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Instructions and Tips

The Excel MOS Certification Exam is not a set of questions like a quiz. It is a set of steps to be completed on real Excel workbooks, much like the Cases and Review Exercises you did in the textbook. However, they take some getting used to. Thus, we have prepared a set of four practice exams for you to work on in Weeks 10-13 that test Microsoft’s stated objectives. You will submit the completed practice exams to Blackboard and they will be scored and become a portion of your final grade.

You may want to print the instructions or you might want to follow on the screen by switching back and forth between Excel (the workbook) and Word (the instructions). Either way the checkboxes should be used to keep track of your progress. If you don’t understand a task, leave it unchecked and come back to it later.

There are four practice exams, one in each of Weeks 10 through 13. A possible set of goals as you work on these might be:

· Project 1 – Take your time getting used to the type of tasks and the way they are stated as you complete the test.

· Projects 2 & 3 – Work quickly and make an effort to get everything correct.

· Project 4 – Make an effort to finish in less than 90 minutes, including going back to any tasks you may have skipped and double-checking the more difficult tasks.

While we have no way to time you on these practice exams, you can make them even more realistic by timing yourself. That way you will be able to see if you will need to work quicker on the actual exam. Of course, complete these four practice projects for class no matter how long they take since they are graded.

Keep the following tips in mind:

· Be sure you read each task carefully and follow exactly what it says. For example, are you being asked to change a theme or a theme color?

· Do not do any extra operations even if you think things would look better or it would make more sense. For example, if it doesn’t say center a heading, don’t center it.

· If there are additional choices like in a dialog box and the instructions do not say to change those additional choices, leave them alone.

· Changing a Theme changes almost all color names. If you don’t see the specified color name, you may not have the correct Theme. Additionally, when applying any colors, look at the color specified in the task (e.g. Green) and at the description as well (e.g. Accent 3) – this way, the setting can be made correctly even if you have the wrong theme or theme color.

· Be exact – a misspelled word, lack of a space, or incorrect capitalization can be marked wrong, even if you get the rest of the task correct! NOTE: If you are instructed to enter text and that text is bold, italicized, and/or underlined, do NOT match the formatting displayed on the instruction sheet. If the text should be formatted, there will be an instruction to do so.

· If you are told to Copy a formula or use AutoFill or “extend” the calculations, be sure to do it that way. Do not recreate the formulas one by one. The test may be looking to see if you have used absolute references so that copying works out correctly. (It may also be much quicker.)

· The test is timed. Work efficiently! Remember your shortcuts. For example, use the Fill Handle to enter multiples of a formula or label or a series such as days of the week.

· Practice reading the descriptions in the Insert Formula dialog boxes so you can follow one if they have a function you are not familiar with.

· If a task asks for a command or setting you are not familiar with, do a LITTLE exploring. You may find the command or property and be able to carry out the task without prior knowledge of it. However, if you don’t find it quickly, move on to other tasks that you can complete.

We’ve made these practice tests as close to the actual exam as possible. The actual exam does not always specify steps as clearly as you might like and they never give explanations. You’re supposed to be familiar enough with Excel to figure it out. Because this is still a learning experience, our practice exams have occasional notes and hints. The actual exam will not have any notes or hints.

We will be happy to answer questions. Just send us an email.

Test Conventions:

The first column merely numbers the tasks; the second column contains the steps and details.

An address in square brackets like [A1] means cell A1.

When you need to create a chart, the cells to be included may be specified in two parts: the data followed by the labels. You will need to select both before starting to create the chart.

Each task has a checkbox so you can check it off when completed. When you reach the end of the list of tasks, the checkboxes make it easy to go back to tasks you did not complete (and, thus, did not check).