Failed VCP550 DCV

[Vinsane]

Well, I'm feeling pretty frustrated at this point with this exam that I did not pass. Here's what I used to prepare.

1. I have about 6 months hands on experience designing/deploying/administering vSphere + vCloud

2. Mastering vSphere 5.5 Book from amazon I read cover to cover TWICE, took notes, highlighted, went through all the examples in a Dev Lab

3. Went through the 5.5 Blueprint, went down each item and made sure I understood them

4. I did the www.cbtnuggets.com VCP 5.5 videos about 10-15 hours worth, following along in a dev lab.

The exam was 2 hours 135 questions, I felt rushed the entire time, seriously? Less then 1 minute per question? That's not long enough for me to read through 250 Characters, comprehend and understand the question fully and find an appropriate answer. By the end of the exam I barely escaped with 3 minutes left.

Not only that, but the Blueprint does not list ANYTHING about VSAN, so why is it referenced multiple times in the exam???

I honestly don't know what I can do any better on this exam, the questions are from far left field and there's no possible way I could prepare for these using any of the resources above. You literally better have true real world experience and enough of it and hope you've run into these scenarios before to be able to fully answer the questions correctly. The theory and brief vague concepts to study leave me in analysis paralysis wanting to know more specifics on what I need to study.

Sigh.....oh well. :smileycry::smileyshocked:!!!!

[virtualdive]

Hi Vinsane,

Sorry to hear about the results. And yes you are correct, there isn't anything mentioned about VSAN in the blueprint, I am suprised that you got VSAN in the exam!! VMware exams are known to be from blueprint always.

Drop an email to certification@vmware.com or talk to the Certification Program manager.

Thanks,

[scott28tt]

Whilst VSAN isn't mentioned specifically in the objectives, there is this objective in section 1.1 that could explain why there might be questions on it:

• Identify the various data center solutions that interact with vSphere (Horizon, SRM, etc.)

[Vinsane]

Also oddly, when I started the exam they made it very clear that this was a "Beta Exam" I dont know if this is correct or if the testing center never updated the exam to the full release VCP550.....It sounds like I do need to speak with someone at VMware.

[JoshuaAndrewsVM]

>Beta Exam

Misprint.  It wasn't caught during the changeover after the beta but should be fixed shortly. 

[Closedgate1213]

HI Vinsane,

I do have to agree that 135 questions in 2 hours is definitely pushing it, as I took my VCP550 exam I was constantly looking at the clock, and most of the time I was on the minute per question. I thought that I was doing alright as from experience of other exams, there is usually a few quick and simple questions to give you some extra time for the other questions. I got to about 50 minutes to and I was now behind by about 10 - 15 questions (and what do you do when you're behind - You rush).  Even with rushing I still missed the last 2 questions.

They've definitely turned it up a fair bit.

I also received the "Beta-Exam" comment at the start.

Anyway, Good luck for your next attempt. Count this as an experience and use it.

[jwhitehv]

scott28tt wrote:

Whilst VSAN isn't mentioned specifically in the objectives, there is this objective in section 1.1 that could explain why there might be questions on it:

• Identify the various data center solutions that interact with vSphere (Horizon, SRM, etc.)

Yeah, that's a stretch. NSX, vCloud Director, vCloud Connector, etc would all be fair game under that scenario.    

[JoshuaAndrewsVM]

Yes, which is how VMware Server, Workstation etc used to show up on the VCP exams.

[VRBitman]

Hey Josh/Scott, can you tell us if the questions on secondary topics such as Horizon, SRM etc. often go "in-depth" ?

[scott28tt]

Going from the blueprint ("Identify the various...") plus my past experience with VCP exams, an understanding of which product gives a certain capability is a good thing to know...

[JoshuaAndrewsVM]

If it's not directly on the blueprint it won't be in-depth.

Of course "in-depth" may vary, but imagine a room of vSphere Subject Matter Experts being asked if something is "in-depth" as if their consensus decides the matter.

[jwhitehv]

I read this thread during my study phase, thankfully, and went back to the documents to investigate VSAN. It's definitely covered in the Storage guide (section 19 - Virtual SAN), and I made the personal decision not to study beyond it and the scenarios in the Hands On Lab. I don't remember being stressed by any VSAN questions, so that might have done the trick. For SRM, I didn't find it in the Availability guide, but I'd spent the past few months running HOL-SDC-1305 a lot. I don't remember whether SRM came up, but if it did, I wasn't stressed based the knowledge I gained from the entry level documentation and that lab.

Ultimately, if I hadn't passed based on missing VSAN questions, I'd have raised an issue, as it's not on the Blueprint. We constantly tell people to work the blueprint, so to have things show up outside of it is really troubling.