2/11/2004 -- In October 2003, Microsoft announced the launch of Word 2003 Specialist, the first exam in its suite of Office Specialist 2003 certifications. Months later, Word Specialist (formerly Core) is still the only 2003 exam available.

Cristina Goodwin, exam development manager for Certiport -- the company that produces the Office Specialist exams for Microsoft -- told CertCities.com that the delay is due to a major change in the underlying exam technology. All previous Office Specialist (formerly MOUS) exams use actual versions of Word, Excel, Access, etc. to test candidates' skills in the applications. However, with the 2003 suite of exams, custom-built simulations of the applications are being used.

The change was made for business reasons, said Goodwin, explaining that the simulation format will allow for greater worldwide distribution of the exams (by lowering the minimum system requirements and opening up the possibility of expanding delivery vendors) as well as lower costs for individual test centers (e.g., license fees for the applications will no longer be required), among other benefits.

But there are downsides. "Cost of development of a simulation exam is significantly higher, and here is the big issue: the development time -- it's significantly longer," Goodwin explained.

When creating a simulation exam, one of the biggest issues facing all test publishers is how much of the actual environment to replicate. Because costs tend to prohibit full recreation of any environment, choices must be made as far as what to recreate and what to leave out. "In my perspective, the exam development must be the master, and the software must be the slave," Goodwin commented. "[However] the bottom line [is] the cost to build it is a factor. How much reality is enough? What is the minimum we have to have there to have a valid, reliable exam?"

Goodwin told CertCities.com that the program is very sensitive to how the new testing environment may affect candidates. For example, power users may find their particular way of completing a task is not always available in the exam. "A power user typically will use a combination or mixture of shortcut keys and hot keys to perform a task -- they're not going to use the mouse to click through every menu or sub-menu -- but in a simulation in certain situations they may have to," Goodwin explained. "They're going to react instinctively, and find sometimes that it won't work. I think they're going to be able to do it, but they may need to go back and find another method."

Another issue is that those who've taken previous Office Specialist exams may be more sensitive to the simulation environment. For example, in some situations, the simulation exam will react slower than the live application, such as when switching from one Excel spreadsheet to another.

According to Goodwin, the program has various initiatives underway to help ease the transition to the new format. For example, the Microsoft certification Web site now offers exam preparation guides that cover the new testing environment, among other information. Also, a detailed tutorial will run at the beginning of each simulation exam. To compensate for any slowness in the simulations, time adjustments have been made, Goodwin said. And the exams continue to score only the end results -- not on how a particular task is accomplished.

Despite these efforts, the program realizes that reactions to the change will be mixed. "If we were going from multiple-choice exams to simulation exams, this would be 'gee-whiz!' stuff. People would be saying this is just great," Goodwin commented. " I don't expect people are going to be thrilled with it; it's an adjustment -- you really can't get better than the real thing...we just have to make sure we do everything we can to make sure test candidates are aware upfront of what their testing experience will be like."

Goodwin said that there are no concrete release dates for rest of the Office Specialist 2003 exams at this time, although she did say that the next exam, Excel Specialist, will go live in the "next couple of months." Following this release will be the Word and Excel Expert, followed by the rest of the suite.

Goodwin said that some exams may be temporarily released in the former live application format to speed up availability or when the simulation format cannot accurately represent the application environment. For example, she said, "Access is going to be very, very complicated to simulate...[there's a] good chance we will continue to provide the Access exam as a live exam."

More information about the Office Specialist 2003 program can be found online here.

In other Office Specialist news, the program has just announced the launch of its annual 2004 Worldwide Microsoft Office Specialist Academic Competition, a program that allows students to compete against each other in achieving the best scores on the Microsoft Word 2002 Core and/or Microsoft Excel 2002 Core exams. Grand prize winners will receive a trip to Redmond, Wash. to visit the Microsoft campus, and regional finalists will receive laptop computers.

Last year, 50,000 students worldwide competed in the competition, the program said. More information on this contest can be found here. -Becky Nagel