Stanly Jan-Mar

mzx380

All
I just received an email for the Stanly VM course from Jan-Mar. I was originally planning on taking this later as I was told my turn would be in the spring but for now I'm going to put my CCNA studies on hold in order to study and take this cert. Does anyone who's recently taken Stanly have any advice for me? I already hear not to purchase their book but can anyone else recommend additional study material?

Another question: I do have a background in VM for my current position but I don't really do anything in depth with it. How much time did any Stanly taker take to study after the course was over before they ended up taking the test?

Thanks

volfkhat

mzx380 wrote: »

I was originally planning on taking this later as I was told my turn would be in the spring but for now I'm going to put my CCNA studies on hold in order to study and take this cert. Does anyone who's recently taken Stanly have any advice for me?

The class can easily be bested by adhering to a simple formula:
Day 1: Reserve a 4-hour-block to watch all required lectures. Give them your FULL undivided attention. Eliminate all distractions.
Day 2: Reserve a 4-hour-block to complete all required labs. Earlier in the Day is Better than Later. Do NOT wait until Sunday night to get started.
Finito.

mzx380 wrote: »

How much time did any Stanly taker take to study after the course was over before they ended up taking the test?

The class will NOT allow you to Pass the exam (especially without any book). It will only fulfills the 'Course' requirement.

If you are truly serious about passing the Exam....
you would be better off buying legitimate study-materials and studying that for 8 weeks.

My advice:
Don't put off your CCNA studies. Continue forward with your current plans.

Just reserve 8-hours per week to "get through" the vm course.
Study for the exam at some later date (but watch for the retirement)

mzx380

volfkhat wrote: »

Study for the exam at some later date (but watch for the retirement)

Volfkhat Thank you for all of your advice, its very helpful. I bought a copy of mastering vsphere 5.5 by Lowe & Marshall in order to read after the course was over to help with the exam. I know that there is VCP6 out and I'm learning 5, do you think that the retirement is pending?

Also, as much as I would love to continue with my CCNA, I don't think I would be able to study both at the same time since they both require a lot of attention. I actually hoping to do other less involved certification prep at the same time so I've thought about ITIL foundations.

volfkhat

Oh brother....
lol

"do you think that the retirement is pending?"

Hell if i know!
But i know VMware just retired their 5.1 Cert in December.
So..... you would probably have until December 2016, at least?

Also, as much as I would love to continue with my CCNA, I don't think I would be able to study both at the same time since they both require a lot of attention.

That's a fair point. of course.... i disagree :]
How long have you been studying for the CCNA thus far?

Or, perhaps a Better Question:
WHAt do you WANT to do??
Virtualization or Networking.

There you have it.

I actually hoping to do other less involved certification prep at the same time so I've thought about ITIL foundations.

People have passed the ITIL in less than 21 days.
There's some chick on the forum (CLaire, i think) who sells a book that Everyone recommends.

Read it, PASS it, then get back to you CCNA studies.

Or, like you said:
Study HARD now for the VCP. Then resume the CCNA immediately afterwards :]

mzx380

volfkhat wrote: »

Oh brother....


Hell if i know!
But i know VMware just retired their 5.1 Cert in December.
So..... you would probably have until December 2016, at least?

Still worth it to take the cert though so I will plan accordingly.

volfkhat wrote: »

That's a fair point. of course.... i disagree :]
How long have you been studying for the CCNA thus far?

Or, perhaps a Better Question:
WHAt do you WANT to do??
Virtualization or Networking.

I've been studying for a few weeks. I'm looking to take the CCNA at the very least to strengthen my networking knowledge and feel that it would be a good coupling with the VMWare exam. I'm looking to get into cloud work but just want to certify myself in these concepts since I use them for work (albeit at a superficial level)

volfkhat wrote: »

People have passed the ITIL in less than 21 days.
There's some chick on the forum (CLaire, i think) who sells a book that Everyone recommends.

Read it, PASS it, then get back to you CCNA studies.

Or, like you said:
Study HARD now for the VCP. Then resume the CCNA immediately afterwards :]

Yeah, I read up on that in the ITIL sub forum and bought the book yesterday. I'm looking to study and take that immediately while paring that with VM. Once VM is done it's back to Cisco but for now I'm in the middle of trying to build a lab in preparation for the course and my test. I saw a few videos on youtube for setting up a 5.5 lab but am not sure if this is exactly what I would need.

Any other advice you can give would be great.

mu5ic92

volfkhat wrote: »

The class can easily be bested by adhering to a simple formula:
Day 1: Reserve a 4-hour-block to watch all required lectures. Give them your FULL undivided attention. Eliminate all distractions.
Day 2: Reserve a 4-hour-block to complete all required labs. Earlier in the Day is Better than Later. Do NOT wait until Sunday night to get started.
Finito.

Following this two day plan in about how long would I be finishing the ICM Stanley Course? Starting on Jan 20th.

volfkhat

The class is about 8-10 weeks;
So there you have it :]

Although... there's nothing stopping you from doing All the Assignments in the first month.
lol

As for a home lab....
It doesn't have to be Server-Class hardware; all you need is compatible Hardware (easier said, than done however).

I read that NUC is esxi 5.5 compatible. Might be worth checking out?

Also, get your eval ESXi license here:
https://my.vmware.com/en/web/vmware/evalcenter?p=free-esxi5

mu5ic92

But being that its 8-10 weeks does that mean it would take 4 hours everyday of the week to complete on time? Or would that be to expedite the completion of the course.

volfkhat

mu5ic92 wrote: »

But being that its 8-10 weeks does that mean it would take 4 hours everyday of the week to complete on time? Or would that be to expedite the completion of the course.

Oh i see.
No, i was referring to simply passing the class. 8 hours a week (to complete the assignments) is All you really need.

mzx380

I think what Volfkhat means is that you can handle the course on a week to week basis by devoting 2 x 4 hour blocks a week. In addition to studying to complete the course, individual reading will have to be done. The objective of Stanly shouldn't be to have you ready for the exam but to complete the course that would bar you from sitting for the VCP Cert test.

I bought a book to read outside of course time and hope to set up a lab in the next 24 hours to prep for the course. Haven't received any info from the people at Stanly yet regarding the course. Would I be ok if I have my lab ready to go by this weekend or would that be cutting it too close?

volfkhat

mzx380 wrote: »

I think what Volfkhat means is that you can handle the course on a week to week basis by devoting 2 x 4 hour blocks a week.

Yep, well stated :]

mzx380 wrote: »

In addition to studying to complete the course, individual reading will have to be done.

Reading is NOT really required in order to complete this course.

mzx380 wrote: »

I bought a book to read outside of course time and hope to set up a lab in the next 24 hours to prep for the course. Haven't received any info from the people at Stanly yet regarding the course. Would I be ok if I have my lab ready to go by this weekend or would that be cutting it too close?

The course included remote access to a virtual lab environment.
It was actually pretty nicely done.

You don't need a home-lab for this course :]
(but it's definitely helps for passing the exam)

mzx380

Volfkhat
Thank you for all the advice that you've been supplying so far. When I meant additional reading had to be done, I meant in order to pass the cert. exam because I would like to be prepared to take it shortly after the course is completed. Although I didn't know about the virtual environment, its certainly great to know thanks. I am just looking into building a home lab in order to prep for the exam while taking the required course.

volfkhat

Cools :]

My experience was that the Video lectures Sucked.
But the Virtual Labs were filled with value.

Let us know how the home-lab comes along (hardware, software versions, etc).
I'm always interested to hear what other do!

And also share your impressions of the course. I'm curious if it has improved over time :]

rbanksy

anyone had an e-mail from the instructor yet? it starts tomorrow!

STANLY_CC

Emails will be sent today. Campus was closed yesterday for the MLK holiday.

rbanksy wrote: »

anyone had an e-mail from the instructor yet? it starts tomorrow!

tmurphy3100

Question, how long does our discount voucher stay valid for? And are there any plans to retire the VCP550 yet? I am from the OCT-DEC.

aschenbecher

I got my email today.

It stated that i'm required to buy the book ?

I thought it was optional, do i really have to buy the book ?

Oh and i've attached a pic of my server below. its a Dell poweredge r610 2x xeon and 48gb ecc ram.

I made some mods to it by adding a quadro gpu and a additional network port.

its running esxi 5.5.

volfkhat

Nice lookin Box :]

Question:
Did VMware remove the 1-socket limit of its ESXi evaluation version?

I didn't think it could run on a multi-processor machine...
?

eugenechia

Hi everyone,I'm also enrolled in this course. I have previously completed VCP5.1 classroom course 3 years ago. Took the VCP5 exam, got certified and I stupidly let it expire.So here I am, starting all over. Good thing I found SCC (save myself a lot of moolah).This shall commence my journey towards VCDX too

STANLY_CC

The textbook is required, and is beneficial when studying for the certification exam. However, we cannot force anyone to purchase it.

aschenbecher wrote: »

I got my email today.

It stated that i'm required to buy the book ?

I thought it was optional, do i really have to buy the book ?

Oh and i've attached a pic of my server below. its a Dell poweredge r610 2x xeon and 48gb ecc ram.

I made some mods to it by adding a quadro gpu and a additional network port.

its running esxi 5.5.

mzx380

STANLY_CC wrote: »

The textbook is required, and is beneficial when studying for the certification exam. However, we cannot force anyone to purchase it.

This is the right one? Please let me know so i can purchase
Thanks
http://www.bkstr.com/ProductDisplay?urlRequestType=Base&catalogId=10001&categoryId=9604&productId=73591361&errorViewName=ProductDisplayErrorView&langId=-1&top_category=&parent_category_rn=&storeId=37904

STANLY_CC

Yes, and there is also a less expensive e-Book version available. You can contact our book store directly at 704-991-0229.

mzx380 wrote: »

This is the right one? Please let me know so i can purchase
Thanks
http://www.bkstr.com/ProductDisplay?urlRequestType=Base&catalogId=10001&categoryId=9604&productId=73591361&errorViewName=ProductDisplayErrorView&langId=-1&top_category=&parent_category_rn=&storeId=37904

aschenbecher

do i have to enroll in and complete "new student orientation" ?

STANLY_CC

No you do not need to complete the NSO.

aschenbecher wrote: »

do i have to enroll in and complete "new student orientation" ?

mzx380

Now that I have completed this course, I received the email via stanly that I can take the VCP exam at a discount, does anyone know if this expires? I would like to try and take this exam next month.
Any tips, please let me know
Thanks

BornToBeMild

The code expires 12 months after you "purchased" it for $0. Plenty of time, plus you can use it 3 times if you need to.

jontheuser

How is that book by Gilmore compared to others ?

metalone4

BornToBeMild wrote: »

The code expires 12 months after you "purchased" it for $0. Plenty of time, plus you can use it 3 times if you need to.

Wow, really? Are you saying that with the voucher you get from Stanly that you can use the discount code more than once if you fail the first couple of times? So, you can take the test 3 times (if needed), each with the 70% discount?

tmurphy3100

With the 5.5 exam retiring in June. Does the Stanly 5.5 class allow us to take either the 5.5, or 6 exam?

jamesleecoleman

I didn't see anything about the exam retiring on the website:
https://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrReg/plan.cfm?plan=12457&ui=www_cert

I looked for the words, "expire" and "retire". Nothing came up for me.

tmurphy3100

jamesleecoleman wrote: »

I didn't see anything about the exam retiring on the website:
https://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrReg/plan.cfm?plan=12457&ui=www_cert

I looked for the words, "expire" and "retire". Nothing came up for me.

Sorry I read a different post wrong. The VCAP5.5 is retiring. Looks like I still have plenty of time.