📋 ITIL 4 Foundation — Study Notes

Study Notes & Exam Prep — 2026 Edition

🎯 Purpose: Study notes covering the full ITIL 4 Foundation syllabus — aligned to the official PeopleCert/AXELOS candidate syllabus with exact question weights per topic.

📅 Version: 2026

✍ Author: Marco Grimaldi

🌐 Published: 📘 ITIL 4 Foundation Study Notes

🗺 What’s in This Repository?

File	Coverage	Exam Marks
📖 01 — Key Concepts of Service Management	Service, value, utility, warranty, stakeholders, service relationships	5
🧭 02 — The 7 Guiding Principles	All 7 principles — nature, use, and interaction	6
🔷 03 — The 4 Dimensions of Service Management	Organizations & people, info & tech, partners & suppliers, value streams	2
⚙ 04 — The Service Value System (SVS)	SVS overview: governance, guiding principles, SVC, practices, CI	1
🔗 05 — The Service Value Chain (SVC)	Plan, Improve, Engage, Design & Transition, Obtain/Build, Deliver & Support	2
📦 06 — Practices Overview (15 Practices)	Purpose & key terms for all 15 exam practices + full 34-practice catalogue	7
🔬 07 — Seven Practices In Depth	Deep dive: CI, Change Enablement, Incident, Problem, Service Request, Service Desk, SLM	17
🎯 08 — Exam Caveats & Cheatsheet	Exam traps, must-memorise definitions, decision trees, flash cards	—

📊 Exam at a Glance

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pie showData title ITIL 4 Foundation — Marks by Learning Outcome (40 total)
    "LO7: 7 Practices In Depth" : 17
    "LO2: 7 Guiding Principles" : 6
    "LO6: 15 Practices (purpose + terms)" : 7
    "LO1: Key Concepts" : 5
    "LO3: 4 Dimensions" : 2
    "LO5: Service Value Chain" : 2
    "LO4: SVS Overview" : 1

Fact	Detail
Questions	40 multiple choice
Duration	60 minutes (75 min for non-native speakers)
Pass mark	26 / 40 — 65%
Book allowed?	❌ Closed book
Negative marking?	❌ None
Bloom’s levels	1 (recall) and 2 (understand)
Exam owner	PeopleCert / AXELOS

⚠ Strategy: LO7 (7 practices in depth) alone is worth 17/40 marks — 42.5% of the exam. Prioritise these seven practices above everything else.

I need to know…	Go to
Definition of service, utility, warranty	01 — Key Concepts § Definitions
The 7 guiding principles	02 — Guiding Principles
The 4 dimensions and PESTLE	03 — Four Dimensions
SVS components overview	04 — SVS
What each SVC activity does	05 — Service Value Chain
Purpose of all 15 exam practices	06 — Practices Overview
Continual Improvement model steps	07 — Seven Practices § Continual Improvement
Incident vs Problem vs Known Error	07 — Seven Practices § Problem Management
Change types (Normal / Standard / Emergency)	07 — Seven Practices § Change Enablement
All exam traps in one place	08 — Exam Caveats

🔑 Why ITIL 4 Foundation Matters

ITIL 4 Foundation is the entry-level qualification in the ITIL 4 certification scheme. It demonstrates understanding of the common language, key concepts, and how organisations can improve their work using the ITIL 4 guidance.

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    MP["📘 ITIL 4 Managing Professional\n4 modules"]
    SL["📗 ITIL 4 Strategic Leader\n2 modules"]
    M["🏆 ITIL 4 Master"]
    F --> MP
    F --> SL
    MP --> M
    SL --> M
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✍ About the Author

These notes are maintained by Marco Grimaldi — Cloud Consultant, Language Trainer & Lifelong Learner.

📍 Find more content at 🌐 marcogrimaldi29.com

ITIL® is a registered trade mark of AXELOS Limited, used under permission of AXELOS Limited. These are personal study notes and are not affiliated with or endorsed by AXELOS or PeopleCert.

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Created with the help of AI. Model used: Claude Sonnet 4.6. The content has been reviewed and edited by the author for accuracy and clarity, but may contain errors. Always verify against the latest PeopleCert documentation.