VCAP-DCA (VDCA550) - FINALLY NAILED IT

I feel proud to inform you that I have passed my VMware Certified Advanced Professional - Data Centre Design (VCAP-DCD) certification exam successfully. It was my first attempt and I can say I was lucky.

The VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Data Center Design Exam tests certification candidates on their skills and abilities designing and integrating multi-site, large enterprise virtualized environments. The VCAP-DCD Exam is a core component of the VCAP-DCD certification.

The certification requires a passing score on the exam, and the candidate must be a VCP-DCV (VMware Certified Professional – Data Center Virtualization) to obtain this certification.

I have fulfilled all the pre-requisites to attain this certification. It gives me strength to move to the next step, i.e. VMware Certified Advanced Professional – Data Centre Administrator (VCAP-DCA).

I had set a milestone for myself which is achieving VMware Certified Design Expert (VCDX). There are currently only 202 people worldwide who have been able to achieve this feat so far.

VCP (achieved on 18-Sep-14) —> VCAP-DCD (achieved on 05-Aug-15) —> VCAP-DCA (preparing) —> VCDX (target)

My Experience
Not a single multiple choice question came. The blueprint mentioned that there would be  46 questions, but I got only 22 questions. I had briefly gone thru http://www.elasticsky.co.uk. This really helped I think. However, I was lucky to score 380, and it was only by experience that I managed to pass. I had 30 min left to review after answering all the questions, but I was so much exhausted that I did not have the energy to review any design questions after reaching the end. I just pressed the end button with 30 min to spare!!!

All I can say:

• Attempt the design questions first, and mark the others to answer later in review. 
• Go thru the site which has a lot of important links for preparation: http://www.elasticsky.co.uk/vcap5-dcd/ 
• There are few practice designs available on http://www.elasticsky.co.uk/practice-questions/.
• You may already know this, but the design questions are drag and drop and it is not like Visio. You need to practice, so try getting used to it using the demo from VMware: VCAP5-DCD Exam Demo [149330] at http://mylearn.vmware.com

All the best!!!