ITIL® 4 Foundation
Candidate
Syllabus
Official Training Materials
1. Introduction
The ITIL 4 Foundation qualification is intended to introduce candidates to the management of
modern IT-enabled services, to provide them with an understanding of the common language
and key concepts, and to show them how they can improve their work and the work of their
organization with ITIL 4 guidance. Furthermore, the qualification will provide the candidate with
an understanding of the ITIL 4 service management framework and how it has evolved to adopt
modern technologies and ways of working.
The ITIL 4 Foundation examination is intended to assess whether the candidate can demonstrate
sufficient recall and understanding of the ITIL 4 service management framework, as described in
the syllabus below, to be awarded the ITIL 4 Foundation qualification. The ITIL 4 Foundation
qualification is a prerequisite for the ITIL 4 higher level qualifications, which assess the
candidate’s ability to apply their understanding of the relevant parts of the ITIL framework in
context.
2. Exam Overview
Material None This is a ‘closed book’ exam. The ITIL Foundation Official
allowed Book, ITIL 4 edition, should be used for study, but is NOT
permitted to be used in the exam.
Exam 60 Candidates taking the exam in a language that is not their
duration minutes native or working language may be awarded 25% extra
time, i.e. 75 minutes in total.
Number of 40 There are 40 questions, each worth 1 mark. There is no
marks marks negative marking.
Provisional 26 You will need to get 26 questions correct (65%) to pass the
Pass mark marks exam.
Level of Bloom’s “Bloom’s level” describes the type of thinking needed to
thinking levels 1 answer the question. For Bloom’s level 1 questions, you
&2 need to recall information about the ITIL 4 service
management framework. For Bloom’s 2 questions, you
need to show understanding of these concepts.
Question Classic, The questions are all ‘multiple choice’.
types Negative, For the ‘standard’ questions, you have a question and four
Missing answer options.
word, & ‘Negative’ questions are ‘standard’ question in which the
List stem is negatively worded.
For the ‘missing word’ questions, there is a sentence with a
word missing and you have to select the missing word from
four options.
For the ‘list’ questions, there is a list of four statements and
you have to select two correct statements from the list.
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3. Question Types 4. Syllabus
All 40 questions are Objective Test Questions (OTQs), which present four options from which one
The table below specifies the learning outcomes of the ITIL 4 Foundation qualification, and the
option is selected. Distractors (wrong answers) are options that candidates with incomplete
assessment criteria used to assess a candidate’s achievement of these learning outcomes,
knowledge or skill would be likely to choose. These are generally plausible responses relating to
subsequent to a course of study.
the syllabus area being examined. Question styles used within this type are: ‘Standard’, ‘Missing
word’, ‘List’(2 correct items), and, exceptionally, ‘Negative’ standard OTQ. Note: Official Book references are in parentheses. These refer to the section, but not the
subsections within it. The verb for each assessment criterion indicates the Bloom’s level (BL):
Example ‘Standard’ OTQ: Example ‘Missing word’ OTQ ‘Recall’/‘Define’ indicates Level 1 basic recall and recognition, ‘Describe’/‘Explain’, indicates Level 2
Which is a source of best practice? Identify the missing word(s) in the following understanding/comprehension.
A. Q sentence.
B. P
Learning Assessment Criteria Bloom’s No.
A [?] defines requirements for services and Outcome Level marks
C. R
takes responsibility for outcomes from
D. S 1. Understand the key 1.1 Recall the definition of: BL1 2
service consumption.
concepts of service a) Service (2.3.1)
Example ‘List’ OTQ: A. Role Q management b) Utility (2.5.4)
Which statement about service asset and B. Role P c) Warranty (2.5.4)
configuration management is CORRECT? C. Role R d) Customer (2.2.2)
D. Role S e) User (2.2.2)
1. It does Q
2. It does P f) Service management (2.0)
Example ‘Negative’ standard OTQ: g) Sponsor (2.2.2)
3. It does R
Which is NOT a defined area of value?
4. It does S 1.2 Describe the key concepts of creating BL2 2
A. Q
B. P value with services (2.1, 2.1.1, 2.2 and all
A. 1 and 2 subsections of 2.5):
C. R
B. 2 and 3 a) Cost
D. S
C. 3 and 4 b) Value
D. 1 and 4 c) Organization
NOTE: Negative questions are only used, as
an exception, where part of the learning d) Outcome
NOTE: Two of the list items are correct. List e) Output
outcome is to know that something is not
style questions are never negative. f) Risk
done or should not occur.
g) Utility
Please see the sample paper for an example of the exam format and content. h) Warranty
1.3 Describe the key concepts of service BL2 1
relationships: (2.3.2, 2.4, 2.4.1):
a) Service offering
b) Service relationship management
c) Service provision
d) Service consumption
2. Understand how 2.1 Describe the nature, use and interaction BL2 1
the ITIL guiding of the guiding principles (4.3, 4.3.8)
principles can help
2.2 Explain the use of the guiding principles BL2 5
an organization
(4.3):
adopt and adapt
a) Focus on value (4.3.1 – 4.3.1.4)
service
b) Start where you are (4.3.2 – 4.3.2.3)
management
c) Progress iteratively with feedback
(4.3.3 – 4.3.3.3)
d) Collaborate and promote visibility
(4.3.4 – 4.3.4.4)
e) Think and work holistically (4.3.5 –
4.3.5.1)
f) Keep it simple and practical (4.3.6 –
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Learning Assessment Criteria Bloom’s No. Learning Assessment Criteria Bloom’s No.
Outcome Level marks Outcome Level marks
4.3.6.3) 6.2 Recall definitions of the following ITIL BL1 2
g) Optimize and automate (4.3.7 – terms:
4.3.7.3) a) IT asset (5.2.6)
b) Event (5.2.7)
3. Understand the 3.1 Describe the four dimensions of service BL2 2
c) Configuration item (5.2.11)
four dimensions of management (3):
d) Change (5.2.4)
service a) Organizations and people (3.1)
e) Incident (5.2.5)
management b) Information and technology (3.2)
f) Problem (5.2.8)
c) Partners and suppliers (3.3)
g) Known error (5.2.8)
d) Value streams and processes (3.4-
3.4.2) 7. Understand 7 ITIL 7.1 Explain the following ITIL practices in BL2 17
practices detail, excluding how they fit within the
4. Understand the 4.1 Describe the ITIL service value system BL2 1
service value chain:
purpose and (4.1)
a) Continual improvement (5.1.2)
components of the
including: t he continual
ITIL service value
improvement model (4.6, fig 4.3)
system
b) Change enablement (5.2.4)
5. Understand the 5.1 Describe the interconnected nature of BL2 1 c) Incident management (5.2.5)
activities of the the service value chain and how this d) Problem management (5.2.8)
service value chain, supports value streams (4.5) e) Service request management
and how they (5.2.16)
interconnect 5.2 Describe the purpose of each value BL2 1
f) Service desk (5.2.14)
chain activity:
g) Service level management (5.2.15 –
a) Plan (4.5.1)
5.2.15.1)
b) Improve (4.5.2)
c) Engage (4.5.3)
d) Design & transition (4.5.4)
e) Obtain/build (4.5.5)
f) Deliver & support (4.5.6)
6. Know the purpose 6.1 Recall the purpose of the following ITIL BL1 5
and key terms of 15 practices:
ITIL practices a) Information security management
(5.1.3)
b) Relationship management (5.1.9)
c) Supplier management (5.1.13)
d) IT asset management (5.2.6)
e) Monitoring and event management
(5.2.7)
f) Release management (5.2.9)
g) Service configuration management
(5.2.11)
h) Deployment management (5.3.1)
i) Continual improvement (5.1.2)
j) Change enablement (5.2.4)
k) Incident management (5.2.5)
l) Problem management (5.2.8)
m) Service request management
(5.2.16)
n) Service desk (5.2.14)
o) Service level management (5.2.15)
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