Jon Hall, Technical Certification Developer over at VMware has clarified the exam scoring on the new VCP4 exam. This new exam became generally available during the VMworld 2009 at San Francisco and can be scheduled at Pearson VUE. Some people already have taken the exam and are reporting they had to answer 85 "fair" questions in 90 minutes. There’s also some confusion about "extra" questions that doesn’t count to your score but are build in to improve future exams.
I have often been asked how the percentage for the VCP on VI3 exam is calculated, which led me to post a discussion thread on scaled scoring some time back. Scaled scoring is used with SATs and many other standardized tests. We used scaled scoring with the VCP on VI3, but many folks thought the resulting number (ex. 70) was actually a percentage, which it was not. With the VCP on vSphere 4 Exam, we are modifying the scale so that the resulting score does not appear in any way to be a percentage.
The scale for the VCP on vSphere 4 Exam is 100 - 500, with 500 being a perfect score. A 300 or better is required to pass the exam. When you are preparing for the exam, don’t forget to pay a visit at Scott Vesey’s VMwaretraining weblog. I’ve also written some articles that can help you with preparing.
Update : Duncan Epping via Twitter -> @esloof @vmguru_nl yes it is 300 out of 500 and 400 to become a VCI.
Update : John Hall via the VMware Community -> VMware may add as many as 10 unscored items to an exam (75 items scored, the additional 10 unscored). The VCP exam will always have 75 scored items.
Update : The VCI passing score has been revised based on the baselines VMware saw coming in. It’s not an easy exam! VCI passing score is 350.
