ITIL Foundation (Version 5) — Information & Free Practice

About ITIL Foundation (Version 5)

ITIL Foundation (Version 5) · US

Key exam facts

Provider

PeopleCert International Limited publishes the ITIL framework and syllabus; PeopleCert administers the examination.

Format

Closed-book multiple-choice OTQs with four answer options and one selected option. Styles: standard, missing words, list (two correct statements combined in one option), and exceptionally negative standard. PeopleCert offers online proctoring.

Exam questions

Total questions: 40; Scored questions: 40.

Time limit

60 minutes; candidates taking the examination in a language other than their native or working language may be awarded 25% extra time (75 minutes total).

Passing score

26 correct answers out of 40 marks (65%).

Exam fee

Fees vary by seller and package. U.S. authorized provider ITSM Academy lists USD 1,740 (discounted from USD 1,995) for its instructor-led virtual ITIL (Version 5) Foundation course including the official examination voucher and official digital eBook. This is a combined course-and-exam package, not a standalone or universal examination fee. PeopleCert Plus membership is optional; confirm final package selections and applicable taxes with the provider.

Topics covered

• Key ITIL terms and definitions (30%)

  • Product and service management
  • Define digital product and service management (Glossary)
  • Define product, service as a key concept of digital product and service management (Glossary, 3.1.1)
  • Define digital product, digital service as a key concept of digital product and service management (3.1.2)
  • Define continual improvement as a key concept of digital product and service management (5.1)
  • Define the ITIL Product and Service Lifecycle as a key concept of digital product and service management (4.1)
  • Define good as a key concept of digital product and service management (3.1.2, Glossary)
  • Define utility, warranty, user experience and sustainability (3.2.4)
  • Know the benefits of ITIL for enterprises, managed service providers, digital product vendors, digital product and service management professionals (1.2.3- 1.2.6)
  • Experience, Strategy and Transformation
  • Define basic terms of ITIL Experience like: experience, digital experience, trust, user experience (UX), customer experience (CX), experience level agreement, human-centred design (Glossary)
  • Define basic terms of ITIL Strategy like: strategy, business strategy, digital strategy, mission, vision, purpose, VUCA, leadership (Glossary)
  • Define basic terms of ITIL Transformation like: change, transformation, business as usual (BAU) (Glossary)
  • Service offerings
  • Define service offering and service interactions (3.1.2)
  • Define service actions, transfer of goods, access to resources (3.1.2)
  • Explain service offering and service interactions (3.1.2)
  • Explain service actions, transfer of goods, access to resources (3.1.2)
  • Value co-creation
  • Define value and value co-creation (3.1.1)
  • Define cost and risk (3.1.1.2, 3.1.1.3)
  • Define output and outcome (3.1.1.1)
  • Understand the difference between output and outcome (3.1.1.1)
  • Explain how value contributes to value co-creation (3.2.3, 3.2.4)
  • Explain how outcomes, costs, risks contribute to value co-creation (3.2.4, 3.1.1.1, 3.1.1.2, 3.1.1.3)
  • Explain how utility, warranty, user experience, sustainability contribute to value co-creation (3.2.4, 3.2.4, 3.2.3, 3.2.4)
  • Explain how feedback contributes to value co-creation (5.2.3.1)
  • Service relationships
  • Define organization, service provider, service consumer, digital product vendor as key concepts of service relationships (3.2.1)
  • Define basic, cooperative, and collaborative service relationship as key concepts of service relationships (3.2, 3.2.2)
  • Define the service journey as a key concept of service relationships (3.2.3)
  • Define sponsor, customer, and user roles as key concepts of service relationships (3.2.1.1)
  • Define service quality, service level as key concepts of service relationships (3.2.4)
  • Define Service Level Agreement (SLA) as a key concept of service relationships (3.2.5)
  • Understand the difference between service provider and service consumer (3.2.1)
  • Understand the difference between service provider and digital product vendor (3.2.1)
  • Understand the difference between service consumer and digital product vendor (3.2.1)
  • Understand the difference between basic, cooperative, and collaborative service relationships (3.2.3)

• The ITIL Four Dimensions of Product and Service Management (10%)

  • Introduction to the ITIL Four Dimensions of Product and Service Management
  • List the ITIL Four Dimensions of Product and Service Management: organizations and people, partners and suppliers, information and technology, value streams and processes (2.1)
  • Understand the importance of each of the ITIL Four Dimensions of Product and Service Management (2.2–2.5)
  • Explain the importance of the holistic approach of the ITIL Four Dimensions of Product and Service Management (2.1)
  • Internal factors and External factors
  • Know the external factors that influence the ITIL Four Dimensions of Product and Service Management, like: political, economical, social, technology, legal, environmental (PESTLE) (2.1)
  • Explain 'organizations and people', 'partners and suppliers', 'information and technology', 'value streams and processes' as the ITIL Four Dimensions of Product and Service Management (2.2–2.5)

• The ITIL Product and Service Lifecycle (10%)

  • Introduction to ITIL Product and Service Lifecycle
  • List the ITIL Product and Service Lifecycle activities: discover, design, acquire, build, transition, operate, deliver, support (4.1)
  • Understand the ITIL Product and Service Lifecycle (4.1)
  • Understand that the activities of the ITIL Product and Service Lifecycle are not sequential nor linear and how they can be used iteratively (4.1)
  • Purpose and Scope of ITIL Product and Service Lifecycle activities
  • Know the purpose of the 'discover' ITIL Product and Service Lifecycle activity (4.2.1)
  • Know the purpose of the 'design' ITIL Product and Service Lifecycle activity (4.3.1)
  • Know the purpose of the 'acquire' ITIL Product and Service Lifecycle activity (4.4.1)
  • Know the purpose of the 'build' ITIL Product and Service Lifecycle activity (4.5.1)
  • Know the purpose of the 'transition' ITIL Product and Service Lifecycle activity (4.6.1)
  • Know the purpose of the 'operate' ITIL Product and Service Lifecycle activity (4.7.1)
  • Know the purpose of the 'deliver' ITIL Product and Service Lifecycle activity (4.8.1)
  • Know the purpose of the 'support' ITIL Product and Service Lifecycle activity (4.9.1)

• The ITIL Value System (40%)

  • Components of the ITIL Value System
  • Know the components of the ITIL Value System and their role in an organization: Guiding principles, Governance, Value chain, Management practices, Continual improvement (5.1)
  • Explain the ITIL Value System (ITIL VS) and its purpose (5.1)
  • The ITIL Guiding Principles
  • List the ITIL Guiding Principles (5.2)
  • Understand the 'focus on value' ITIL Guiding Principle and how it should be used (5.2.1)
  • Understand the 'start where you are' ITIL Guiding Principle and how it should be used (5.2.2)
  • Understand the 'progress iteratively with feedback' ITIL Guiding Principle and how it should be used (5.2.3)
  • Understand the 'collaborate and promote visibility' ITIL Guiding Principle and how it should be used (5.2.4)
  • Understand the 'think and work holistically' ITIL Guiding Principle and how it should be used (5.2.5)
  • Understand the 'keep it simple and practical' ITIL Guiding Principle and how it should be used (5.2.6)
  • Understand the 'optimize and automate' ITIL Guiding Principle and how it should be used (5.2.7)
  • Describe the interaction of the ITIL Guiding Principles and how they work together (5.2.8)
  • Governance
  • Define governance (5.3.1)
  • Explain the enabling nature and the activities of governance (5.3.1)
  • Value chain
  • Define value chain (4.1)
  • Define product specification, product prototype (4.3.1)
  • Define incident, event (4.7.2)
  • Define release, test (4.6.2, 4.5.1)
  • Define continuous integration, continuous delivery and continuous deployment (4.5.2, 4.6.2)
  • Define reliability, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE), observability (4.7.1)
  • Define service request (4.8.2)
  • Define disaster, problem, error, and known error (4.9)
  • Define operating model (5.4.1)
  • Distinguish between a problem, an error and a known error (4.9)
  • Understand the key success metrics of the value chain activities (Tables 4.1-4.8)
  • Explain how organization’s purpose and operating model are supported by value chain activities and management practices (5.4.1)
  • Management practices
  • Define management practice (5.5)
  • Know the management practice groups: general and product and service management practices (5.5)
  • Understand the role of the management practices within the ITIL Value System (5.7)
  • Explain the structure of the ITIL Practice Guides (5.5.1)
  • Explain the benefits of the ITIL Practice Guides (5.5.1)
  • Define metric and critical success factor (CSF) (Glossary, 5.6.1.3)
  • The ITIL Continual Improvement Model
  • List the steps of the ITIL Continual Improvement Model (5.6.1)
  • Understand the steps of the ITIL Continual Improvement Model (5.6.1.1-5.6.1.7)
  • Describe continual improvement within the ITIL Value System and its role in the organization (5.7)

• Value stream identification, mapping, and management (5%)

  • Key concepts of value stream mapping and management
  • Define value stream, core value stream, enabling value stream (2.3.1, 6.2)
  • Define value stream mapping, value stream management (6.3, 6.4)
  • Define complexity thinking (2.3.2)
  • Understand the difference between a core and an enabling value stream (6.2)
  • Application of value streams
  • Understand how workflows need to be optimized for complexity (2.3.2)
  • Purpose of value stream mapping and management
  • Know the purpose of value stream mapping and management (6.1)
  • Understand the relationship between value stream mapping and value stream management (6.3, 6.4)
  • Understand the elements of a value stream map (6.3, Appendix E)

• ITIL and AI (2.5%)

  • Introduction to AI
  • Define Artificial Intelligence (AI), AI maturity, GenAI, Agentic AI (Glossary)
  • Understand how AI can assist in the product and service development lifecycle and provide examples (2.4.1.1)
  • Understand how AI can be used to assist in the automation of processes throughout the product and service development lifecycle activities (2.4.1.1)
  • Understand how AI can be leveraged throughout the ITIL value chain activities (2.4.1.1)
  • ITIL AI Governance
  • Define AI governance (Glossary)
  • Understand the ITIL AI Capability Model (2.4.1.1)

• ITIL and other frameworks (2.5%)

  • ITIL and DevOps
  • Understand how ITIL can collaborate with DevOps practices (7.3, 7.3.1)
  • Understand how ITIL and DevOps are complementary in the product and service development lifecycle (7.3, 7.3.1)
  • ITIL and PRINCE2
  • Understand why project management is important in ITIL (7.3, 7.3.2)
  • Understand how ITIL and PRINCE2 are complementary in the product and service development lifecycle (7.3, 7.3.2)

How to prepare

Work through the topics, read the explanation after each answer, and revisit the areas where you miss questions. Use the official outline and reference materials below to guide your study.

These independent practice questions are not actual exam items and do not guarantee a passing result.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources and references

• PeopleCert ITIL Foundation (Version 5) Syllabus

  p. 5

• PeopleCert ITIL Foundation (Version 5) Syllabus

  p. 11

• PeopleCert ITIL Foundation (Version 5) Syllabus

  p. 3

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