Microsoft Office Specialist Certification

1
Microsoft Office Specialist Certification

• Professor Corinne Hoisington
• Central Virginia Community College

2
Name Change - MOUS?

• The revision, which drops the use of the term
  User, was made in response to customer feedback
  that indicated the prior program name was too
  long, resulting in extensive use of the MOUS
  acronym. As a result customers lost the valuable
  association with the Microsoft Office name.

3
Microsoft XP Core

• Office XPCore Certification Candidates must
  successfully complete ONE of the Core or
  Comprehensive examinations
• Microsoft Word version 2002 Core
• Microsoft Excel version 2002 Core
• Microsoft PowerPoint version 2002
• (Comprehensive)
• Microsoft Access version 2002 Core
• Microsoft Outlook version 2002 Core
• Microsoft Project version 2002
• (Comprehensive)

4
Master Certification

• Candidates must successfully complete ALL FIVE of
  the following examinations
• Microsoft Word version 2002 Expert
• Microsoft Excel version 2002 Expert
• Microsoft PowerPoint version 2002 Comprehensive
• Microsoft Access version 2002 Core
• Microsoft Outlook version 2002 Core

5
College Credit

• The American Council on Education (ACE) has
  issued a one-semester hour college credit
  recommendation for each Microsoft Office
  Specialist certification for Microsoft Office XP
  applications.

6
Certification

• Not only does certification provide formal
  recognition and evidence of knowledge and
  expertise on a subject, but it also provides
• an official resume-building standard that often
  results in increased productivity
• job advancement
• higher salaries
• greater job satisfaction

7
Statistics

• 80 percent of Microsoft Office Specialist-certifie
  d employees feel their competence with Microsoft
  application products increased through
  certification
• 73 percent of employees feel this certification
  has a positive impact on productivity

8
Benefits of Office Specialist Certification
9
Test Format

• Each test last less than 1 hour
• The exams are performance-based, which means each
  is conducted within a "live" Microsoft Office
  program
• For example, you may be asked in Microsoft Excel
  to create a custom filter.

10
During the Test

• Erroneous keystrokes are ignored by the test
  program
• Help is turned off
• There is a refresh button to restart any question
• Most questions comprise one or more tasks, which
  are scored individually
• After you complete a question set, you may not
  return to it

11
Be Careful

• Scroll down to see the entire question set
• Do not leave any dialog boxes open when you
  complete the question unless stated in the
  directions of that question
• Follow the method that the test requires to
  complete the question
• There will be a timer in the left bottom corner

12
Before You Click Next

• Close dialog boxes, tool bars, and menus, but do
  not close the primary application window where
  the exercise is displayed.
• Do not leave tables, boxes, or cells "active"
  (highlighted) unless instructed to do so.
• Do not scroll in the screen window unless
  instructed to do so. Leave your answer visible.
• Make sure the application has completed the task
  calculations or functions before clicking the
  Next button.

13
Exam Tips

• Task instructions (questions) are displayed in a
  separate window at the bottom of your screen
• When you begin working, the instruction box will
  indicate the question with which you are
  currently working and the total number of
  questions (for example, question 3 of 21).
• At the end of the exam you will be presented with
  a score report which will indicate whether you
  passed or failed the exam. Your certificate will
  arrive about 2 weeks after passing the exam.

14
Repeat?

• You can take the exams as many times as needed
• Your MOUS vouchers have a one week delay in
  activating the retake voucher (which must be done
  within 15 days of the failed exam) and once
  activated you must retake the exam within 30 days.