MOS 2010 Study Guide for Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook Exams

Got the book, decided to tackle the Outlook certification first. I've NEVER used outlook before last week (Thunderbird FTW). After a week, sat for the test, Passed with a 967!* I've sat through very tough Microsoft Tests before, this was not one of them. It's all a hands on live test. They give you a task, you do it. Straight forward. Unlike some other Microsoft exams and press books (MCTS ones) the book actually covers what you're going to be tested on. If you know what's in the book, you know what's on the test. *You're results may vary EDIT: Passed PowerPoint with a 936. Started the 3rd, finished the 8th, that's 6 days from not knowing anything about PowerPoint (well, I knew very basic stuff. How to make a bad college presentation and what not) to professional. I don't plan on getting the MOS Word or Excel Specialist certifications, I'm going straight to the expert certificate which is in a different book which I anticipate will cover the material just as well as this book did.

This book will not teach you Excel but it will teach you how to pass the test. Other reviewers have said this as well and I agree with their assessments. You need to be familiar with the software. This book will only tell you what areas to focus and is not designed to teach a beginner. The practice questions cover task similar to those you will be presented with during the exam. Each software in the MS Office Suite has a section and that section is broken down into chapters that align with the test topics. This book helped me focus on which areas to study in preparation for Exam 77-882 MOS Excel 2010 test. Overall a great study tool. The book also contains a URL for purchasing a voucher for a single exam for 25% off from Certiport. While there are other ways to get exam vouchers at discounts this is a good discount if you only plan to test on one application.

I use this book with students that are preparing for the Specialist Exam and I love that it matches exactly with the objectives for the exam. The skills are not necessarily covered in a logical fashion but more grouped by content areas. My only wish is that there were a few more tasks at the end of each section to practice what you know. The ones that are included are fine and can absolutely lead to getting someone certified.

Used this Kindle edition to study for the MOS PowerPoint exam. Happy to report everything went without a hitch. Pros: 1. Page numbers are enabled for the Kindle. 2. All embedded links work well. 3. Color screenshots included (I think the print and PDF versions are black and white). 4. Color screenshots can be zoomed in on (useful on a tablet device). 5. I read most of the chapters on Kindle for Ipad, but found it useful to simultaneously open Kindle on my PC and view two different pages at the same time. Cons: 1. None to report. Note: I also used the Gmetrix testing software to gauge my level of proficiency just before sitting for the exam. Can be found at gmetrix dot com. Good luck!

For anyone contemplating studying and sitting for the Microsoft MOS 2010 exams, this book is a worthy addition to your professional library. Personally I found the book a useful reference in regard to the material examinable in the MOS tests. Given the book covers four MS Office products, it is still essential additional reference material is used. I found the Microsoft InsideOut series worked really well for each of the Office products in crossing referencing between the Study Guide and InsideOut series (but any detailed reference book could be used). The authors write in an easy to read and fast paced format, and their names can be found on other publications and online content, so you can be confident they are knowledgeable on the subjects (MS Office products). As a lot of product functionality is covered in small chapters, I found it necessary to reread chapters to ensure I had identified all of the features for each Office product. Overall a worthy text for planning and learning material for the MOS exams.

I passed the Microsoft Outlook 2010 certification exam with a score of 800 with a minimum 700 required to pass. This was a good follow-up after completing the Excel Step by Step written by the same authors. The guide does a good job of covering the skills you will need to pass the Microsoft Office exams. Very comprehensive. Time for me to start studying for my next certification--as soon as I decide which test to take.

I purchased the Study Guide specifically to study for test #77-882 (Excel 2010) approximately 2 months ago. I took the test today and passed with a score of 700. (The minimum score to pass is 550.) The Excel portion of the Study Guide is only about 140 pages, of the roughly 700 page guide, and was helpful in focusing on specific tasks and areas that the test might cover. I am not sure I would have done as well as I did without it because I am sure I would have spent most of my prep time on things like advanced commands and formulas, or Pivot Tables, and less time on things like Themes, Smart Art, data presentation, headers/footers for printing, etc. (Between this Study Guide and the official Microsoft description of #77-882 I learned that Pivot Tables would not be part of this particular test.) Having said that, I am writing this review to warn all users that the practice tasks at the end of each section and chapter leave a lot to be desired. Several practice task questions are misleading and some are literally not possible to accomplish given the parameters stated in the questions. A tricky question that makes you think and/or read carefully is good practice. But an impossible task is something entirely different - and frustrating considering this is a Microsoft published Study Guide. Example #1: One practice test at the end of the section dealing with printing and page setup instructs the user to apply gridlines to 3 specific columns in a document before printing. After being unable to apply grid lines to specific columns, I researched this and found another Microsoft Excel user manual that specifically stated "grid lines are either ON or OFF". I could only guess the real task was to apply borders to the sheet itself, not grid lines in the Page Setup dialog. Example #2: After the section on "Applying Cell Formats", one task is to open a specific practice document that has colored cells. The task is to select specific cells that are colored, then apply a color that is "2-shades darker that the current shade". The only problem is each of those cells is colored with custom colors, so they don't show up on the color pallette. And since they aren't referenced on the pallette in the first place, there is no point of reference to determine exactly what "2-shades darker" is. Example #3: (My personal favorite) This task instructs the user to select 3 sheets from a specific workbook that has 5 sheets total. The 3 sheets are to be "grouped". Then the user is instructed to "change the Theme to Austin for the group". The problem is Themes are applied to workbooks, not sheets. I spent an hour attempting to do this before going online to an MS help site - where I learned from two different MOS Expert level users that Themes apply to an entire workbook, and cannot be applied to specific sheets or sections of a sheet. So use the Guide for what is in the chapters. But take the practice tasks with a grain of salt. And one last point from the actual test: there were two tasks on the actual test that must have been written by the same people that created the practice tasks in the Study Guide. I made the assumption that these were also "bad" questions. So I hit SKIP and moved on to the next task. Apparently they didn't count against me.

This study guide is just that - a way for the user to prepare for testing. If you are not already familiar with the Microsoft products, I recommend purchasing the companion volumes designed to teach these skills. If all you need is a study guide for preparing to take the certification tests; this book will boost your self-confidence and get you through the exams.