Finally , Passed DCD 5 exam at 4th attempt

[raj0044]

Hi All,

Hope you all are doing well !!!

Here is my progress in last 8 months,

First Attempt : March 2013 - Scored 263

Second Attempt - May 2013- Scored 281

Third Attempt - Sep 2013- Scored 290

Forth and final attempt- 16th Nov 2013-  Passed - scored 321

This exam is one of the most challenging exam, I ever attempted. This tough me," Never give up, until you achieve".  It's really difficult to pass at first attempt; if you are a person new to Design. After two attempt, i got involved in several project work and whenever got opportunity to design and learn, I utilized it 100 %.

I refereed below study material :

Blueprint-

• VMware official VCAP5-DCD exam preparation guide
• 2nd edition of the vSphere Design book. Must read book
• HA/Clustering Deepdive book.
• Managing and Optimizing book by Stagner and Crookston.
• Design Workshop- It really helped me to understand design terminology

One advice I would like to give here, even though if you fail at first attempt, do not worry. Instead of worrying, convert worry time to study time and always remember, to attempt an exam itself is a win. Failure is only a stepping stone to success.

I would like to thanks everyone for helping me to pass this exam.

Regards,

Baswaraj

[rajeev009]

Congratulation .... 

[imompero]

very nice, very impressed, adding this to my study materials

[tushartopale]

Is the VCAP5-DCD 550 that tough to crack? Why didn't you go for that one instead as its the latest?

[JPM300]

The VCAP5-DCD5.1 or 5.5 is a tough exam because it is a design exam.  However due to it being a design exam many of the questions are hard as there is more then one way to do things, and some area's of the exam can be interpreted differently by some people.  It's just a hard exam with a lot of material to study and is very conceptual in area's which can make it tricky.

[kamesh_a]

Hi Jason,

Thank you very much for the content on your website.

1. I am not sure whether it is problem with my browser when I practice with your website questions or a component missing, when I select createin a design question, I can see the options like host, PG and so on, however I can't see any objects getting created on the white board. either nothing happening when I click possible answer or Photoshop Answer.

2. I have scheduled an exam (DCD550) next month just to get an experience with the exam interface as I am unable to visualise or understand: Is the challenge with the exceptional vSphere knowledge or usage of exam interface for the design questions ? or both?

How soon we will get to know the result?

Thanks,

Kameswar Akella

[SNJY]

Hi Kamesh,

To answer your questions -

1. Try simulator in chrome Version 36.0.1985.125 m - it work well for me.

2. Exam experience - as you have already scheduled exam so my best wishes to you. Besides exam preparation as per blue print, few more things you might like to consider -

• get feel of exam UI on vmware demo at VMware Education
• learn to read context diagnally - ie read and comprehend large content in less time
• time management is key - keep a count of visio designs. There are total six designs - you should be prepared to get last design question even after 90 questions so save atleast 25-30 minutes till last moment.

Exam challenge is with both - the exceptional vSphere knowledge and usage of exam interface for the design questions - and most importantly virtualization experience does matter.

Exam result is instantaneous - so hit "end" button with fingers crossed

[JPM300]

Hey Kamesh_a

Like previously posted it works best in Chrome and Firefox, however I did test it with the latest or new latest versions of Chrone, Firefox, and IE.  What version of browser are you currently running?  Also make sure you have it in fullscreen mode as it works best that way.

The challenge is on the study material and how everyone interprets it differently.  IE Constraints, Risks, Assumptions, ect.  That and since it is a design exam there is no one right way of doing some of the questions.  However between learning the interface, being under a time crunch, and getting all the questions / design questions done it makes for a very challenging exam especially for first comers.  That's why I built the simulator to help people adjust to what the questions in the exam will be like.  The 5.5 exam no longer has multiple choice so you don't have to worry about that.  It only has drag-n-drop and design questions.

Hopefully you got the simulator working, let me know if you have any issues with it and I can take a look into it

[jayhebe1983]

pretty good my bro, I like your statement about the failure, now I am preparing my DCD exam, I will always remember what you said: Failure is only a stepping stone to success.