Looking for Guidance on MOS Certification Prep

Have you gone through all the information on the MS site?
http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en...certifications

You can find details of what is expected. The forums also appear to contain links to practice exams.

Unless you are going to undertake a position that requires it then you are probably best off learning from us or related sites, grab an easy to read easy explained book to help you along and then create projects to work on and get your queries thrashed out in a forum, you'll find that 99% of people who use Excel beyond the "show me that total" & "Colour that cell" ....etc all have learnt this way.

Don't get me wrong, the course is valid and has it's merits and has a solid teaching path, so it's a personal preference but don't expect to come out of the course "all seeing all knowing" as thats just the start of your journey

For me, I plan on taking the exams this year for the Master certification. I see this not as a way to learn more (although I am sure there will be things I learn along the way), but as a way to show on my resume that I am, indeed, a master in MS Office. Many, many job descriptions say "Must be proficient in (insert Office Product)". This would be a large bullet in my resume to prove my expert-ness, and set me apart from other candidates. It is, for me, a way to say to employers "not only am I good, but Microsoft says I am a Master". The fact that not many people seem to take these exams is not the issue to me. Most hiring managers are probably not aware there is certification for MS Office products, but that doesn't mean they won't be impressed when, after reading dozens of resumes saying the applicant is good at Excel, my resume says I am a certified expert. It will also indicate not only a willingness to learn and self-educate, but also the willingness to follow through with that education and take a standardized test to prove it.

Any sort of certification looks good on a resume.

Also, my current employer will look well upon this certification, I am sure. They will see this as a proof that I am self motivated and continually improving myself. The certification will lend weight to my words when I say something should or could be done a certain way.

In all, I see it as a good use of my time and money. Perhaps I could spend that money on all sorts of books and courses, but in the end I will not have a piece of paper that proves I know what I am doing in Office. Pieces of paper are important to hiring managers that only know the job description for which they are hiring and have a stack of identical resumes to compare. Pieces of paper are something they can use to compare candidates.

Canuck Chuck, wanna be study buddies?