Exam MOUS Microsoft Word 2002 Core Exam Vendor Microsoft Status Live Reviewer's Rating "Mostly fair; some wording a little bit tricky..." Test Price Varies per test center. Who Should Take This Exam? Those looking to certify their skills on Word 2002. Note: Advanced users should tackle Word 2002 Expert exam. Exam Details 20 questions (most multi-part), 45 minute time limit. Pass score needed: 650. Available at IQ Testing Centers. Objectives Click here

One thing I love about MOUS exams is that they're based on real-world skills, not on abstract theory. On a MOUS exam everything is hands-on; you prove that you know something by doing it. There are no theory questions that make you scratch your head and wonder why they are relevant.

This is also what I hate about MOUS exams. Any time a human being does something, it's going to be slightly different than the way another human being does it. Both results are equally good—just different. But when a machine grades human results, inevitably the human is going to lose points undeservedly because he or she did not perfectly second-guess what the machine wanted to see. I ranted about this at some length in my Word 2000 Core exam review, so I won't rehash it now.

Overall, I found the Word 2002 Core MOUS exam an improvement over the 2000 version. The testing interface was easier to navigate, and the grading engine seemed to more accurately reflect actual skills mastered. Some quirks remain, however, so you'll want to be prepared for them.

Exam Basics
MOUS exams are not traditional question-and-answer tests with multiple choice answers. Instead, you're presented with an actual program interface with a document already started (for most questions). Steps appear in a pane below the application window, and you complete the steps exactly as directed. Then you are scored on how closely your result matches the computer's version of what's "correct."

For example, suppose that for one of the questions you see a half-finished memo onscreen. The instructions for this particular question might have two or three separate steps, and those steps might not necessarily be related to one another. For example, the steps might be:

• Replace the date on the Date line with a date code that is automatically updated.
• Convert the body paragraphs in the memo to numbered list that uses letters rather than numbers (A, B, C)
• Using Format Painter, make all the headings match the first one.

That's not an actual question on the exam, but there are many questions similar to it. Some of the steps simply ask for a result (1 and 2 above); others not only want a result but want you to do it a certain way (3 above). For steps that specify a certain method, you must use that method to get full credit.

The Word 2002 Core exam has 20 questions, but since each question has multiple steps, there are really more like 40 or 50 steps to accomplish. When you are finished with a question, click Next to go on. There is no backing up after you click Next, so make very sure you have double-checked your work.

When you finish, you'll receive a printout showing how well you scored in various categories. These categories are:

• Inserting and Modifying Text: This tests your ability to type and edit text, apply formatting, check spelling, and insert special text objects like symbols, page breaks and date/time codes.
• Creating and Modifying Paragraphs: This tests how well you can apply formatting at the paragraph level. It includes bullets, alignment, spacing, tabs, indents and outlining. It also includes creating and editing tables.
• Formatting Documents: This tests your ability to format on a page, section, and document level. It covers moving through a document, working the different views, and setting margins, columns, headers/footers and other section-level formatting.
• Managing Documents: Here you show your proficiency at opening and saving documents in various formats and locations, saving as a Web page, using hyperlinks and sending a document via e-mail.
• Working with Graphics: This tests how well you can insert and manage clip art and other graphics and employ the Drawing toolbar tools to manipulate and format drawn objects.
• Workgroup Collaboration: This tests your ability to use tools for managing edits by multiple users, such as comments, revision marks, and merging changes.

The content of the exam has changed from the 2000 version in that there is no longer a heavy emphasis on tables. Instead the workgroup collaboration category has been added and is heavily emphasized.

You have 45 minutes to take the test, and to pass you must score at least 650. This score roughly corresponds to the average percentage score you get in each category. For example, if you get 100 percent in four categories and 85 percent and 84 percent in the other two, your score on the exam would be 941, and the actual average of those six scores would be 94.8 percent.

Using the Interface
When you sign on to the testing software for the first time, you create a user ID and password for yourself and it asks you a series of rather personal survey questions. You can decline to answer any of them that you don't feel comfortable with. Then you choose the exam you want to take, and a testing administrator enters his or her user name and password to authorize you to do so.

Next, a set of four informational screens appears explaining the interface. Some of the features of the interface include:

• A Reset button, for restarting the current question.
• A Next button, for moving on to the next question.
• A clock, which shows how much time you have remaining. You can turn off the clock display by clicking it.
• A counter that shows which question you're on (4/20, for example, means you are on question 4 out of 20).

The time you spend reading these instructions does not count against the 45 minutes you are allotted for the exam.

Tip: Since the testing engine does to some degree "watch" the way you do things, it is sometimes advantageous after fumbling around for awhile to click Reset. This restarts the current question; any previous questions are unaffected. After resetting, you can zoom directly in on the activities with confidence.

The Good and the Bad
First, let's talk about what's good about this exam. The new MOUS 2002 (a.k.a. XP) exams use a wide pane at the bottom of the screen to show the instructions, whereas the MOUS 2000 exams used a little floating box; the new way makes it much easier to read.
The 2002 grading mechanism also seems better able to distinguish between a wrong answer (i.e., the test-taker does not know what to do) and a non-standard answer (i.e., the test-taker did what was asked, but formatted something a little bit differently than the answer file shows). I have the same level of proficiency on both Word 2000 and Word 2002, but scored about 100 points higher on the 2002 exam. I attribute this to fairer grading.

However, this additional leeway does not mean you're free to do your own thing! To minimize the number of points subtracted because your answer is not an exact match, you must still follow the instructions to the letter. For example, if the instructions tell you to use Arial font, don't use Arial Black, Arial Narrow, or Ariel Rounded, and if the instructions say to press Enter twice, do it exactly twice.

Sometimes, following the instructions can be difficult because of the tricky wording of a question. The company that developed the testing software could have benefited from having professional technical editors participate as beta testers, so they could get some feedback on the wording. For example, one question asks you to create a new document by creating a template, or some such similar wording. Which is it? Do they want a new document based on an existing template, or an entirely new template saved with a .dot extension? It's difficult to tell. And if you guess wrong, you lose points.

The sample documents could have benefited from a good technical editor too. For example, in one question the word "traveller" appears, with two L's, but in the instructions it refers to traveler with one L. However this is a minor complaint, and people who aren't professional writers or editors trained to be picky will probably not notice such things.

One thing I enjoyed from an expert user point of view was that the questions delved deep into the features; they weren't confined to the most popular uses of a feature. For example, not only are you tested on how to make text bold and italic, but also on several of the less common formatting features found in the Font dialog box as well. This lets experienced users showcase their skills, and helps separate the knowledgeable Word user from the poseur.

Final Advice
The Word 2002 Core exam is a test of your ability to follow detailed instructions just as much as it's a test of your Microsoft Word 2002 skills. If you can read the directions without misunderstanding the wording, and if you can keep your focus on what's actually being asked rather than what you think they should ask, you should have no trouble.

Here's a summary of what you need to do to conquer this exam:

• Study all aspects of a covered skill, not just the most common aspects of it. For example, the exam covers text formatting, so you need to study everything that you can possibly do with text.
• Read each step of each question very carefully.
• Perform each instruction exactly as written, without trying to second-guess the authors.
• Don't do anything that isn't specifically requested. For example, if you are instructed to change the font of a heading so that it no longer matches the rest of the document, don't worry about the fact that the document looks ugly when you're finished. It's just a test.
• Recheck your answers before clicking the Next button.

Good luck!

More articles by Faithe Wempen:

• PowerPoint 2003: Taking It Easy
  
• Excel Core 2003: The More Things Change...
  
• Word 2003: Who's Afraid of Simulation?
  
• The New 2003 A+ Exams