ITIL intermediate questions

I'm interested in ITIL intermediate, specifically continuos improvement. Is it difficult? How many class must I pass to be intermediate certified? My company will send me to LRS.

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Claire Agutter

Hi Omniman

If you visit the ITIL official site you'll find full details of the qualification scheme. Continual service improvement is one of the lifecycle courses that requires 21 hours of study via a classroom or elearning solution, plus a recommended further 21 hours of study with the associated core volume. If you pass the exam you'll be intermediate qualified in that area.

None of the intermediate courses and exams are easy, but if you study hard you'll be fine.

Claire

mikelau13

I am not sure about CSI. But I found the exam is pretty difficult if you want to learn it by self-study without any on hand working experience under ITIL working environment; otherwise as far as I heard, the exam is a piece of cake.

The ITIL official handbook is an extremely weak study material, not only that it is missing some very important key points for the exam, even worse, the exam intended to use those missing pieces in the handbook to "trap" you to fail.

Just my 2 cents...

Liz Gallacher

I don't think they try to trap you to fail. The original question was about intermediate, and you are talking about a handbook. For intermediate you need to refer to the core volume. As Claire says, you are supposed to study the manual for 21 hours on top of your course - very few do. Most people find Foundation straightforward, but few find Intermediate a "piece of cake"

Sivakumar Subramanian

Hi Claire,

I am planning to take up ITIL Intermediate. I am in India and I have found a training center accredited by EXIN. I have few doubts regarding ITIL Intermediate.

I am currently working as Incident Manager for a client called USAA(united Service automobile association) I have a good knowledge of Incident management , Though I don"t have hands on experience on Change management and problem management I have the Knowledge of how that is being practiced in USAA (its just that they have different teams for them) But I am very well aware of all their day to day activities and how it works

1.Do we need to complete all the modules in ITIL Life Cycle stream to achieve ITIL Intermediate certificate or it is enough if we complete any one module .
2.I need to know which module I need to take up in ITIL Intermediate the training center I found is offering ITIL Intermediate for CSI (Continual service improvement)
3. I am desperately looking for a Job change and been searching for almost 6 months now in this track and so far nothing turned up good . I have 3 years and 3 months experience can u send me a PM I will send my resume to you , I would like you to check it give yours thoughts about it please

regards
Sivakumar Subramanian

mikelau13

Liz Gallacher wrote: »

I don't think they try to trap you to fail. The original question was about intermediate, and you are talking about a handbook. For intermediate you need to refer to the core volume. As Claire says, you are supposed to study the manual for 21 hours on top of your course - very few do. Most people find Foundation straightforward, but few find Intermediate a "piece of cake"

Could you please tell me what do you mean by "study the manual"?

By the way.

The handbook I mentioned is the official one purchased from official www.itil-officialsite.com, not just a random book by a random author. I walked into bookstore after I got the handbook, compared the handbook with few other ITIL intermediate books, I found that the other books in bookstore their content were not really richer - similar diagrams, similar table of content, maybe slightly different wordings, but similar number of pages in total - I did spent effort to double check to make sure it is not just a handbook like you are saying.

I finished reading the handbook; I finished watching all the online materials; I finished all mock exams from version 4.1 to 6.1 and picked up all the missing gap I have in the mocks; I even spent time to draw UML SPEM for all processes that mentioned in the syllabus to visualize all my learning experience.

But seems like still not enough - when I don't have on hand ITIL experience.

I can proudly say that I have spent too many hours to study the materials but shamelessly say that I failed my first exam.

I think maybe too much to say it is "piece of cake" but I found tons of thread in this forum that people who has on hand ITIL experience passed the intermediate in the first try with 90+ %, few even passed it without spending much time to study the materials.

I am recently reading another a complete certification kit purchased from Amazon, hope I can pass this time...

Liz Gallacher

What Claire meant when she said "a recommended further 21 hours of study with the associated core volume." and I meant when I said "read the manual" is the official core volume for that lifecycle stage, so THE official CSI book, for example ( ISBN: 9780113313082, Price £85). Because of the price, few students buy this, and so there are some other books, which could be described as "handbooks". But you are certainly correct is saying that you can learn what the books say, but struggle with the exams, which are based on applying the knowledge - which really needs knowledge+experience.

mikelau13

Thx Liz this is helpful info, at least now I know why I "died" my first try

.

Not sure if I am so blind or not but I still can't find a single official book like this for capability modules (http://www.axelos.com/officialsite.asp?FO=1253138), that means I will need to purchase multiple £85 lifecycle books as suggested to prepare for the capability exam, that's fine, I will do it if I fail again after finished reading the second book

.

And in my personal opinion, I think another biggest problem of the ITIL intermediate exam is that, it is really lack of mock exams - all I can get is 2 sets of mock exam each with 8 questions.

Sivakumar Subramanian

Hi Claire,

To complete ITIL Intermediate Certification do we need to complete all the modules in Life Cycle stream or the capability stream are just any one module is enough

regards
Sivakumar Subramanian

Liz Gallacher

I agree about the lack of mock exams: the more one does, the better on gets at doing them. I raised this just the other day with the other training organisations, and they are going to raise it with Axelos - there should beat least 4 exams available , including retired past papers.

Claire Agutter

Hi Sivakumar

If you pass any ITIL intermediate exam (a lifecycle or a capability) then you'll be intermediate qualified in that subject area. If you want to become an ITIL expert you need to pass a set number of intermediate exams + managing across the lifecycle - full details are on the ITIL official site.

Claire

Sivakumar Subramanian

Thanks Claire. I am currently working in Incident management. I know change management and Problem management that is being practiced in my Organization (how they work and how it is. its just they have separate teams to take care of them.) The training center is currently offering ITIL Intermediate for CSI (Continual service improvement) which module would be best for my career growth please suggest

Sivakumar

Claire Agutter

Hi Sivakumar

The best module for you will depend on where you see your career developing - for example if you want to focus on problem management then Service Operation or Operational Support and Analysis, but if you want a future in change management then Service Transition or Release, Control and Validation.

I'd recommend taking a look at the syllabus documents on the ITIL official site to see what you think is the right course for you, or check the summaries on a training providers website. We have a site Free Online ITIL Training Videos and PDF Guide that gives you a good ITIL overview and that might also help you decide.

Don't forget you can take all these courses from accredited providers online, so you don't have to be restricted by local training companies.

Feel free to DM if you've got any questions.

Claire