This week I sat the VCAP7-CMA Design exam (or 3V0-732 as it is affectionately known). The exam is fairly new but I wanted to give it a shot while a had the chance and before other things consumed the diary. Having done the VCAP6-DCV Design exam a few months ago this one felt very different.
While the VCAP6-DCV exam has 18 questions and an allotted 205 minutes, the VCAP7-CMA has 60 questions and an allotted 135 minutes – that’s around 11 minutes per question for the former versus around 2 minutes per question for the latter. The reason is the style of exam questions has changed. Rather than wordy questions and the Visio style drawings the format in other design exams, the question format in the VCAP7-CMA exam is centred around a higher volume of multiple choice with drag and drop, matching and hot area according to the the exam information on MyLearn. As such the exam is more VCP-like in style than other design exams, albeit with a design slant to the questions.
Fortunately I made it through the exam which was a relief having spent the last couple of months working on VMware Validated Designs (VVD), which is something which was called out in the Exam Preparation Guide.
Study materials used (remember the exam is based on vRA 7.2 rather than the latest 7.3):
Life Cycle Extensibility: https://docs.vmware.com/en/vRealize-Automation/7.2/vrealize-automation-72-extensibility.pdf
Exam Preparation Guide: https://mylearn.vmware.com/lcms/web/portals/certification/exam_prep_guides/Exam_Prep_Guide_VCAP7_CMA_Design.pdf
Foundations and Concepts: https://docs.vmware.com/en/vRealize-Automation/7.2/vrealize-automation-72-foundations-and-concepts.pdf
Reference Architecture: https://docs.vmware.com/en/vRealize-Automation/7.2/vrealize-automation-72-reference-architecture.pdf
Programming Guide: https://docs.vmware.com/en/vRealize-Automation/7.2/vrealize-automation-72-programming-guide.pdf
vRealize Automation Load Balancing: https://docs.vmware.com/en/vRealize-Automation/7.2/vrealize-automation-72-load-balancing.pdf
Add Memory to Directories Management: https://docs.vmware.com/en/vRealize-Automation/7.0/com.vmware.vrealize.automation.doc/GUID-E0EC6C43-FD67-439E-A53B-1856FE5E7C94.html
Storage Over-Provisioning in vRealize Automation: http://www.virtualjad.com/2016/11/storage-provisioning-vrealize-automation.html
VMware Validated Design for SDDC Architecture Design: http://pubs.vmware.com/vmware-validated-design-40/topic/com.vmware.ICbase/PDF/vmware-validated-design-40-sddc-architecture-design.pdf
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