- What the Data Actually Shows (and What It Doesn't)
- Why Dell Does Not Publish a D-CI-DS-23 Pass Rate
- Reading Difficulty Through the Published Blueprint
- Domain Weights as a Proxy for Where Candidates Fall Short
- Retake Rules: What a First-Attempt Failure Costs You
- Provisional Results and the Dell Review Step
- Who Sits This Exam and Why It Matters for Pass Statistics
- Preparation Choices That Separate Pass From Fail
- A Domain-Ordered Study Sequence
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Dell does not publish a pass rate, question count, or passing score for D-CI-DS-23 in its exact-code exam sources.
- Architecting a Do-It-Yourself Solution carries 25% of the exam, the single largest domain.
- The exam runs 90 minutes and is delivered through Pearson VUE at test centers or via OnVUE.
- Retake waits are 7 days after a first failure and 14 days after any later failure.
What the Data Actually Shows (and What It Doesn't)
Search for the D-CI-DS-23 pass rate and you will find confident-sounding percentages on forums, vendor pages, and aggregator sites. None of them trace back to Dell Technologies. The official sources for Dell Cloud Infrastructure Design 2023 publish the exam duration, languages, domain weights, and delivery rules, but they do not publish a pass rate, a question count, or a passing score.
That is the honest answer to the question in this article's title, and it is more useful than a made-up number. A fabricated figure gives you false confidence or false dread. What you can do instead is read the data that does exist and use it to estimate your own readiness. That is what this guide does.
If you want the broader difficulty picture alongside this one, the companion piece How Hard Is the D-CI-DS-23 Exam? Complete Difficulty Guide 2026 walks through what makes the content demanding, and D-CI-DS-23 Passing Score 2026: Exactly What You Need to Pass covers what is and is not known about scoring.
Why Dell Does Not Publish a D-CI-DS-23 Pass Rate
Dell Technologies Proven Professional treats exam statistics as internal data. There are a few practical reasons this is common across vendor certification programs:
- Exam forms change. Question pools are refreshed, and a single published rate would blend different versions of the exam together.
- Candidate populations vary. A cohort of Dell partner architects who completed the recommended course behaves differently from candidates who sat the exam cold.
- Results are provisional. Computer-scored results are provisional pending Dell review, so even a raw first-pass number would not be final.
The recommended preparation path is the Cloud Infrastructure Planning and Design v2 - On Demand Course (ES732OCMCIPD2). Dell positions the credential as requiring sufficient knowledge and skills through hands-on experience and/or recommended training, followed by passing this exact exam. There is no formal gate beyond that, which means candidates arrive with very different backgrounds. That spread is the main reason a single headline pass rate would be misleading even if one existed. For eligibility details, see D-CI-DS-23 Requirements 2026: Eligibility, Prerequisites & How to Qualify.
Reading Difficulty Through the Published Blueprint
Without a pass rate, the blueprint is the best evidence you have. The exam content document from Dell (exam content dated February 2, 2024) lists seven domains with approximate question-distribution weights. Two features of that blueprint tell you where the difficulty sits.
It is a design exam, not a feature-recall exam
The title says it plainly: Design. Candidates are expected to take customer requirements, analyze collected data, and arrive at an architecture. That means scenario reasoning matters more than memorizing product datasheets. A candidate who can recite specifications but cannot weigh a do-it-yourself build against a converged or hyper-converged option will struggle with the heaviest-weighted content.
The weights are concentrated
Three domains account for 58% of the exam between them: Architecting a Do-It-Yourself Solution (25%), Architecting a CI / HCI Solution (18%), and Hybrid Cloud and Multi Cloud (15%). Concentrated weighting means a weak area in any of those three is costly in a way that a weak area in a 10% domain is not.
Domain Weights as a Proxy for Where Candidates Fall Short
Because Dell does not release per-domain performance data, you cannot know for certain which domains trip up the most candidates. What you can do is reason from weight and from the nature of each topic. The table below summarizes the seven official domains and what each demands.
| Domain | Weight | Nature of the Work |
|---|---|---|
| Introduction to Cloud Design and Design Parameters | 10% | Foundational vocabulary and design inputs |
| Data Collection and Analysis | 12% | Gathering and interpreting requirements and workload data |
| Architecting a Do-It-Yourself Solution | 25% | Component-level design decisions and trade-offs |
| Architecting a CI / HCI Solution | 18% | Choosing and sizing converged and hyper-converged platforms |
| Cloud Management Platform | 10% | Management, orchestration, and operational design |
| Hybrid Cloud and Multi Cloud | 15% | Spanning on-premises and multiple cloud environments |
| Application Development and Deployment Platform | 10% | Platforms that support building and running applications |
Architecting a Do-It-Yourself Solution (25%)
The largest slice of the exam. Candidates must be able to reason about assembling an infrastructure from individual components rather than a pre-integrated platform.
- Know when a build-your-own approach is justified versus a converged or hyper-converged option
- Be ready to justify compute, storage, and network choices against stated requirements
- Expect scenario framing that forces a trade-off rather than a single obviously right answer
Architecting a CI / HCI Solution (18%)
The counterpart to the do-it-yourself domain. Understanding the contrast between the two is where many design questions are decided.
- Distinguish converged from hyper-converged architectures and their typical fit
- Understand the operational trade-offs of pre-integrated systems
- Relate platform choice back to the data you collected in Domain 2
Hybrid Cloud and Multi Cloud (15%)
Design across environments rather than within one. This is the domain where abstract design reasoning matters most.
- Separate hybrid cloud from multi-cloud and know the design implications of each
- Think about workload placement, connectivity, and data movement
- Connect management concerns from Domain 5 to cross-environment operation
For a full walk-through of every content area, see D-CI-DS-23 Exam Domains 2026: Complete Guide to All 7 Content Areas.
Retake Rules: What a First-Attempt Failure Costs You
Even without a pass rate, you can quantify the downside of failing. Dell's retake rules are published through the Pearson VUE program page, and they are straightforward:
- After a first failure: a 7-day wait before you can attempt again.
- After later failures: a 14-day wait each time.
On the money side, the Pearson U.S. voucher store lists the general Dell certification voucher at USD 230, expiring 12 months after purchase. A retake means buying another voucher unless you hold one that has not expired. Note that voucher expiry is separate from credential validity: the voucher clock only governs how long you have to book and sit the exam, not how long the credential lasts once earned. For the complete cost picture including training, read D-CI-DS-23 Certification Cost 2026: Complete Pricing Breakdown.
Key Takeaway
The shorter 7-day first-failure wait is forgiving, but it is not a reason to attempt the exam unprepared. Each failed attempt costs a voucher and compresses your preparation into a one-week window that rarely fixes a structural gap in a 25% domain. Use practice results to decide when you are ready, not the retake policy.
Provisional Results and the Dell Review Step
One detail that surprises candidates: results from the computer-scored exam are provisional pending Dell review. In practice, that means the on-screen outcome is not the final word until Dell completes its review of the attempt. This is also another reason any "pass rate" quoted from candidate self-reports is shaky; it reflects provisional outcomes reported by individuals, not Dell's confirmed results.
Your credential status is then managed in CertTracker, and recognition follows current Dell requirements, including revised exams when required. The governing document is Dell's Proven Professional Policies and Guidelines. Read it before exam day so that nothing about the post-exam process catches you off guard.
Who Sits This Exam and Why It Matters for Pass Statistics
Pass-rate conversations ignore the candidate mix, and for D-CI-DS-23 the mix is the whole story. The exam targets people who design infrastructure solutions: solution architects, pre-sales and systems engineers, and consultants who scope cloud and converged infrastructure for customers. These roles are common in Dell partner organizations and in enterprise infrastructure teams, which is where hiring demand for this credential tends to appear. If you are exploring where the credential is applied, D-CI-DS-23 Jobs covers the role landscape, and Is the D-CI-DS-23 Certification Worth It? Complete ROI Analysis 2026 weighs the investment.
The takeaway for statistics: a candidate with years of customer-facing design work faces a very different exam than a systems administrator moving into architecture for the first time. A blended pass rate would hide that gap. Judge yourself against the blueprint, not against an average of unlike candidates.
Preparation Choices That Separate Pass From Fail
Dell names one recommended preparation item: Cloud Infrastructure Planning and Design v2 - On Demand Course (ES732OCMCIPD2). Beyond that, the preparation choices that matter map directly to how the exam is built.
Anchor on the design process, not product trivia
The domains run in a deliberate order: design parameters, then data collection and analysis, then architecture for different solution types, then management, hybrid and multi-cloud, and application platforms. A strong candidate can narrate a full design from requirements to recommendation. If you can only recall isolated facts, scenario questions will expose it.
Practice the contrast questions
Much of the heaviest content is comparative: do-it-yourself versus CI / HCI, hybrid versus multi-cloud. Practice explaining why one fits a given set of requirements better than another. Our timed practice exams include scenario items built for exactly this kind of reasoning.
Rehearse the exam conditions
The exam is 90 minutes, delivered through Pearson VUE as a proctored test-center or OnVUE session. If you choose OnVUE, you need a passed system test, a matching government photo ID, and a private room without books or notes. Do the system test early; a technical or room-setup problem on exam day is an avoidable way to lose an attempt. The scheduling side is covered in D-CI-DS-23 Exam Dates 2026: Testing Windows, Deadlines & Scheduling.
A Domain-Ordered Study Sequence
Because the weights are known, you can sequence study to match them. The plan below spends the most time where the exam spends the most questions, and it builds the foundation (data and parameters) before the architecture domains that depend on it. Adjust the pace to your own background.
Foundations and Data (Domains 1 and 2)
- Cover design parameters and core terminology (10%)
- Work through data collection and analysis methods (12%)
- These feed every architecture decision that follows
Do-It-Yourself Architecture (Domain 3)
- Give the largest domain (25%) two full weeks
- Practice component-level trade-off scenarios
- Take a domain-scoped practice set at the end of week 3
CI / HCI Architecture (Domain 4)
- Study converged and hyper-converged design (18%)
- Explicitly contrast with the do-it-yourself approach
Hybrid, Multi-Cloud, Management, Platforms (Domains 5, 6, 7)
- Hybrid and multi-cloud (15%) first, as the heaviest of the three
- Then cloud management (10%) and application platforms (10%)
Full-Length Simulation and Gap Repair
- Sit a complete 90-minute timed practice exam
- Re-study any domain where results were inconsistent
- Book the exam only once results are steady
For a broader methodology and resource list, see D-CI-DS-23 Study Guide 2026: How to Pass on Your First Attempt, and keep D-CI-DS-23 Cheat Sheet 2026: One-Page Review of Must-Know Facts handy for final-week review.
Frequently Asked Questions
Dell Technologies does not publish a pass rate for D-CI-DS-23 in its exact-code exam sources, so no verified figure exists. Any specific percentage you see online is unconfirmed. Use the published domain weights and your practice-exam consistency to judge readiness instead.
The question count and passing score are not published in the exact-code sources Dell provides. What is published is the 90-minute duration and the seven weighted domains. See the passing score guide for what is and is not known about scoring.
You wait 7 days after a first failure and 14 days after each later failure. A new attempt generally requires a new voucher, which the Pearson U.S. store lists at USD 230 with a 12-month expiry from purchase.
Architecting a Do-It-Yourself Solution is the largest at 25%, followed by Architecting a CI / HCI Solution at 18% and Hybrid Cloud and Multi Cloud at 15%. Together those three make up 58% of the approximate question distribution.
Not necessarily. Computer-scored results are provisional pending Dell review. Your credential status is then tracked in CertTracker, and recognition follows current Dell requirements.
In short: there is no official D-CI-DS-23 pass rate to lean on, so your best preparation is to master the seven published domains, weight your time toward the three heavyweights, and confirm readiness with timed practice before you spend a voucher. When your scores hold steady across domains, you are ready to book.