VCAP6.5-DCV Design Exam Experience

After completing my VCP 6.5 back in May 2018 I decided to pursue the next round of VMware certifications.

I went for the VCAP 6.5 Design exam first as this was multiple choice and I could sit this closer to home, the Deploy exam can only be sat at specific test centers and is a good distance from where I currently work and live....I decided to leave this one till last.

Sitting the Exam for the first time - VMworld Barcelona 2018

I was lucky enough to be able to attend VMworld last year and so took the opportunity to have a crack at the design vcap exam for the first time at a discounted rate.

The test center was one of the best setups Ive been to, especially considering it was a temporary one setup for the duration of the conference, large screens and adequate keyboard and mouse to complete the multiple choice exam.

As this was a busy week I never put much time in to prepare beforehand but wanted to use the discounted exam price to find my level and guage how much work was needed to achieve a pass the next time round, or maybe even get lucky and pass first time out.

I failed the attempt but not by a huge margin, the main factor that caught me out was "time" I ran the exam right to wire and managed to get answers down for all questions.

Exam Preparation for the second attempt

Here are the materials I used for prepare for my resit:

Download the blueprint for the exam from VMware and study it https://www.vmware.com/education-services/certification/vcap6-5-dcv-design-exam.html
Mastering vSphere 6.0 https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/mastering-vmware-vsphere/9781118925157/ I read this cover to cover, not sure how much this helped me on the exam but it was a good refresher on areas that I do not spend much time working with during my day job.
vBrown Bag - You Tube Video Sessions - https://vbrownbag.com/tag/vcap/ I watched these all back to back, the content is very useful, the 6.0 exam is covered but is all relevant for the 6.5 exam apart from the interactive design sections as they were removed for the 6.5 version of the exam.

Other great blogging sites that offer even more information and definitely helped me on my way.

A massive thanks to these guys who have already been down the same path and documented it....

Test \ Sample Questions - Word of Warning

I did search online for as many example questions as I could find and did manage to find some (but not many).... Trying to memorize any sort of question bank and attempting to pass an exam is basically cheating not to mention dangerous, whilst it is useful to have an idea of the format and type of questions you may encounter on any exam, trusting the answers to any sort of question posted online is very risky as the majority are often wrong \ open to interpretation.

Sitting the Exam the second time - Local Test Center - Passed!

My second attempt was booked for March this year (so a good gap from VMworld) this was due to work commitments and other things, but was mainly done to allow for further preparation time as I didn't just want to "scrape" a pass and knew what to expect on the exam this time.

The main thing I was determined to do second time round was manage my time better and allow for at least one extra pass of the questions before submitting.

After completing some decent preparation (3-4 weeks using the materials listed above ) I achieved a passing score, I was a lot more confident on the second attempt and managed to get through the questions faster to allow plenty of time for reviewing before submission.

I hope this provides some insight in to what is needed to pass the VMware VCAP 6.5 Design Exam.

The VCAP 6.5 Deploy Exam is booked ! Another post detailing my experience and preparation to follow ....

Thanks for reading

Adam