Excel 2000 MOUS Study Guide

The Good: Material = 5 stars This book is an excellent source of information needed to pass the MOUS Cert exams (Core and Expert). Explanations are clear and thorough. These folks know the material and share it well.The Bad: Organization = 3 starsI bought the book to study for the MOUS certification tests, Excel 2000 Core and Excel 2000 Expert. The book is poorly organized for the two separate certs. It seems incredibly obvious that the book should be organized into two sections, the first for the Core exam, and a second section for the Expert exam. Instead, information is (semi) randomly scattered throughout the 7 chapters. If they reorganized the book as it should be, I could give it an unqualified 5 stars. As it stands now, I will give it only 4. Close, but no cigar. The Ugly: (Sorry- I couldn't resist)

Many thanks to the authors of this well-written study guide. I was completely overwhelmed by some of the other MOUS study books as I thumbed through them at the bookstore. No way was I going to strugle through 900 pages just to pass one exam!This book was very managable - straight to the point with examples and exercises that helped me practice new concepts. And I wasn't stuck typing a ton of information, either. I downloaded the exercises from the Web site and immediately started crunching numbers.The exam seemed almost easy after working through the book. If you're preparing to take the MOUS exam, or even if you're not, I'd highly recommend this book. I was able to put many of the excel concepts to work on the job too.

I did each of the Hands On assignments, then went back and studied what I struggled with. I aced the test today. The book was structured well and was easy to understand. I will be using other books by these authors.

I have used the other books by these same authors for MOUS certification(Office 97 User Certification Study Guide, Office 2000 User Certification Study Guide, and Word 2000 MOUS Study Guide) The info is full, brief, and all encompassing of the exams. I have taken these exams and passed all. These books made it possible but they also made studying HELL! The authors know their stuff but are complete idiots when it comes to the organization of the book. At the front there is a Core and Expert Exam Objectives chart. This lays out the format of requirements that Microsoft has lined up for the tests. Do any of these books follow that chart? NO! To learn a beginner subject like "working with cells" a person has to start on page 28, then pg.29, then jump to pg. 39, then go back to pg. 13, then 39 again, then 29,12,45,22,46,202,20,58,33 and finally all the way to page 214. All that jumping and confusion just to learn one module ! It is aggravating. If you can get past this extreme inconvenience you will get what you need from this book. I just wish the authors would get it together in the next book they attempt.

I took the exam without knowing anything about this application. I learned all the how to's by doing the exercises offered in the sampling. This book was easy to follow and a good reference point as well.