Even though the VCP5 exam is only 5 weeks old at the time of writing, there are some amazing resources already available to help with those preparing for the exam.
I've always been an advocate of trying to prepare yourself using the official resources that VMware make available - the exam blueprint tells you what aspects of vSphere 5 you will get tested on, the exam format, number of questions, time limit, and the scoring system. The exam blueprint makes references to the official vSphere 5 documentation, which VMware validate the exam items against, and the mock exam gives a decent indication of the exam format. The VCP community forum is an excellent way of asking VCP5-related questions and getting furter information.
VCP5 homepage
VCP5 exam blueprint
VCP5 mock exam
VCP community forum
vSphere 5 documentation
A project that I completed towards the end of 2011 was an exclusive 1-day VCP5 workshop designed to focus you on the VCP5 exam and give you the chance to attempt over 100 practice questions, complete with questions/discussions with a VCI and others preparing for the exam.
Global Knowledge VCP5 Exam Preparation Workshop
Something that VMware don't publish is an expanded exam blueprint that includes all the relevant study notes, however there are a number of sites where people have done exactly that - be careful when using these study notes in case they're not accurate in comparison to the official documentation.
Forbes Guthrie's vReference card for vSphere 5
Forbes Guthrie's vReference documentation notes for vSphere 5
Preetam Zare's Prep Guide for VCP5.0
Andre Mauro's vInfrastructure VCP5 notes
Mike Preston's VCP5 study notes - with practice questions
Jason Langer's VCP5 study guide
There are a number of people in the VMware community that write and publish their own practice questions, normally as part of their own preparations - it should be noted that these do not necessarily indicate the types and styles of questions you will get in the real exam, and the accuracy of these practice exams cannot be guaranteed either.
Robert Stothard's VCP5 practice questions
Simon Long's VCP5 practice exams
Paul McSharry's VCP5 practice questions
Mike Preston's VCP5 practice questions - with study notes
To finish, here are a couple of exam experience blog posts from people that have taken the exam themselves, including me!
My review of the VCP5 exam
Eric Sloof's VCP5 exam experience
Brian Tobia's VCP5 exam thoughts and experience
Best of luck to anyone taking their VCP5 exam, I hope the resources above will prove useful to you!
nice blog.
ReplyDeleteDo you know of a VCP 5 Book from Sybex or others?
There is at least one VCP5 book being written at the moment, the links above all point to resources that are free and available now. Scott.
ReplyDeleteThis is such a nice article - did helped me a lot, hope to find it easy during exam.
ReplyDeleteJust a note for VCP5 candidates in Australia and New Zealand that VMware have launched a VCP5 promotion that includes free VCP Exam Prep Workshop and VCP Exam Voucher if the candidate books and sits on the VMware vSphere: Install, Configure, Manage [V5.0] course
ReplyDeleteMore details are:
http://www.powercloud.com.au/vmware-training/campaigns/vmware-vcp5-first-to-certify.html
cheers
-Tim
can i take vcp 5 exam without go to any training ? I am fresh in this fields.
ReplyDeletethx
@Anonymous (2 November 2011), if you are fresh you would probably stand little chance of passing the exam, and you would not be VCP5-certified until you have also completed an official vSphere 5 training course. I would definitely recommend you look at the vSphere 5: Install Configure Manage training.
ReplyDeleteNice and short information..good links..This will be very helpful for me during my VCP5 prep..NISH
ReplyDeletehow many successfull questions are needed in order to pass the VCP5 exam.The total number of questions are 85.
ReplyDeleteThanks in advance
@Anonymous (6 November 2011) - there's no such concept as that, the score does not equate to a number of questions or a percentage. All you can do is be as well-prepared as possible, and try and answer as many questions correct as you can (wouldn't you do that regardless of how the scoring worked?) Scott.
ReplyDeleteSybex will be releasing their VCP5 Study Books in May 2012.
ReplyDeleteScott,
ReplyDeleteLots of blogs saying exam is more difficult has the it become adaptive and looks for weaknesses and exploits on them?
Doing Blueprint on Workstation with 3 hosts with several years experience and booking exam for 10th Feb so can get in before 29th deadline.
Is there anywhere offering free vouchers for retests?
@Anonymous (4 January 2012) - I did post my own review of the exam, I need to add it into the main body of this post, but click on the VCP5 tab and you'll find it. There are not free re-take promotions available at this time. Scott.
ReplyDeleteHow much is the cost of the exam?
ReplyDelete@Anonymous (Mar 5, 2012) - the exam cost is currency-specific - the base price is US$175.
ReplyDeleteHello Scott, May u suggest me some good videos so that i can try learn myself or some tutorials ???
ReplyDeleteGood Morning Scott !! First off - Thanks for the impressive, Informative Blog.I hope you can clear my confusion around VCP 5 exam preparation. First off - I am VTSP 5 certified through a partnership program. This was a free online course, with 6 modules and 8 Hours of technical content, followed by test after each module. As I said - This was Free. Question is -
ReplyDelete# For getting certified in VCP 5, do I have to attend any pre-requisite courses offered by VMware ?
# I saw the online version of the training in VMWare site, and they charge ~5K for the fast track course online. I dont have that kind of money. Do I necessarily have to train with VMWare, or do you know of any cheaper alternatives you can recommend ?Any help or suggestion will be accepted with grace. Thanks in advance and have a Lovely weekend.
@Dharam, yes you must attend an official training course to qualify for VCP5 certification - the top set of links in the post above would tell you that.
ReplyDelete@Scott, Thanks a lot. still need to figure out how to cough up the $s. Thanks so much for the clarification.
DeleteCan I pass vcp5 by only going through latest dumps?
ReplyDeleteThe long answer is: dumps are created by cheats - they don't really help anyone, and VMware update their exam content regularly to keep one step ahead too. The short answer is: don't use them.
DeleteNice information.
ReplyDeleteThe VMWare Workstation 8 allows us to setup ESXi V5 as a virtual machine. That is amazing for learning purpose. I took the vSphere 5 course and using my VMs to redo all those labs. So far so good. I used a Linux VM to act as the iSCSI server and NFS server to exercise the datastore exercises. I am also getting a new laptop with 32GB to play with 2 ESXi hosts (certainly virtual) to finish all the labs. Then I will go for the certification.
Hi Scott,
ReplyDeleteI need ur help. i m working as a system admin(MCITP SA 2008) in windows but fresh in vmware. I want to become vcp. What is the 1st step towards the VCP5.
Thanks...
Follow the first set of links in the blog post.
Deletedear scott sir
ReplyDeletecan i give exam first and attend training later where as i used to work in Microsoft network since 6 year ago where as i work on vmware esxi 4.0 and want to change career where need certificate to change jobs so...
Yes you can but you won't hold the certification til you've also met the training requirement, so you won't be able to claim your are certified. Note also that if you take the training second you will need to email certification@vmware.com once you've finished your training asking them to validate your certification status.
Deletenow can you say me about if i take training class and what amount of discount voucher will get from vmware if i can get more than 50% than i will take training and exam.
DeleteEach training provider can charge whatever fee it chooses, offer whatever discount it chooses, and decide whether to offer promotions/discounts on the exam cost.
Deletethan a lost question if i have to go to get advance certificate after pass in vcp5 exam with training then again i have to take training as before for advance or it will work from
ReplyDeleteIf I understand you correctly you are asking about the VCAP certifications that follow on from VCP - they do not have a training requirement. Have a look at http://www.vmware.com/certification where you can find out more about all VMware certifications.
DeleteIt is mandatory to take training before VCP exam ?
ReplyDeleteThe training is part of the certification, have a look here: http://vmwaretraining.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/vcp-common-questions.html
Deletehello, u said training is a most for vcp exam, but what abt onlin video training such cbt nuggets ? is that enough? and how much validity does vcp have?
ReplyDeleteAll VCP certifications have a training requirement - CBT Nuggets does not meet that requirement. Not sure what you mean about VCP validity...
DeletePassed recently the VCP 5 Certification Exam. Here are some advices that helped me pass the exam. Try to learn from any video course provider for VCP5. Personally I did use CBT Nuggets. They are good and short. You can complete their Video Course for 12 hours. I did run the video course for 4 weekends in a month.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally you should practice with the Exam Prep's there are a lot and pretty much all are the same. Personally I did use an app from app store called VCP VMware Certified Professional on VSphere5 - Exam Prep. It is very convenient and practical to have the practice exam in your hands at all time "I was literally practicing even when I went to the toilet" the benefits of technology this days.
You should be able to pass after all of this. I hope this was helpful enough.
Serpil
Videos can be a useful learning aid, but they don't meet the requirement for the certification set by VMware.
DeleteI would exercise caution using any "exam prep" tool that offers a guarantee - they're usually brain dumps.
Congrats on the exam pass!