Continual Service Improvement in Action: Adapting our Approach to the May 2009 Update ITIL ® Version 3 Foundation Exam

Written by Graham Furnis on June 4, 2009

The updated May 2009 Foundation exam has been in operation for a month now, so now is a good time to review the feedback. The style of question has evolved into a more descriptive question and/or answers.

Building on my previous blog, I recommend the following updated approach to answering questions and remaining clear:

•    Assessing the Exam Question

  • Circle key ITIL words (such as “Problem” or “Service Portfolio”)
  • Circle key question words (such as “NOT” or “INCORRECT”)
  • Determine what part of the Foundation course are we talking about?

•    Generic topic, Lifecycle Stage, Process, or Function

  • Lengthy questions: focus on the end of the paragraph which contains the actual question. Often, the initial part of the paragraph is “nice to know” and not “need to know”. I believe the examiners are testing your ability NOT to be thrown off topic.

•    Assessing the Exam Answers

  • Circle key ITIL words (such as “Problem” or “Service Portfolio”)
  • Circle key answer words (such as “always” or “never”)
  • Use a process of elimination**

•    If key ITIL key in the question and answer do NOT match, then this is most likely a weak answer

•    If key words seem unreasonable (such as “the Service Desk always handles Events”), then this is most likely a weak answer

  • The Answer that is most likely the best answer is:

•    The one with the LEAST amount of weaknesses
•    The one with the MOST correct usage of key ITIL words

•    Other Exam Tips

  • Don’t get flustered or stuck on questions that are unclear. Place a check mark and come back to it. Often, other there are other related questions that may jog your memory

Here’s an example of this approach in action:

Question 1:
The Service Level Manager has responsibility for ensuring that the aims of Service
Level Management are met. Service Level Managment is NOT responsible for?
a)    Negotiating and agreeing Operational Level Agreements
b)    Ensuring that all non-operational service are recorded within the Service Catalog
c)    Negotiating and agreeing Service Level Agreement
d)    Assisting with the production and maintenance of an accurate Service Catalog

Analysis 1:

The first sentence is not important for the question (which is stated at the end).
a)    The underlined terms are all ITIL terms and relate to Service Level Management. This is a strong answer.
b)    The underlined terms are all ITIL terms, but involves the “Service Catalog” which is managed within another process. This is a weak answer.
c)    The underlined terms are all ITIL terms and relate to Service Level Management. This is a strong answer.
d)    The underlined terms are all ITIL terms, but involves the “Service Catalog” which is managed within another process. This is a weak answer.

Therefore, we are choosing the weakest answer between (b) and (d) which is NOT Service Level Management. The key differentiator is in (b) “non-operational”. SLM is only concerned with negotiating, agreeing, monitoring and reporting “operational” services.

(b) is the answer which is NOT Service Level Management.

Question 2:

A new purchase of desktop PC’s will be rolled out to users in the current month. Which activity is NOT a responsibility of Configuration Management?
a)    Requesting a change ticket for every desktop PC
b)    Updating the CMDB with details of each PC
c)    Updating the CMDB with status for each PC
d)    Issuing a CI identifier for each new PC

Analysis 2:

The first sentence is not important for the question (which is stated at the end).
a)    Change tickets are requested and managed by Change Management. This statement is wrong.
b)    The underlined terms are all ITIL terms involving Configuration Management. This is a strong answer.
c)    This answer is similar to (b). This is a strong answer.
d)    The underlined terms are all ITIL terms involving Configuration Management. This is a strong answer.

Therefore, (a) is the answer which is NOT Configuration Management.

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