected events. The key here is that you stick to a plan that suits your lifestyle. My study plan is a one-month study that includes active reading, reviewing, and taking sample certifications.

To create an effective study plan, you must know the coverage of the exam. You do not want to read the entire book to pass the certification. However, since the certification challenges your fundamental level of understanding ITIL 4, studying for the covered exam topics is enough to understand ITIL 4, so you do not necessarily need to read the entire book to attain the fundamental knowledge. I referred to this syllabus when I created my study plan. Here’s how I did it.

1. I checked the coverage. There are 5 chapters to read, but there are specific sections to focus on. For example, not all General Management Practices are covered, so you can skip them.
2. I scanned the book. This is to understand the size of information I need to digest.
3. I assigned a chapter to read per week. For week 1, I read and took notes on chapters 1–2, week 2 on chapters 3–4, and week 3 on chapters 4–5. I left week 4 for a week of reviewing and quizzing myself on all chapters and taking a sample certification exam. You need to consider your priorities like work and household responsibilities in making the plan. Also, set the exam date. This will create a sense of urgency and accountability to finish the topics.
4. I changed the plan based on unplanned circ*mstances. Remember to be flexible and adjust the deadlines accordingly.
5. I stuck to my plan and keep in mind the FAST tool that is mentioned earlier in this article.
6. I included logical breaks by implementing the Pomodoro Technique. I studied for 25 minutes without interruption and distractions and rested for 5 minutes. After 4 rounds, I rested for 15–30 minutes.

The following materials helped me understand ITIL 4 and pass the certification. I am not affiliated with any of these products.

1. ITIL Foundations 4 book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0113316070?ref_=dbs_m_mng_rwt_calw_tpbk_0&storeType=ebooks&qid=1646714365&sr=8-1
2. Introduction to Service Management with ITIL 4: https://www.udemy.com/course/service-management-itil-4/
3. ITIL 4 Foundations Practice Certification Exams by Jason Dion: https://www.udemy.com/course/itil-4-foundation-practice-certification-exams-6-exams-q/
4. ITIL Exam Prep/Practice Tests: https://www.udemy.com/course/itil-4-foundation-exam-prep-updated-2020/

Time is of the essence when it comes to learning that is why it is important to maximize the amount of learning with the least amount of effort. However, those techniques explained in this article are not confined to ITIL 4; you can use them for any bodies of knowledge you are interested in. As we learn more about how we learn (metacognition) and why we learn, we become more effective life-long learners, we become IT practitioners that need to constantly rewire and realign our knowledge. Passing a certification is one thing, and understanding it is a different thing.