MOS 2010 Study Guide for Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook Exams 1st Edition

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.

Pre-order it from Amazon. 1st quick look is show that it is missing Access 2010 - Unlike the Office 2007 version of the same book. As a Office 2007 MOS Master that also has the Access 2007 CERT, I wish that Access was included. When asked what I used to pass the 5 MS Office 2007 CERT tests. I studied All of the MS Press "Step by Step" for each Office product and the 2007 MOS CERT book. So yes, I am mean as a snake on reviewing the related MOS Office books. Check out my review of the Excel 2007 Step by Step - no one read that book before it was printed. People ask me if getting any of the MOS CERTs it worth it. Answer: Yes. If you use a real computer (not the Apple Crap) and have a J.O.B. - Self Training with MS Press Books for any of the MOS CERT Tests will make you a better person on the J.O.B. You will find that there are a ton of "way cool" features in the Office Products and you will have "oh, it can do that?" kind of moments. Once your boss knows that you can make cool results in Excel or Word - you are more likely to be added to more projects and more work - as with 9 million looking for work at the time of the POSTing - keeping a J.O.B. is a Blessing from God.I will POST a update once I have reviewed it in details. I hope that this was helpful to level set some details about spending your money regarding Office MOS Cert books. If you are looking at getting a MOS Cert - Good Luck. Live from Raleigh NC.

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.

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 cannot in my right mind recommend this book to anyone. Years ago I brought a Step-by-Step series book from Microsoft press and was somewhat satisfied but this here is simply beyond forgiveness. While the content structure looks appealing to the budding examination candidate the actual substance is very dried. The reader is leterally treated like a data input machine with instructions about executing commands given in bulleted sentences in numerical sequences. The reader/student is bombarded with these abstract commands and the instructions to execute them continuously coupled with explanation/introduction paragraphs here and there and after about 10 pages the reader is given a "practice task" which s/he is supposed to be able to perform (after internalising pages of abstract instructions like a robot) using files that has to be downloaded from a website. The tasks themselves are written along the same theme - plain and dried and bulleted, without accompanying pictures or anything which often leaves one in doubt of whether or not one has actually done the task properly. However pictures are included generously indeed elsewhere - mostly pictures of dialog boxes, often a few stacked on each others in the same diagram, and so far as I can tell none of them diagrams are annotated throughout the entire book! Thus all things considered the user will find himself having to make the effort to connect the diagrams with whatever litterature or bulleted instructions happened to be on the same pages as the pictures. I admit I did not attempt to be objective in this review for in my eyes there was no point, so my appology for that.Verdict: not recommended

I'm very pleased with the content and handy size of this book (large enough, but not over-cumbersome considering it's nearly 700 pages long). The only reason I've given it four stars instead of five is because the illustrations (screen snapshots) lack clarity because they are a very light colour - well, they aren't colour at all actually but more various shades of grey. Not a major issue, however, as it's a practical guide and there are also step-by-step instructions alongside these, and most people will be using the book in tandem with the Office applications themselves anyway in order to do the exercises. Good value for money.Update: You get a free copy of the ebook when you buy the hard copy. I've since downloaded this and the illustrations here are very sharp, and in colour, so all in all I'm very happy with this purchase!

Don't waste your money on training sessions (only for PowerPoint training you could pay around £600 for 2 days). Just buy this book, some highlighters and have access to the software. Do the practice exercises at the end of each chapter. If you have small issues, google them on youtube. You will definitely find answers to your questions (if you have any, as long as this book is very much describing each steps in detail and there are very few errors in the Errata of the book).

Nicely presented but I was hoping for more advanced exercises. Found that I already knew most of it from working with Microsoft Office regularly. It did not really improve my knowledge as I had hoped.

A decent book for covering Office 2010 whether you intend to take the MOS examinations or not.