Achievement Unlocked - VMware Certified Advanced Professional 7 - Cloud Management & Automation Design


VCAP7 VCAP7-CMA VMware vRA vRealize

Published on 15 September 2017 by Christopher Lewis. Words: 461. Reading Time: 3 mins.

I am working away a lot at the moment in Paris, so this week was going to be one of the only opportunities I’m going to get to take exams before Christmas (scary fact - there is only 100 days left!) . So, after a jam packed 4 days at VMworld, I decided to end my week by taking the newly released VMware Certified Advanced Professional 7 - Cloud Management and Automation Design (3V0-732) exam.

How did I prepare?

Well in short, I didn’t.

Among other interesting things, my job consists of designing and deploying VMware vRealize Automation solutions for our customers. So, after reading the exam blueprint , I decided to try the exam without actually studying. “Am I mad?” I can here you all shout, well no I’m not. As I had a voucher, the exam attempt wasn’t actually going to cost me anything so if I didn’t pass, at least I would have an idea of what the new VCAP7 exams were like.

As you will have guessed form the title, I’m grateful to say that I passed!

What about the new format?

For me, the new format VCAP7 exams was a marked increase in difficulty from the VCAP6-CMA design exam. Gone were the picture/diagram questions (which had already been communicated) and the vast majority of questions were in the multi-choice/selection variety. I actually found the exam a bit monotonous and there was very little to break up the 60 multiple choice questions. Maybe it was just the pool of questions I had or maybe it was the fact I was tired after VMworld!

There was the odd missing letter, the odd spelling mistake, in some questions I didn’t agree with any of the answers (and had to choose the least worse option) and to be honest I found about 3-4 of the questions difficult to comprehend what was being asked.

So, what is next?

Well, even though I did pass, the passing score I got wasn’t brilliant. So I am using this experience in a positive way to focus my ongoing development in areas in which I need to develop in. It is a shame that the score sheet doesn’t actually tell you the areas in which you got questions wrong so that you can be more focused in that but I have a pretty good idea!

Any Advice for this Exam??

  • Read the exam blueprint - it is a shame it is not as detailed as previous blueprints but it guides you to what you need to know.
  • Read the linked materials within the blueprint.
  • Remember the exam is for vRealize Automation 7.2 and not the latest version - therefore just because something is in the latest version doesn’t mean that’s the answer in the exam…

Published on 15 September 2017 by Christopher Lewis. Words: 461. Reading Time: 3 mins.