Lately i have received a couple of questions regarding how to prepare (what to study and for how long) before taking VMware certification exams. Basically, it all comes down to your current knowledge meaning it is not that easy to make recommendations. In this blog post i’ll include what i personally do (practice & study) before taking the different exams.
First of all, download the certification blueprint and use it as a study guide for the certification you are about to take. The blueprint will not be mentioned specifically in each section below but it is included in my practice and study process for each exam. The blueprint can be found in the specific certification area at the VMware certification home page
VMware Certified Professional (VCP-Cloud & VCP-DVC)
VMware online documentation is worth reading and my focus lies on what can be done and not that much how you do things in the UI or from the command line.
One example includes what is required to perform a storage vMotion?
VMware Certified Advanced Professional (VCAP-DCA & VCAP-CIA)
For the more advanced hands-on certification i usually:
- Read up on different advanced settings including ESXi, vCenter Server and vCloud Director.
- Practicing PowerCLI.
- Play around in the command line and UI for the software included in the exam.
VMware Certified Advanced Professional (VCAP-DCD & VCAP-CID)
These exams are about the design process. I’m not a native english speaker meaning i always gets some additional time for each exam and timing is usually not a problem. However the design exams contains a lot of text and that is usually my main concern. I finished the VCAP-CID with only 2 minutes to go and this is not a test where you can mark questions for review and go back.
Things critical to understand for the design certifications includes:
- The definition of conceptual, logical and physical design.
- Being able to determine/identify what is included in the different sections.
- How to determine risks, constraints, assumptions, requirements.