I sat the Fasttrack ESX 3.5 course at the end of March and have been studying fairly regularly since. My tactic initially was to follow the Exam Blueprint and gain as much evidence as possible using the course manual and then supplement where necessary with the PDF's. I have had some respectable scores on the Mock Exams but am slightly concerned at reading from some people who have failed the exam that the actual exam was nothing like the Mock Exam and contained a lot of information not covered in the training and questions focussed more on previous versions of ESX and other products in the suite. I realise the other products are listed in the Blueprint and I do know the basics i.e what they are and what they do but it is very difficult to know what level of knowledge you have to have in each topic area. Especially being as there is only one Mock Exam and by the sounds of it one that isn't a fair reflection of what the exam is like.
This Blueprint is huge and unfortunately due to the study material being across numerous PDF's most of which are 200-300 pages each it is an awful exam to study for. My tactic has been to page reference and just read the pages pertaining to the exact subcategories within the Blueprint although I have read that other people who have passed have been reading the entire PDF's from start to finish!!!!! I work full time not getting in until 7pm most nights and only have one weekend and this exam is dominating all of my time as it is without reading the entire PDF's. Has anyone got any other tips or study methods as I find the PDF's so padded with information that after a while I stop absorbing it. I have also been using the TrainSignal Video's but I find at times they are a bit simplistic.
Like I said I have been reading the PDF's but only the pages pertaining to the exact points listed on the Blueprint am I wrong in doing that? It really would be nice if there was more focussed study material available, more practice exams that give a fair reflection of the actual exam and if the exam itself was based more around the usage of ESX rather than memorised information.
Would appreciate any tips anyone can offer me on what they studied as I am starting to give up as I cannot give much more time to this exam. I am going to sit it before I go on holiday on the 6 June if I pass then it'll be a great way to celebrate passing the exam if I fail I think I will forget getting the qualification and just enjoy using and working with the product practically at home and at work as I am not pressured by my employer to achieve certification I just thought it would be a good certification to have but not at the expense of the rest of my personal life. As I have indicated it has dominated my life since the end of March.