Spring Academy Pro membership is now free! See our dedicated FAQ about the changes: Updates to Spring Academy Pro FAQ.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you cannot find your answer in this FAQ, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Spring Academy Pro

Spring Professional Certification

For Pro Members with Subscriptions Beginning Before April 5, 2024

Spring Academy Hands-On Labs

General

Spring Academy Pro

What is the cost of Spring Academy Pro?

Spring Academy Pro is free as of April 5, 2024.

Spring Academy will not charge a fee for Spring Academy Pro. Access to Pro courses will only require that you provide a verified work, vocational, or educational email address in the "Work" email section of your Account page.

What is included in the free Spring Academy Pro membership?

Pro membership grants you access to all courses and guides, including Pro learning content previously reserved for paid Pro subscriptions.

Do Spring Academy Pro memberships get a free certification exam voucher?

No. Only Pro subscribers from before April 5, 2024 with a paid subscription remain entitled to one (1) unused exam voucher for the duration of their subscription period.

As of April 5, 2024 individuals who want to take the certification exam will need to obtain their own certification exam voucher or otherwise pay to take the certification exam.

Details of this process are still under development. For now, see these instructions to purchase a voucher.

How to I Purchase a Certification Exam Voucher?

Details of this process are still under development. For now, purchase a voucher from one of the following options:

Is there non-Pro Spring Academy content?

Yes. Spring Academy will continue to contain non-Pro courses, guides, and other content.

I'm a student or otherwise do not have a "work" email address, can I still get Spring Academy Pro?

Yes! Simply add and verify a vocational or educational email address as a "Work" email address on your Account page.

Do you offer student discounts, developing-country discounts, discount codes, or holiday sales for exam vouchers?

No, not at this time.

How do Teams for Spring Academy work?

Spring Academy Pro for Teams is a fantastic way to provide Spring Academy Pro for a group of people.

Here's how to do it:

  1. Sign up for a free Spring Academy account
  2. Create or go to your Team
  3. Invite additional team members

When managing your team you can manage the roles of team members, including whom can manage the team.

The Spring Academy Pro Certification and Certification Exam

How does the Spring Certified Professional exam and certification work now?

Prior to April 5, 2024

Certification works the same as it has before this date. Please review all FAQ in this The Spring Academy Pro Certification and Certification Exam section for more information.

After April 5, 2024

You do not have to pay for Spring Academy Pro content, but an exam voucher is not included in your Pro membership after this date unless you have an active paid subscription beginning before April 5, 2024. New Pro members will need to purchase their own exam voucher or otherwise pay to take the certification exam. See vouchers.

What are the certification requirements and cost?

The Spring Academy Pro membership is free and includes full access to the Spring Certified Professional Learning Path, which contains all of the required on-demand courses and curriculum to take and pass the Spring Certified Professional exam.

The certification exam is not free. If you want to take the certification exam, you will need to obtain your own exam voucher or otherwise pay to take the exam.

Details of this process are still under development. Please check back later for more information. See vouchers.

What courses do I need to take to get certified as a Spring Certified Professional 2023/2024?

The answer depends on your situation:

I have never been certified as a Spring Certified Professional

Complete all courses in the Spring Certified Professional Learning Path, then take (and pass) the exam. The courses cover all curriculum required to pass the exam.

I was certified before 2020

To be current as a Spring Certified Professional you will to complete all courses in the Spring Certified Professional Learning Path, then take (and pass) the exam. The courses cover all curriculum required to pass the exam.

Please see the the topic I completed my certification before 2020, is it still valid? for more details.

I was certified as a Spring Certified Professional or a VMware Certified Professional - Spring (VCP-Spring) between 2020 and 2022 and I want to renew my certification

You will need to subscribe to Spring Academy Pro, but you only need to complete part of the Spring Certified Professional Learning Path.

  1. Take any one of the following courses:

  2. Take (and pass) the exam

Where is my certificate?

The most common reasons for one not receiving their certificate are non-activated accounts, unverified Personal or Work emails, incomplete certification requirements, and having multiple Spring Academy accounts.

Review the following to see if any of these scenarios apply to you, and take the recommended actions as appropriate so that you can access your certificate.

  1. Non-activated accounts: If you see a banner at the top of the page stating "Activate Account", please complete the account activation process.
  2. Unverified Personal or Work emails: You must verify the Personal or Work email you used to register for the certification exam. Navigate to the Emails section of your Account page and complete the verification process for all Personal Emails and Work Emails.
  3. Incomplete certification requirements: Please review What are the certification requirements and cost? and What courses do I need to take to get certified as a Spring Certified Professional 2023/2024?
  4. Multiple accounts: Please check to see whether you have multiple Spring Academy accounts, and which account you used to complete the certification requirements and register for the certification exam. Be sure and complete the above steps for the account you used to register for the certification exam.

Assuming you have completed all of the above steps, you should have received an email with details for accessing your certificate.

You can also login into the VMware Certification Manager to access a copy of your certificate.

If you have completed all of these troubleshooting steps and still do not have your certificate, please contact us.

If you release a new certification exam will you cancel or otherwise invalidate the exam voucher I already purchased with my Spring Academy Pro subscription?

No.

I completed my certification before 2020, is it still valid?

Once you obtain a Spring Certified Professional certification, it does not expire.

That being said, a particular version of the certification is tied to a specific major/minor version of Spring. Requirements for a particular version of the certification will require attendance of specific courses and specific version of the exam. Waiving requirements may require recent certification as well.

See What courses do I need to take to get certified as a Spring Certified Professional 2023/2024? as an example of current requirements for the Spring Certified Professional 2023/2024 version of the exam.

Regarding the certification exam, can I take an online exam or do I need to go to a local testing center? If I have to go to a local testing center for an exam then could you help me with the local test center address?

Yes, you will have the opportunity to schedule the proctored exam from your home or office. You'll just need to meet the minimum technical requirements for completing the exam from home. It's possible that you'd also have the opportunity to take the exam at a Pearson Vue Exam center – if there is one in your country and area. You'll have the opportunity to explore all of the testing center information and minimum technical requirements when you set up and schedule the exam through Pearson Vue.

What is the policy / process for retaking a failed certification attempt?

Details of this process are still under development.

Please check back later for more information. See vouchers.

Do I have to buy another exam voucher if I fail the certification exam and want to retake the exam?

Details of this process are still under development.

Please check back later for more information. See vouchers.

How long do I have to wait to purchase another exam voucher if I fail the certification exam?

Details of this process are still under development.

Please check back later for more information. See vouchers.

Is the exam physical or digital?

The exam is digital (computer-based), and is proctored by a real person, either remotely through your computer or from a testing center.

If you have a location that fits the requirements (for example a quiet room in your home), then you can take it from there. Otherwise, you would need to go to testing center. There are more details here: https://home.pearsonvue.com/vmware

What is the format of the exam? Multiple choice or other?

It's multiple choice.

Are there any practice or mock exams?

There are no mock exams. However, we'd recommend reflecting on the Spring Framework Essentials and Spring Boot course lessons and labs. Perhaps walk through the ones you have less confidence in.

All the questions in the exam are covered by the video and lab lessons in the Essentials and Boot courses, so if you have high confidence in the materials, you should be able to pass the exam.

Lastly, you may see links at the bottom of the lesson summary pages. While the exam question/answer sets are not directly derived from the references, they will give you better context and knowledge of the subject matter.

What is the current version of Spring and Spring Boot used at the 2V0-72.22 exam questions?

Spring Boot 2.7 and Spring Framework 5.3

What is the relationship between the VMware Spring Certified Professional 2023/2024 Certification and the Spring Academy Spring Certified Professional Learning Path?

The Spring Academy Spring Certified Professional Learning Path is the on-demand education option of the VMware Spring Certified Professional 2023 certification path.

For those that previously attended instructor-led training through trusted partners, review the VCP Spring Certified Professional 2023/2024 Certification Path.

For Pro Members with Subscriptions Beginning Before April 5, 2024

When does the certification voucher expire? If I subscribed to Spring Academy Pro in 2023, will I be able to use the certification exam voucher in 2024?

A Spring Academy Pro member that subscribed in 2023 can request one exam voucher at any time in their 12-month membership period. When you request an exam voucher, it will be issued with roughly a 12-month validity period.

For example, if you became a Spring Academy Pro member in August 2023, and requested an exam voucher in December 2023, the voucher would be valid until roughly December 2024.

What is your refund policy?

While we hope you'll get value and enjoy use of Spring Academy Pro subscription, we understand you might discover it might not be for you.

The following are requirements for refund:

  1. Refund request is within 30 days of the Pro subscription purchase.
  2. You have not used an exam voucher.
  3. You have not completed any of the Pro level courses.

To request a refund, please contact us and we will initiate the refund process.

How do I get an invoice for my Pro subscription?

You can download your invoice from your account in the VMware Store.

If you still need help, please reach out the VMware Store Support team at [email protected] and provide them your order number for your Pro subscription.

How do I edit my purchase invoice? For example, I need to add a Tax Identification Number.

Reach out the VMware Store Support team at [email protected], provide them your invoice number for your Pro subscription, and they will help you out.

Can I renew my subscription after April 5, 2024? Will my subscription automatically renew?

No. Pro subscribers will not be able to renew their paid subscription and automatic renewal will be disabled.

We do recommend adding and verifying a work, vocational, or educational email address as a "Work" email address on your Account page. This will be used for your free Pro membership when your current subscription expires.

Spring Academy Hands-On Labs

I'm stuck! Can the Spring Academy team personally help me?

Unfortunately, do the extremely high volume of labs constantly being worked through by amazing Spring community members like you, we cannot provide personalized help.

That said, feel free to let us know what is going on using the Give Feedback link at the top of each lab.

A lab is not working as described in the lab instructions, what should I do?

Try, try again.

We rigorously test our labs to make sure that they behave exactly as described in the lab instructions.

This is a key point: we only assert that the labs work when the instructions are followed exactly. You're on your own if you implement something differently than instructed!

Here are some troubleshooting tips for labs:

If you have followed the instructions exactly in our hands-on lab environment, followed these troubleshooting tips, and are still encountering results that do not match the instructions, please let us know using the Give Feedback link at the top of each lab.

I followed the lab instructions exactly and I'm still getting an unexpected error or feel something is incorrect, what should I do?

Please make sure you have followed the instructions exactly. See A lab is not working as described in the lab instructions, what should I do?

After that, let us know using the Give Feedback link at the top of each lab.

The lab Editor or Terminal is not working correctly or is a blank or black screen, what should I do?

Try reloading the browser window.

Even though we have an awesome lab environment, it's still running in a web browser on the Internet. When in doubt, reload the browser window.

Where is the code for the labs?

You can run the following from your workshop terminal window to list the url of the public codebase github repository associated with the lab:

cd ~/exercises
git remote -v

You can also see a list of codebase GitHub repositories here.

In each course code repository you will see individual commits representing the <start> and <end> of each lab.

You can find the associated <start> commit of a lab by running the following in the workshop terminal window:

cd ~/exercises
git log

Look at the latest commit. You will see the associated <start> commit message, associated with HEAD.

I've download the lab code and am running it in my own development environment but it is not working as described in the lab instructions, can you help me?

No, unfortunately we cannot.

As you can imagine, there are countless different combinations of development environments, system configurations, operating systems, implementation choices, coding styles, and other variables for any application. Thus, we can only provide support for one combination: our own.

That said, feel free to leave us feedback or contact us about your situation.

Please see the following topics for more information:

I've reimplemented a lab using my own custom code but it is not working as described in the lab instructions, can you help me?

See I've download the lab code and am running it in my own development environment but it is not working as described in the lab instructions, can you help me?

General Questions

How do I report a bug, typo, inaccurate information, or anything else wrong?

For a lab, please make sure you have followed the instructions exactly. See A lab is not working as described in the lab instructions, what should I do?

Please let us know using the Give Feedback link at the top of each lab or bottom of each written lesson.

If you are using the contact us option, make sure to include completion information including course, lesson, guide, etc, where the issue occurs.

Can I download the course slides shown in the videos?

Unfortunately we do not provide the video slides for download.

We do provide reference links in the summary for each of the lessons if you need background information.

Do you have courses translated to my native language?

We haven't gone through a localization effort for Spring Academy, and don't have our courses offered in other languages besides English, at this time.

How can I get involved in the Spring community near me?

You can visit https://spring.io/community, and you can always check out https://www.springofficehours.io to get involved with the Spring community. There are also local Spring user groups or Java user groups in various cities, which you can search meetup.com for.

If you’re looking to get more involved in making code contributions, you can look at the github issue trackers for any of the projects and try to find an issue that you could help out with by dropping a comment on the issue.