The ITIL Master Exam - V2 Service Manager
It's been over a year now since the ITIL V3 publications came out. The recently announced new V3 certification scheme has been much awaited. The format and style for the V3 Service Manager exam is expected to be announced in the near future. That however, doesn't seem to have halted folks from continuing with plans for taking the ITIL V2 Service Manager Exam. I have been recommending my colleagues who have been putting off their V2 Master exam to take it up quickly. After all, a known "beast" (read V2) is easier to tackle than an unknown one (read V3).
So, to those still planning to go ahead with their ITIL V2 Service Manager exam, here's my compilation of nine tips to see you through. Let me know what you think.
- Write, write, write
And I don't mean type
Like most people in this industry, I had not written anything longer than my address since I left college. The V2 masters exam is a three hour written exam each for Service Support and Service Delivery. By the end of the first hour, my fingers and wrist were aching. The biggest trouble I faced was not what to write but getting my fingers and wrist to cooperate. - Space your Service Support and Deliver exams
Take a break of at least 1-2 months between the two exams. I took mine in a span of 3 months. That was a tad too long a break. One month is ideal since it allows your fingers to recover, brains to undump the dope from one exam and all the while you are still fresh with the format and the case study. Definitely don't take it on the same day or over subsequent days. Your fingers will complain more than anybody else. - Read only the two books - Service Support and Service Delivery
Ok ok. I know "only" is a little too much. Yes, I don't like them too - far too verbose. But read them and nothing else. Don't bother about quick reference guides that tend to pop up suddenly as you start preparing. Mastering the books alone should get you past the passing score of 50%. - How many times should I read?
Read up each chapter at least three times. One caveat - if you have been in this space for way too many years than you remember, you should be ready for some good old unlearning. Forget how you mixed up Incident and Problem Management last week - well, at least until the exam is over. - Read up the case study before you go for the exam and once more before you start the exam - just to make sure it is the same one. My case study had an extra page added in and most questions based off that.
- Which exam to take first?
Go for Service Delivery first. Why? Simple answer. Lesser number of chapters to read - five in Delivery as against six in Support (including Service Desk). Plus Delivery is more theoretical, so there are less chances of tricky questions And, if you leave aside Availability Management, the Delivery processes are far shorter and less verbose than the Support processes. - Worst case - skip one chapter
If you absolutely must leave out one chapter, let that be Availability Management. Far too long. Just glance through the key concepts from there and you should be fine. - Draw, draw, draw
Draw diagrams straight out of the ITIL books. The best example is the one on Release Management. The one process where I scored a perfect 10 was Release Management. And that was the only one diagram I was fully confident I had got an exact copy paste from the book. Coincidence? I don't think so. - Make sure you get an extra half hour
The standard exam is 3 hours each. But if your first language is not English, you can specify that with your examination body before the exam - that should get you an additional 30 mins time. Trust me - every extra minute helps!
Let me know what you think. And good luck.
