Customer Reviews

Microsoft Excel 97 Exam Prep

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As an instructor, finding good instruction books is important to me. I have used the Step by Step series in learning new MS applications, and I like them. This book on Excel, however, strikes me as equally good, if not even better. I like the layout of the book, the fact that the exercises are 2 pages long, with tasks easily identifiable. There are good review chapters and exercises, too. The only negative is that the CD did not work properly, but that didn't take away from the guts of the lessons.

This book has all the right content for the exams and more importantly is easy to revise from. The book is very visual and keeps your attention making practicing much less trouble. This is how all exam prep books should be presented. The content is very good and easy to follow. Highly recommended.

There is a CD in the back of this book that will have you functioning in Excel at top speed. Go through it first!
Then start with the book. The lessons breakup into 10 minute segments. By the time you are finished with the book you will have the information to pass the MOUS certification test with ease! If you need to review a concept, the keystrokes are printed in red ink so that you don't have to re-read the whole text. I have taught several Excel computer classes using this book as the instruction textbook. Well written!
T

Although there is a fair amount of information in this book, I was disappointed by a number of issues. In the first place, I found the review sections at the ends of the chapters to be geared towards classroom settings and of limited use to the independent student. Answers to chapter quizzes were not provided, which makes it pretty hard to check progress. The worst disappointment was the "interactive" CD-Rom. I got continual error messages due to the fact that the sound files could not play (no, it's not my computer). The CD only covers the first 5 chapters of the book, and the accompanying quiz is only 10 questions, which does not give a very in depth assesment of knowledge. Finally, the quiz itself was buggy; out of the ten questions the software would only allow me to answer 7. I got all seven correct; the program then gave me a score of 47%!! Maybe I'm just a sour-puss, but I felt the short-comings and software problems more than outweighed the benefits; I went out and bought another book.

The information is difficult to use and the exercises are hard to find & use. The questions and examples have little to do with the MOUS test.

I am a new user of EXCEL and wanted the interactive capabilities of the book. I found the CD to be totally useless. I ended up frustrated at not being able to load it. I returned the book.