And the VCAP-DCA Results Are In……
January 04, 2011 
Sean Crookston 
I previously blogged about my exam experience here , but many had asked how I fared and I wanted to pass along to those interested that I just received notification that I passed the exam. It turns out I did much better then I had thought, although the results were still no where near perfect.
The only thing I’ll add or further emphasize is the need to play around and learn things you don’t get to do regularly. While the study guide I wrote is a great start, you’ll need to take that knowledge to the next level. It is not just a question of learning for this test, but a need to master your skillset. There are of course many ways you can do this.
Gain real life experience
It is hard to actually put yourself in line to do this from my experience. My best advice would be to volunteer yourself to do anything you can at your place of work that may be in line with the exam.
Lab it up
Create a lab. You can do this on the cheap with a few virtual hosts on VMware workstation(you get a free license when you become a VCP) or you can buy a few physical hosts like I did. I’m currently running two Dell t110 systems that I got fairly cheap with another box running OpenFiler for storage. I plan on blogging more about the setup in the future, but you can find a cheap setup for VLANs and routing here
Join a Study Group/Find a mentor
There is only one study group I know of and that is the Brown Bag sessions that occur every other Wednesday.I’d highly recommend joining the VCAP-DCA BrownBag sessions hosted by Cody Bunch. I was fortunate enough to be able to host a few of these at the beginning and it really helped motivate me to study harder. You can do so at this link.
It also helps if you have people you can lean on for information. I’m fortunate enough to work with a lot of people much smarter then me.
Tags: 
Congratulations!
Excellent news! Glad you found the BrownBags useful, thanks for hosting!
Congrats on the accomplishment. I am still waiting on my results.
Congrats again! Are you going to start on the DCD exam next or give it a break for a bit?
Thanks Paul. The one month wait for the results gave me the built in break I needed i think = ) I will shortly begin studying for the VCAP-DCD but have another cert or two I’ll be working on side-by-side.
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Sean,
Just wanted to let you know I passed my VCAP-DCA also. Got my results last week. Thanks for a great guide. It helped to fill in alot of the blank spots.
Awesome David. Thanks for letting me know and glad you got good use out of the guide.
Congrats!
Got my number today VCAP-DCA #55. No trumpers here in my office.
Hi Sean.
I am waiting for my results. I sat the test on the 14th March. Today is Business day 11 and day 15 since the test. You say you waited almost a month to receive your results. Do you know if this is normal? I am checking my email every 10 minutes hoping for some news as the pre exam print out stated 10 Business days….
Love the site btw, used it for the bulk of my study.
Keep up the good work.
Evan
pardon meant “post exam print out”
From others I’ve seen it is a much shorter wait these days, but I don’t think anyone is getting there results in the 10 business days stated. Good luck with the results and hope you get them soon.