Happy Friday Community!
And an even better Friday for me after passing the VMware VCP-DCV this morning. Whew! What a challenge, but with some patient studying, practical experience, and hard work, it’s passable.
Review
As I shared in my Study Guide post from a few weeks ago, the exam has 70 questions and is 135 minutes long, which is 5 minutes more allotted time than the prior version. Unlike previous exams, I really needed most of the time to finish the questions and review my answers. I still had about 45-50 minutes left after my review. But on the last 2 VCP exam versions I’ve taken, I was able to finish and review in a little over an hour.
I think part of the reason for the extra time it took me to finish was the question format. They were normal questions but several sentences long (long for sure, but not book-length). As such, those took a little time to read, and verify whatever requirements were asked for. Thankfully there was also what I call ‘standard’ questions consisting of just a sentence or 2, which helped me make up time. It evens out. But as you know, when taking a cert exam, if you spend too much time on a few questions, you can lose track of time and fall a bit behind. So what I recommend is read the question, look at the answers, then re-read the question to verify what is asked for, then make a guess if you don’t definitively know the answer right off the bat then move on. As you know, you can go back and review it later.
Yes, the new items I discussed in my previous post are covered. With the VCP, there’s little which isn’t. But thankfully, you don’t have to dive full on into the weeds as it were, and need to know every nook and cranny about everything. There’s so many features and layers to vSphere now, you can’t possibly be expected to know every detail about all parts of VMware’s products. And I think VMware is well aware of this, and devises questions with this in mind. That being said, you still need to study. You still need to have hands-on experience. You still need to put in time. You do those things, and you should be able to pass. I passed with a little cushion, but not much. But, a pass is a pass 
Summary
Overall, this was a rewarding exam. VMware has done very well in my opinion the past few versions (2020 and 2021, and now 2023) of making scenario type questions requiring you to have knowledge about the feature(s) asked, but not necessarily diving into the details of those features. I say “Well done, VMware!”. They also throw in ‘standard’ questions asking about something without a scenario to even things out. Both question types can be challenging, but are answerable. I hope this review, as well as my Study Guide, help you in your studies if you decide to take the VCP-DCV as well. If you do, let me know how you did.
And a happy weekend to you all! 
