| If you want to become certified as a Microsoft Office
Specialist, study the skills that are on the exam. The exams
are based on real-world skills, not theory. You must demonstrate
that you have mastered the skills of Microsoft Office applications.
Here are 10 of the most important tips.
Tip #1: Explore Every Corner of a Feature as you prepare
for an exam. When an objective says you need to know text formatting
in Word, for example, practice the more obscure skills such as the
text effects. Make sure you can not only save files, but save them
in other formats and locations than the default, including saving in
Web format. In Word, know not only about spelling and grammar tools,
but also about hyphenation and using the thesaurus. Know how to turn
on/off hyphenation for the entire document and for an individual
paragraph. In Excel, be able to use AutoFilter and advanced
filters. In Access, make sure you know how to filter both by example
and by form. In Excel, make sure you can fill a group of cells not
only with a single value, but with a series.
Tip #2: You will not be able to bring anything into the
testing room with you, so there's no need to bring scrap paper,
pencils, reference books, or any of that. Women may even want to
avoid bringing a purse unless the testing center has a safe place to
store them during testing.
Tip #3: If you've read any of my exam reviews, you know
that the exams test how well you can read and follow directions. The
instructions for each question are multi-part, and you must read
each one very carefully.
For example, suppose you are taking a Word exam. A typical
question might be something like this (Please note that none of the
example questions in this article are actual questions from the
exams):
Format the paragraph beneath the second heading with Times New
Roman 12-point font, and create a 1-point border around it. Create a
new style called Border based on this paragraph's formatting. Apply
Border to all other body paragraphs in the document.
If you read this question carefully, you realize that the last
sentence tells you to apply the new style, called Border, to other
paragraphs. But if you are not reading carefully, you might
misinterpret this to mean that you should simply place a border
around the paragraphs, and that would be incorrect.
Tip #4: Do Only What You're Told. Reading the instructions
carefully is one part of the success equation and following them is
the other. Follow the instructions to the letter. Don't add or omit
anything.
For example, suppose you get a question like this one on the
Excel exam (again, this is just an example): Rename the Sheet1 tab
to Spring and rename the Sheet2 tab to Summer. On Sheet3, type
Autumn in cell A1.
If you were creating this workbook for your own use, you might
change the name of the Sheet3 tab to Autumn to match the other two's
season-based naming, especially since Sheet3 is obviously going to
contain autumn data. However, the test question did not say to do
it, so you may lose points if you do so.
Tip #5: Don't second-guess the questions. Just do
what you're told, for the highest score. Here's a rather exaggerated
example, just as a what-if.
Suppose you get the following question on an Excel exam: Using
Format Painter, copy the formatting from cells B6:C12 to the range
D6:D11.
Let's say that B6:C12 contain data, and there are formulas in
cells D6:D12 that sum each row. You think to yourself "Surely
the test question has a typo in it; they must have meant to refer to
D6:D12." Wrong. By trying to apply critical thinking to the
exercise, you have just lost a few points. Do exactly what you are
told -- never mind if it isn't what you would have done yourself.
Tip #6: Scroll! The question pane at the bottom of the
screen is much larger with the 2002 exams. However, occasionally a
question may be too lengthy to fit onscreen at once. Watch for a
scroll bar. Do the same when you are asked to work with Microsoft
files.
For example, suppose the instructions on the Word exam said this:
Use Format Painter to copy the formatting from the first heading to
all other headings in the report.
At first glance it appears that there are two other headings, but
if you scroll down in the document, you see that there is one more
on a second page of the document. If you don't format it the same
way too, you'll lose points.
Tip #7: Check Your Work Once you move past a question, you
can't go back to it. Reread the question and review your work. Would
you give yourself points off for anything?
Tip #8: Restart the Question If you have struggled with a
particular question, and tried several unsuccessful things before
you hit upon the right answer... redo it. The testing software
records every action you take in some cases, and if you have being
taking lots of actions, a fresh attempt will ensure that none of the
false starts will confuse the testing software and cause you to lose
points.
Tip #9: Ask for help recovering from software errors. The
testing software is not infallible. People do sometimes experience
errors with it. It's important that if you do get an error, you
report it immediately to the testing administrator, and not try to
fix the error yourself. Under no circumstances should you attempt to
restart the PC, for example, if it locks up. That way there will be
a witness if anyone questions whether you intentionally restarted
because you weren't doing well on the test.
Tip #10: Save your results. When you complete the test,
your results appear immediately, indicating whether you passed or
failed and showing the percentages you got correct in each of
several categories. A printed certificate of achievement will come
to you in the mail several weeks later. Hold on to the printout at
least until your certificate arrives. You can use your results
printout as proof that you have passed the exam (for example, for a
job interview).
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Microsoft Office 2000 Word - Excel - PowerPoint
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