Questions about my CIS-ITSM Retake

[Stephen Broida]

In July, I took the CIS-ITSM Exam and didn't pass.  It was my first attempt at the exam, and despite what I thought was adequate training and preparation, I found that the questions on the exam were wildly different than what I had expected.  When I was practicing for the CAD, I was amazed at how closely the exam questions matched up with the sample questions I'd practiced with.  With the CIS-ITSM Exam, it was like the entire format had changed.  Instead of testing my knowledge, it seemed to be testing my experience instead (of which I had none since I'm studying this to get promoted to these sorts of positions).

Then, before I could go back and re-take the exam, there was an exam maintenance period and all main line exams were shut down for the rest of the month.  I spent that time practicing additional courses on NowLearning; particularly ones focusing on Incident, Change, and Problem management.  I'm now proceeding through the ITSM Implementation Simulator, and think I might be ready to re-take the exam afterward.

So my questions are:

1)  Is the CIS-ITSM Re-take Exam different from the CIS-ITSM Exam you take on your first try?  If so, how different is it?

2) I know that typical exam updates put 2-3 questions in for a new release, but I'm curious if this exam had any overhaul work done and if it's more or less the same as before the maintenance period or different?  I ask this because when I complained about the Exam back in July, I heard that there was a lot of outdated material on the Exam (like a question I ran into asking about what you saw when you click Change Management > New from BEFORE the Paris release!!!)

3) Are there any kinds of questions I need to watch out for?  Like questions about what the "Best Practice" for a given situation with a client would be, or if questions that are kind of outdated?  Questions that might trip a test taker up?

Here's the breakdown of my scores from my first attempt:

Topic Level Scoring:
1 - Incident Management: 53%
2 - Problem Management: 77%
3 - Change Management: 53%
4 - Service Portfolio Management: 100%
5 - Request Fulfillment: 80%
6 - Configuration Management Database: 100%

[Shashank_Jain]

@Stephen Broida , There are no mock tests directly from servicenow.

But you can go through the mock test available on "ExamTopics" and "Quizlet",  they have questions which are quiet closed to what asked in the exam.

Thank you!

If my response was helpful , could you please mark it as accepted and close the thread. That will be much appreciated.

[Bhuvan]

@Stephen Broida 

1. Any CIS exams would have a rotated set of questions and will not be exactly same, so expect a few variations. As long as you have practiced in PDI and revised the course contents, you should be able to answer them 

2. You can expect few questions from Yokohama release and as you already know, course contents were outdated and primary reason for changing the exams based on Yokohama release. Do not rely on dumps as the answers could be conflicting and would end up confusing you more than helping to prepare for exam

https://www.servicenow.com/community/training-and-certifications/needing-delta-exam-to-yokohama-rele...

3. Try to understand ITSM process and out of box configuration. Based on your scores, focus more on Incident, Problem and Change modules and practice by creating sample records. Go through key topics of each modules, for example state transitions, change models, roles etc.,

https://learning.servicenow.com/lxp/en/credentials/certified-implementation-specialist-it-service-ma...

As you can see from blueprint, if you focus on IM, PM, CM and Request Management, it would cover 90% score and you can clear the exam easily.

All the best for your exam !

If this helped to answer your query, please mark it helpful & accept the solution. 

Thanks,

Bhuvan

[Dr Atul G- LNG]

Hi @Stephen Broida 

I am a ServiceNow trainer and happy to share my thoughts. Practically, I also failed the CIS-SIR exam three times before learning from my mistakes.

Here are some tips:

• Don’t underestimate the online training. For any mainstream exam, the official eBook or training is the primary and most reliable source of truth. Read the eBook/training carefully, word by word.

• Don’t rush. Complete one chapter per day along with its labs. Read and understand every word—don’t just skip because you think you already know it.

• Don’t rely on dumps. Dumps can be confusing and may make you doubt your preparation. Also, the answers in dumps are not always 100% correct. If you use them, make sure you can explain the answer from your official training.

https://youtu.be/60KXCXXHW7M

1)  Is the CIS-ITSM Re-take Exam different from the CIS-ITSM Exam you take on your first try?  If so, how different is it?

Atul:

No, it won’t be exactly the same. However, 50–60% of the questions might be similar, while the rest will definitely be different.

2) I know that typical exam updates put 2-3 questions in for a new release, but I'm curious if this exam had any overhaul work done and if it's more or less the same as before the maintenance period or different?  I ask this because when I complained about the Exam back in July, I heard that there was a lot of outdated material on the Exam (like a question I ran into asking about what you saw when you click Change Management > New from BEFORE the Paris release!!!)

Atul: So, when you do the labs, make sure you follow the instructions carefully and complete them. I know it’s tempting to just test and check everything, but the eBook is the single source of truth.

3) Are there any kinds of questions I need to watch out for?  Like questions about what the "Best Practice" for a given situation with a client would be, or if questions that are kind of outdated?  Questions that might trip a test taker up

Atul: I see—you’re getting lower marks in Change Management. Believe me, Change is one of the toughest parts in ITSM, so spend time on it. My videos can help you understand it better.