Yep, as you can tell from the title which is aptly named. I got my VCP5!!! I was super happy because I got a 383 on it. Granted I know it isn’t a 400+ score, but it is an awesome feeling passing by significantly more than just the hair on your chinny chin chin.

Yep, I am super stoked about it. The whole studying process for me this time was significantly easier than the VCP4 I thought. Part of that though could be because I passed the VCP4 though just under a year ago, so there is a decent amount from that which I still remember.

I also think a good part of my studying being easier was majorly in part because I found some awesome resources this time around. Which I will get to in a second….

All in all I thought the exam was tough but I didn’t think it was any tougher than the VCP4. Of course there were the couple of questions that come out of left field that no rational person studying would anticipate having to know, but with a calm head, some experience, and knowledge, you should be able to atleast make respectable guesses on.

Back to the resources I used… I feel like a lot of people do this so I am hesitant to do it, on the other hand you never know which sources people will find useful, so I might as well….

First everyone should use VMware’s official blueprint, which you can  get from googling VCP5 blueprint. This document goes over all the topics VMware says you should know in order to pass the exam. That seems to me like a pretty good source for what you should know!

Jason and Josh Complete BluePrint  I honestly cannot swear by this doc enough. They goes through each of the sections VMware says you should know for the exam and explain each section in detail. It is actually and legitimately awesome. Also if you ping @jaslanger or @joshcoen (the authors) they are super helpful with questions about their awesome guide.

The vReference Notes and vReference Card by @forbesguthrie Both of these are a super great study guides and reference guides for studying. I love both of them.

To give you an example of my study patterns. During the 4 days prior to my exam I read Jason and Josh’s Blueprint and the vReference Notes EACH 3 times. Thats like 500 pages, along with my other studying. I say this because that is how much I value both of those resources…..

A couple of great quizzes

The Slog

Elastic Sky

Both have great quizes. Also both have Maximum Quizzes. A lot people are saying there aren’t very many maximums on the exam. Whether that is true or not, the maximum question on the exam should be gimme’s there should be no reason to miss a maximum question on the exam, there are plenty of other questions to miss on the exam and the maximums are super easy to memorize… just do the quizes and look at the maximum doc from VMware until you have them down. Side Note: These quizzes are put out by the authors in their free time, if you get an answer wrong, get it right next time. And if you think you shouldn’t have gotten it wrong look up what the right answer should be. These two authors have great quizzes but no one is perfect :).

Of course although I didn’t use them specifically as study Material

Mastering vSphere 5

and

vSphere 5 Clustering Deepdive

I have written about both of them previously here and here. They are just great vSphere 5 resources and should not be ignored.

At the end of the day the exam comes down to a few things

Experience

Knowledge/Studying

Problem Solving Skills

Luck

Its all about the right combination of those 4 things whether you pass the exam or not. If you feel like you are lacking in one of those areas you better make sure you make up for it somewhere else.

Good Luck if you are taking the exam, and Seriously let me know @vnoob how you do on the exam!

Categories: VMware

4 Comments

Paul McSharry · February 1, 2012 at 11:08 am

congrats on the pass , and thanks for the mention.
All the best

ejh · March 30, 2012 at 8:17 am

Thanks for posting the references and your experience.. Just have to comment though on the twitter widget on your blog page. Its very distracting as it blinks out the page every time it updates. Reading this from ipad/safari.

cheers

    C-Rad · March 30, 2012 at 8:18 am

    Interesting, I was not aware of that. I will have to look into it. Thanks!

vNoob » Looking Forward At 2013 · January 7, 2013 at 10:40 am

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