Passed the VCP550
DirtyWilly
Member Posts: 20 ■■■□□□□□□□
in VMware
Passed the VCP550 (VCP5-DCV) with a high score.
Here's what I used.
CBT Nuggets - Great for learning concepts, also helped for building my own lab. (Recommend this first.)
VCP5-DCV Official Cert Guide - Good book, lacking quite a bit, however, the included practice exams are invaluable.
Mastering VMware vSphere 5.5 - As everyone says, great book, packed full of information, practically a requirement.
MeasureUp Practice Questions - These most accurately simulated the actual testing conditions.
VMware White-Papers on Each Topic - Read nearly every white-paper available on each product/topic.
VMware Maximums - Read it once a day every day/every few days, then covered numbers and tested myself. Boring but works.
Whitebox Lab - Built my own lab for about $600 in parts. EVGA Z170 Stinger worked flawlessly. Highly recommend nesting ESXi.
I didn't find the blueprint handy in the least, I just don't learn like that.
Take lots of notes, I found the books to be purposefully vague sometimes so they could ask you a chapter review question. WTF is this? CBT was great for getting up to speed, highly recommended first. The official cert guide was pretty basic but mostly necessary to build skills on. The included practice exams were actually pretty good, even if they didn't reflect the exam type questions. Though, I will mention some of the exam questions were close. Mastering 5.5 is the bread & butter, you need to read this but it will take awhile to crawl through. MeasureUp was decent, there might have been a few similar questions to the exam, but what really helps is the timing and modelling. You will have NO time left on the exam, MeasureUp will show you why.
A lot of the exam seemed to be based on the vSphere 5.5 Documentation or the white papers, read them. You'll get obscure questions from these docs. The maximums didn't seem as important, but just do yourself a favor and drill yourself once a day, once every other day on the maximums. By the end of the week you'll be a pro. You'll need a lab, plain and simple. You're not passing this test without a lab. There are so many items you'll try to recreate from the book and run into some weird error. Why is this tab missing, why didn't DRS work, why can I delete this now but not before, etc. Lab. I got away with 16GB RAM but it was tight, stuff crashed.
In my opinion this test is equal to about 1.5-2 Microsoft tests, so doable. Thankfully the questions don't make you want to punch yourself in the face like MS questions do though. I think most people that go in with the basics, just CBT, just press book, won't quite get 300. That seems to be the sticking point. Someone that does all the labs, the mastering book, the practice questions will pass. Good luck, only about a month left, don't forget you need the course requirement.
Here's what I used.
CBT Nuggets - Great for learning concepts, also helped for building my own lab. (Recommend this first.)
VCP5-DCV Official Cert Guide - Good book, lacking quite a bit, however, the included practice exams are invaluable.
Mastering VMware vSphere 5.5 - As everyone says, great book, packed full of information, practically a requirement.
MeasureUp Practice Questions - These most accurately simulated the actual testing conditions.
VMware White-Papers on Each Topic - Read nearly every white-paper available on each product/topic.
VMware Maximums - Read it once a day every day/every few days, then covered numbers and tested myself. Boring but works.
Whitebox Lab - Built my own lab for about $600 in parts. EVGA Z170 Stinger worked flawlessly. Highly recommend nesting ESXi.
I didn't find the blueprint handy in the least, I just don't learn like that.
Take lots of notes, I found the books to be purposefully vague sometimes so they could ask you a chapter review question. WTF is this? CBT was great for getting up to speed, highly recommended first. The official cert guide was pretty basic but mostly necessary to build skills on. The included practice exams were actually pretty good, even if they didn't reflect the exam type questions. Though, I will mention some of the exam questions were close. Mastering 5.5 is the bread & butter, you need to read this but it will take awhile to crawl through. MeasureUp was decent, there might have been a few similar questions to the exam, but what really helps is the timing and modelling. You will have NO time left on the exam, MeasureUp will show you why.
A lot of the exam seemed to be based on the vSphere 5.5 Documentation or the white papers, read them. You'll get obscure questions from these docs. The maximums didn't seem as important, but just do yourself a favor and drill yourself once a day, once every other day on the maximums. By the end of the week you'll be a pro. You'll need a lab, plain and simple. You're not passing this test without a lab. There are so many items you'll try to recreate from the book and run into some weird error. Why is this tab missing, why didn't DRS work, why can I delete this now but not before, etc. Lab. I got away with 16GB RAM but it was tight, stuff crashed.
In my opinion this test is equal to about 1.5-2 Microsoft tests, so doable. Thankfully the questions don't make you want to punch yourself in the face like MS questions do though. I think most people that go in with the basics, just CBT, just press book, won't quite get 300. That seems to be the sticking point. Someone that does all the labs, the mastering book, the practice questions will pass. Good luck, only about a month left, don't forget you need the course requirement.
Comments
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nisti2
Member Posts: 503 ■■■■□□□□□□
Thanks for sharing!! Congrats!!2020 Year goals:
Already passed: Oracle Cloud, AZ-900
Taking AZ-104 in December.
"Certs... is all about IT certs!" -
greg9891
Member Posts: 1,189 ■■■■■■■□□□
Congrats!:
Upcoming Certs: VCA-DCV 7.0, VCP-DCV 7.0, Oracle Database 1Z0-071, PMP, Server +, CCNP
Proverbs 6:6-11Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise, Which, having no captain, Overseer or ruler, Provides her supplies in the summer, And gathers her food in the harvest. How long will you slumber, O sluggard?
When will you rise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, A little folding of the hands to sleep, So shall your poverty come on you like a prowler And your need like an armed man. -
DirtyWilly
Member Posts: 20 ■■■□□□□□□□
Thanks for the congrats, meant a lot to get this done. Took about 3 months btw, but I work with VMware everyday. Over 10 years experience working with VMware.
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blargoe
Member Posts: 4,174 ■■■■■■■■■□
Congratulations!IT guy since 12/00
Recent: 11/2019 - RHCSA (RHEL 7); 2/2019 - Updated VCP to 6.5 (just a few days before VMware discontinued the re-cert policy...)
Working on: RHCE/Ansible
Future: Probably continued Red Hat Immersion, Possibly VCAP Design, or maybe a completely different path. Depends on job demands... -
UncleB
Member Posts: 417
I don't know if you are aware, but the exam for 5.5 is being end-of-life'd shortly, but your cert remains valid for 3 years.
The upgrade exam to get VCP6 certified is fairly easy compared to the main 5.5 exam so you may want to consider it while your head is filled with the detail from the 5.5 exam (quite a few of the questions from the upgrade exam are directly relevant to 5.5 as well).
Just a thought.
Congrats on the pass. -
Dakinggamer87
Member Posts: 4,016 ■■■■■■■■□□
Congrats!!
*Associate's of Applied Sciences degree in Information Technology-Network Systems Administration
*Bachelor's of Science: Information Technology - Security, Master's of Science: Information Technology - Management
Matthew 6:33 - "Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need."
Certs/Business Licenses In Progress: AWS Solutions Architect, Series 6, Series 63 -
DirtyWilly
Member Posts: 20 ■■■□□□□□□□
I don't know if you are aware, but the exam for 5.5 is being end-of-life'd shortly, but your cert remains valid for 3 years.
The upgrade exam to get VCP6 certified is fairly easy compared to the main 5.5 exam so you may want to consider it while your head is filled with the detail from the 5.5 exam (quite a few of the questions from the upgrade exam are directly relevant to 5.5 as well).
Thanks! Already studying for the VCP6 while it's fresh!
That's kind of where I was with the VCP 5.5. I wasn't sure if I should just skip the VCP 5.5 because it's end-of-life soon, or move directly on to the VCA6 > VCP6. Either way would have involved two tests to obtain the VCP6, figured I'd gain more and have more options with the VCP 5.5 as opposed to the VCA6 > VCP6 route. You say the VCP6 upgrade exam is easy compared to full VCP 5.5 test. Is this the delta exam? Have you taken this by chance? Any advice? -
UncleB
Member Posts: 417
The delta exam has only 65 questions and I was finished in 40 mins (438/500) - prep was using this study guide:
VCP6-DCV Delta Study Guide - What's New v5.5 to v6 (2V0-621D) | Virten.net
as well as a long trawl through the official docs:
https://pubs.vmware.com/vsphere-60/index.jsp#com.vmware.vsphere.doc/GUID-1B959D6B-41CA-4E23-A7DB-E9165D5A0E80.html
It took me a week to cover the material and get ready for the exam and I have never touched VMWare 6 (I have used 5.5 for a while) - I don't need labs to understand things the same way some others do.
VMWare certification is more of a box ticking exercise for my CV so I won't be taking it any further until it is due to expire. -
scott28tt
Member Posts: 686 ■■■■■□□□□□
I don't know if you are aware, but the exam for 5.5 is being end-of-life'd shortly, but your cert remains valid for 3 years.
It's 2 years actually, for all VCP certifications.VCP2 / VCP3 / VCP4 / VCP5 / VCAP4-DCA / VCI / vExpert 2010-2012
Blog - http://vmwaretraining.blogspot.com
Twitter - http://twitter.com/vmtraining
Email - vmtraining.blog@gmail.com -
someperson49
Member Posts: 82 ■■■□□□□□□□
I passed this also, didn't think I was going to get this done before the voucher expired but gave it a try and I did. I think I will also try and do the delta exam and get the VCP6.
I haven't received a email from VMware to confirm the pass yet though, it does show the pass on certmetrics.com -
UncleB
Member Posts: 417
It's 2 years actually, for all VCP certifications.
You are absolutely right - I just checked the expiry date and it is just 2 years. That sucks!
VMWare are pretty mean with the whole certification thing, what with the need for a training course before you can sit an exam, the exam being full of trivial details (IMHO) that are not relevant to real world use and then requiring you to renew every 24 months. -
UncleB
Member Posts: 417
someperson49 wrote: »I haven't received a email from VMware to confirm the pass yet though, it does show the pass on certmetrics.com
Contrats on the pass.
I didn't get an email for any of the VMWare certs I passed, but if you go to the VMWare cert site:
https://mylearn.vmware.com/mgrReg/login.cfm?ui=www_cert
on the right click on Certification Manager then on the Check Your Certification Status button which takes you to Certmetrics.com
It will list the status, so I think this is just another area VMWare are letting us down with - an email is so easy to send since you have to register with it in the first place.
Look on the bright side, it will soon be time to start studying for an new exam before the old one expires LOL... -
swamprat
Member Posts: 76 ■■■□□□□□□□
DirtyWilly wrote: »Thanks! Already studying for the VCP6 while it's fresh!
Congratulations ont he pass! Also, definitely think this is a good idea. Both because it will be easier when fresh, an because I'm seeing a lot of job posts specifying VCP 6 now. -
DirtyWilly
Member Posts: 20 ■■■□□□□□□□
Thanks again for the links @UncleB.
Congrats @someperson49 on the pass! I think it takes up to 48 hours to show up. -
someperson49
Member Posts: 82 ■■■□□□□□□□
Yes it has shown up, but its unbelievable that they don't send an email to confirm the pass, especially since they keep emailing about some training courses.
