Do you have a lab close by ?. If not - don't even attempt it.... that's requirement #1 ... install - configure - break - install - configure - break and so on....
I passed VCAP-DCA5 a few weeks ago. And it is difficult but in my mind completely fair and all about your knowledge of vSphere and Vcenter - both knowing how it works and how to configure it.
Couple of things I suggest are
- #2 Get organised ........ organise your bookmark structure in browser, folder structure etc for downloading and marking content.
- Print the VMware PDF documents in the blueprint and use them for deeper background reading while covering each section in the blueprint. As per Chris Wahls guide thats the "research" part and that will ensure you know all of the content.
- You can use PDFs or pubs.vmware.com either but personally I liked having documents printed old-school.
- If you're using Firefox you can download a cool add-on called epubreader and download the PDFs in epub format and control and read them in Firefox.
- You could use OneNote with <Windows Key+S> to grab screen shots to OneNote - that's a pretty cool way as Onenote has a great way of organising content.
So many blogs out there in the wonderful VMware community....I havent completed my notes document yet - Sorry !!. But seeing the amount of resources in the community is inspiring and you don't need a book....
PDFs + Blueprint + Blog guides + your own version of a document with your notes + Lab time = all you need !
My personal faves of blogs sites ...... superb and so thankful to these guys. Everyone has their favourites - I just liked the mix of these three.....
thefoglite.com
valcolabs.com