For the MOUS Word 2000 Expert exam, you complete a series of tasks within a live version of Word. Successfully completing the tasks demonstrates the mastery of skills expected of someone with a comprehensive knowledge of Word 2000. In this article I'll share some strategies for improving your chances of passing the test.

A Greatly Improved Exam

The Word 2000 exam design is greatly improved over the Word 97 Expert exam. The screen designs are cleaner and the instruction screen remains visible throughout the test. I found the new screen format much more user-friendly and not as intimidating as the Word 97 format. The instructions are clearly written and display in a separate window, which can be closed, moved, or restored as needed throughout the test.

As I have discovered in other MOUS tests, some of the more advanced tasks are presented very early in the Word 2000 Expert exam. This can be a bit disconcerting--and the best advice for dealing with them is to take a deep breath, relax, and read the question thoroughly. This version of the test appears to be much more fully functional and all of the expected menu, shortcut, and help features are enabled. As with any of the MOUS exams, knowledge of keyboard shortcuts can increase your productivity and save precious time in completing tasks.

The exam has a total of 23 questions with 45 minutes for completion and an additional 15 minutes for reading the instructions. Each question has multiple parts and scoring is done on a part-by-part basis for each question. Thus, you could complete one portion of a question incorrectly but still receive points for another portion completed correctly. At the end of the test, results print out showing the percentage correct for each skill set shown. One thing I noticed on the Word 2000 exam was the faster task scoring. Earlier tests seemed to be rather sluggish--and for an anxious test-taker, the time between tasks can seem like an eternity!

The questions are clear and representative of skills that an advanced user should have. As in the Word 97 Expert exam, the Word 2000 Expert exam is scored based on the tasks you are asked to complete--therefore, it's important to remember to close any dialogue boxes, help files, and menus that you had opened while performing the task before moving on to the next task. Content closely follows the skill sets and exam objectives provided by Microsoft, but, as always with the MOUS exams, it's a good idea to read the questions carefully and be prepared for differences in terminology. Test preparation resources that provide a glossary can be a real help in developing a sense of the keywords you may encounter. If you do need to refer to the help files during the exam, using the proper keywords can help ensure you find the information as quickly as possible.

The key skill sets covered in this exam are:

• Working with documents
  Be sure you're familiar with creating a table of contents, creating and modifying headers and footers for specific pages, and balancing columns. Competency in working with styles is also important for doing well on this group of objectives.

• Working with paragraphs
  The questions for this skill set are straightforward, but you'll want to make sure you know how to sort lists, manage widows/orphans, and apply borders and shading. Be sure you know how to apply a specified gray fill. There are a number of percentage options for the gray fills and if you aren't observant, you can easily select the wrong percentage fill.

• Working with pictures and charts
  Key items to prepare for include creating and modifying charts, inserting graphics, and positioning graphics.

• Using mail merge
  Be sure you're comfortable with creating main documents, creating source documents, and merging documents. Also be sure you know how to add records to a source document. This is a complex task, and you'll want to be sure you feel comfortable to complete it quickly and efficiently.

• Using tables
  If you know how to use the paste special command and work with Excel data in tables this set will be a breeze!

• Collaborating with workgroups
  Collaboration is an important feature in Word 2000 and this skill set could appear more than once in the exam. Be sure you're comfortable inserting comments, protecting comments, and working with versions.

• Using advanced features
  Macros, Macros, Macros! Be sure you're comfortable editing and saving macros for this skill set. Be able to work with forms--creating, modifying, and adding items to drop-down lists. Text wrapping is also referenced in the exam objectives, so be sure you're familiar with wrapping styles and the layout tab for formatting objects.

Advice for Passing with Flying Colors!

The following are some suggestions to help make your testing experience easier:

• Prepare for the test and allow yourself time to relax for a moment or two before beginning the test.

• Read all instructions thoroughly and take a moment to think them through before beginning the task. Once you have completed a task and gone on to the next one, you can't return to a previous task.

• Familiarize yourself with the Standard, Formatting, Forms, Picture, and Table toolbars. This will make it easy to quickly locate the commands needed to complete a task. Key dialogue boxes to be familiar with are: Page Numbers, Footnote, Index and Tables, Columns, and the Mail Merge Helper.

• Study the list of exam objectives and look for courseware that covers the skills needed. Books, CDs, and other products authorized by the MOUS program are available for self-paced and instructor-led learning.

• Read through the help files in Microsoft Word for each of the objectives. Use more than one resource to ensure you get a diverse coverage of information. There are free articles, forums, and online chats available on this site. Free demo tests are also available on www.mous.net; download them and try them out so that the test functionality isn't foreign to you.

• If you encounter a problem during the testing, stop immediately and contact a test administrator. In most cases, the exam can be restarted and data won't be lost. Quality of testing resources may vary, and in previous experiences, I've found some of the facilities' computers to be of very poor quality. If possible, it's always a good idea to visit the testing facility prior to scheduling your exam; that way you'll know whether the equipment is up to your standards before laying down your money.

In my opinion, this test is one of the best to be found in the series thus far. The content is challenging but the instructions are clear and test quality seems to be much improved. In previous MOUS tests, I have encountered problems with systems crashing, functions disabled, and various other annoyances. This exam performed admirably and covers the concepts that an expert Word user should know. Good luck!