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Rating: 
Summary: Sadly just a bad book . Please read this review why.
Review:
I bought this book with the reason of the previous reviews it had. Let me straighten the facts here; the book is a dissapointment for the following reasons. If you still opted to buy book after reading this review, you only have yourself to blame.
1. You may be suprised to hear this, but the book doesn't even include its own practice files that you are supposedly to work on. You have to copy them from the book and type them up! I am absolutely dumbfounded by this. I can't imagine why didn't the publisher included cheap a floppy disk for the pratice files. Another thing related to this aspect, surely as a common courtesy, one would think that the publisher would, at the very least, get these practice files posted in their website for easy download, but after rummaging through their website countless of tries, the files sadly are not even their.
2. The dimensions of this book almost makes it impossible to stay open. It passes almost as pocket book size. It is a real pain trying to follow along on the practice tests with your hands constantly switching back and forth between the keyboard and the book. It is almost impossible to keep a focused attention being forced to fidget around back and forth.
3. After so many features covered discussing various Excel features, you would be suprise to see that you only get a token average of 4 questions as practice. This is actually fine if the book was tagged as a reference book, but unfortunately it's not; it is rather marketed as something you can go through to pass both the CORE and EXPERT level certification exam. If you'd bought other MOUS study guide books, please imagine that after taking up so many features and concepts, at the end of the of the chapter you're only given handful of questions to reinforce the whole chapter you read--not a very effeective way to be able digest the lessons given. Some my object that these practice tasks are trivial that it is enough to understand them and practice is merely added work. The fact that they are trivial, however, does not mean that they are not useful. Remember that soccer players practice penalty kicks and basketball players practice freethrows every practice countless of times. Professional athletes perform this drills over and over again so that they can perform at a higher level in adverse situations--in our case, the MOUSE examination.
4. To measure how helpful the book trully is, you must look at how it must respond to fulfilling the needs of higher level examination (MOUS Expert category). I am assuming, withought prejudice, that the previous reviews before me took the CORE test and happily so, passed. Being greatful with this succes, it is not impossible that the reviewer would naturally think of crediting the book as a big help towards passing the exam. But as earlier stated, please remember the basic Excel features are mostly the same as other office applications (i.e clipboard, clip art, word art, font formating etc). If you've been using other MS Office applications before, it is like 7 out of 10 that you will pass Excel Core examination. The crucial part here is that, when tested on the Expert level, with this book as the only help, I very much doubt you'd feel confident you can pass the Expert Category. Feature after feature, concepts after concepts and limited pratice tasks does not cut it. Not enough to make you fully comfortable with the advance Excel feature that was discussed, and later, that you will be tested on for the certification.
There are only quite a few things that person can say definitely and quite honestly this is one of those occassions. The book lacks the dynamic qualities needed to fully grasp the finer points of Excel. If you want to pass the Expert Level, this book sadly wouldn't do what it is labeled for. I suggest that you continue your seach of a better book. One that has a large concensus of great reviews of at least 10 before considering to buy. Review and relearning the software is only but the first thing. If you start with the right book, most likely, passing the test would be but a small bump in the road. And as an added benefit, saves you work and allow added you more time to proceed to other planes--perhaps becoming certefied in another MS Office Application. If you discover one publisher that suitly meets your learning needs, chances are you wouldn't go wrong buying from the same publisher to meet your other learning needs. Stick with the trusted label and have fun learning! Don't buy a bad book.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book, worth the money.
Review: Focuses only on what you need for the certification exam...does what it needs to. Not for comprehensive knowledge of Excel 2000 but that's not why you would buy this book anyway. You but it so you can pass the test and get certified. It's a good deal.
Rating:
Summary: Great Study Guide
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: So far so good
Review: I got this book from the library & will be purchasing it. I have no computer background & know only what I have taught myself. I have found the book easy to understand. They do have a site where you can download the worksheets but I am finding that entering the info myself is helping me more as I will need to know how to do that also; No one is going to enter the info for me before I start my new job...& even if the info is already there, I will at least be able to appreciate & understand the work that went into it by the other person/persons. I think the process is helping me reenforce skills I already have, & that's good. If the book is followed page by page, you will have no problem learning all the applications. On the other hand, if you go about trying to learn a specific task, you may lose patience & give up. The book is geared toward learning all of Excel...not just partial sections of it. You need to work page by page. The "Hands On" sections are very helpful as they recap what you have learned & have you applying several skills at once. Therefore, being able to cover the segments/chapters in just a few skill test applications. I give the book 4 stars as I haven't finished it. I'm waiting for that delivery though & can't wait to finish!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent but Disorganized !
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: great learning tool
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Easily passed the Expert exam...
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Slightly Flawed But Very Useful
Review: One gem you learn right away from the book is that the MOUS exams are hands-on. During the exam, you must complete concrete exercises while using an actual version of Excel. No multiple choice questions, and no skipping questions and returning to them later. Once you complete an exercise, you're done with it, and you can't return to it. So you need to know your stuff and use your time wisely. (I took the exam in November, 2002, and there were 30 questions/exercises with a 45-minute time limit.) If you're a complete beginner to Excel, this book will help you learn, but by itself it may not be sufficient to impart true competence and understanding. But if you already have Excel experience, this book gives an excellent and focused summary that enables you to prepare efficiently and effectively for the Expert exam. The book itself is concisely organized around giving you no-nonsense procedures and practice in those hands-on situations. It introduces concepts, gives examples, and then provides exercises to try on your own. Some other reviewers have commented that the book doesn't distinguish between the MOUS Specialist and Expert objectives (corresponding to the "Core User" and "Expert" exams). That's not entirely true, at least for my copy. The inside cover provides a handy reference for all exam objectives. It gives two lists of objectives, one list for each exam. And each objective is cross-referenced to a specific page number in the book. You can't ask for much more than that; after all, Excel is a single, integrated product. Caution: The book contains one piece of obsolete (and hence dead wrong) information: You may no longer use MS Excel's online help while taking the actual exam. The book states that you can, and that was probably true when the book was published in 1999. I found that out only when I took the exam. In spite of the rude surprise, I still passed the Expert exam on the first try with flying colors. I give it five stars as an exam prep guide, minus a star for the absence of an accompanying CD (you have to create your own spreadsheets to practice), and for its obsolete info about using online help during the exam. Thus four stars, but it's still an excellent value and I highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Good and Bad
Review: While I successfully used their Word 2000 Study Guide to pass the Expert exam (with a few, manageable quibbles), the Excel guide leaves much to be desired. They're good at mapping out the exam objectives but you'll have to refer to a decent third-party manual to unravel their explanations of arrays and lookups, among other things. Aside from the typos and misinformation--very confusing when discussing a programme like this--Courter & Marquis appear to be assuming that readers bring an already advanced knowledge to this study guide. Only useful as a springboard for further research. Like their other guides, the lack of practice documents wastes a considerable amount of study time while you try to mock up their "Hands On" exercises, for which they don't even provide solutions. The MOUS exam itself will provide sample documents, why C&M don't is a mystery. They assume you already have a hard disk full of workbooks and worksheets packed with financial data at your disposal--rather wrong-headed for a study guide. The meager download at the Sybex website is absolutely baffling. A professional study guide is supposed to highlight valuable information and make efficient use of your time. This one just doesn't deliver. For advanced users only, but then, advanced users wouldn't need it.
Rating: 
Summary: Doesn't Stand Alone
Review: While I successfully used their Word 2000 Study Guide to pass the Expert exam (with a few, manageable quibbles), the Excel guide leaves much to be desired. They're good at mapping out the exam objectives but you'll have to refer to a decent third-party manual to unravel their explanations of arrays and lookups, among other things. Aside from the typos and misinformation--very confusing when discussing a programme like this--Courter & Marquis appear to be assuming that readers bring an already advanced knowledge to this study guide. Only useful as a springboard for further research. Like their other guides, the lack of practice documents wastes a considerable amount of study time while you try to mock up their "Hands On" exercises, for which they don't even provide solutions. The MOUS exam itself will provide sample documents, why C&M don't is a mystery. They assume you already have a hard disk full of workbooks and worksheets packed with financial data at your disposal--rather wrong-headed for a study guide. The meager download at the Sybex website is absolutely baffling. A professional study guide is supposed to highlight valuable information and make efficient use of your time. This one just doesn't deliver. For advanced users only, but then, advanced users wouldn't need it.
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