Perhaps because PowerPoint is not one of my stronger subjects, I actually studied for my Microsoft Office Specialist certification exam.

I chose this book, because it doesn't just hit on the test objectives, but actually teaches you how to use the program. I didn't use the included exercise files, because I can visualize really well with these programs, but I read even the sections I thought I knew, just in case.

The Step by Step books are full of information about how to get things done in their title program. They're also full of trivia about alternate ways to do things (there are always two to six ways to do everything in Office), and come at the program from a way slightly different than I experience it as an end-user.

As a user, I tend to find out how to do the things I need right away, and then build extra knowledge from things I can use fairly often, then sometimes, then rarely, then never.

Step by Step books turn that teaching style on its ear, and go beginning to end, whether you might use a feature or not. I particularly like that this opens me to more possibilities than I would have otherwise found out about.

In the case of this exam, when I really felt ignorant about the program, but wanted to try anyway, I got the best score I've ever gotten on a certification. I believe I took on a belief that I knew nothing, and was therefore open to everything the book had to teach. I still missed a few questions, but belief I owe my success to this book and this series.

Well done, Microsoft Press. ( )