VCAP5-DCD today - experience
Essendon
Member Posts: 4,546 ■■■■■■■■■■
Brutal!
100 questions all up, with 6 design ones thrown in, how's it humanely possible to concentrate for almost 4 long hours? Two designs just wouldnt work, I was mid way through one of them when it went out of frame and then suddenly random HBA cards showed up. I couldn't delete them, Start Over/Undo didnt help either. Another question asked me to do something while the Create objects were of something altogether different. Bizarre... One design question was so long-winded that I got lost in it. Spent like 15 minutes without having drawn anything on the canvas. At that point, I just clicked next to move on to the next question. Only 2 design questions were 'easier', there wasn't random stuff thrown here and there and the scenario was well presented.
Apart from the goofy design questions, I probably had more than my fair share of drag and drop questions. Likely had about a dozen of them. Not easy I tell ya! Some of drag and drop bits had almost identical wording, for some you could/should drag multiple items across. There were your typical multiple choice questions, choose one/two/three. Didnt have any of those choose-any-that-apply type ones, thankfully.
I have a 100% discount voucher that I got from attending the Design Workshop that I can apply towards the next attempt. I'll cop it on the chin and count my first attempt as a test run. Now I know what this beast looks like.
How do I regroup - Read more and more of the case studies that the blueprint links to. I'll read Dave's VCDX doco in detail too. They also like to ask intricate details, stuff like how many NIC's a VM can possibly take and how you multi-NIC vMotion (neither on my exam, no NDA infraction, just giving you an idea). There was a fair bit of upgrading systems thrown in, in short they asked me questions about pretty much everything.
O and I scored a 256, FWIW. Dont think I deserved a pass comparing with what I knew/how I prepared and what the exam threw at me. Back at it tomorrow, need to give my brain a much needed rest, it's fried.
100 questions all up, with 6 design ones thrown in, how's it humanely possible to concentrate for almost 4 long hours? Two designs just wouldnt work, I was mid way through one of them when it went out of frame and then suddenly random HBA cards showed up. I couldn't delete them, Start Over/Undo didnt help either. Another question asked me to do something while the Create objects were of something altogether different. Bizarre... One design question was so long-winded that I got lost in it. Spent like 15 minutes without having drawn anything on the canvas. At that point, I just clicked next to move on to the next question. Only 2 design questions were 'easier', there wasn't random stuff thrown here and there and the scenario was well presented.
Apart from the goofy design questions, I probably had more than my fair share of drag and drop questions. Likely had about a dozen of them. Not easy I tell ya! Some of drag and drop bits had almost identical wording, for some you could/should drag multiple items across. There were your typical multiple choice questions, choose one/two/three. Didnt have any of those choose-any-that-apply type ones, thankfully.
I have a 100% discount voucher that I got from attending the Design Workshop that I can apply towards the next attempt. I'll cop it on the chin and count my first attempt as a test run. Now I know what this beast looks like.
How do I regroup - Read more and more of the case studies that the blueprint links to. I'll read Dave's VCDX doco in detail too. They also like to ask intricate details, stuff like how many NIC's a VM can possibly take and how you multi-NIC vMotion (neither on my exam, no NDA infraction, just giving you an idea). There was a fair bit of upgrading systems thrown in, in short they asked me questions about pretty much everything.
O and I scored a 256, FWIW. Dont think I deserved a pass comparing with what I knew/how I prepared and what the exam threw at me. Back at it tomorrow, need to give my brain a much needed rest, it's fried.
Comments
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kj0
Member Posts: 767
Unlucky mate. It will all be worth it in the end, keep at it. I can only imagine how difficult this one would be.
Best of luck for the next attempt and hope that you pass with flying colours! -
jibbajabba
Member Posts: 4,317 ■■■■■■■■□□
Meh - I wish I got a voucher after the Design Workshop - mind you, I was there at version 4 - I am not even sure the VCAP existed. The Design Workshop was like a big sales pitch .. won't do that one again ..
But thanks for sharing ... Guess its true that the DCD is harder in many ways than the DCA ..My own knowledge base made public: http://open902.com
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dave330i
Member Posts: 2,091 ■■■■■■■■■■
I wouldn't use my VCDX doc. I didn't follow VMware best practice in some areas (failback & swap space comes to mind). Difficulty of DCD vs. DCA is relative. If you do O&M, DCA will be easier. If you spend your days designing, adding new functionalities, DCD is easier.
It sounds like you were close. One exam tip I can share is that usually the last scentience or paragraph has all the info you need to answer the question.2018 Certification Goals: Maybe VMware Sales Cert
"Simplify, then add lightness" -Colin Chapman -
Asif Dasl
Member Posts: 2,116 ■■■■■■■■□□
Hard luck man, I sure you will get it done soon though - it's on your radar. Good luck with your next attempt anyways! -
Essendon
Member Posts: 4,546 ■■■■■■■■■■
Thanks for the commiserations guys, I didnt sulk over it too much last night. Though I dont think it'd matter, but I logged a ticket with VMware' Edu Ops to report the problem with two scenarios not being right. Next attempt in a month or so!