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<\/a>The best hunter is defined by its prey. Nowadays, the best hunters are those who hunted down the best, most well-paying job. MOS certifications is one of the weapons of these modern- day hunters.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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First attempt<\/strong><\/p>\n When I decided to hunt for a MOS certification in Excel 2013<\/b>, my first action was to go to Microsoft\u2019s site and order the official study guide. To be on the safe side, I also googled it to see my other options.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span><\/span>My first search terms were \u201cPractice for the MOS exam<\/b>\u201d and \u201cQuestions for the MOS exam<\/b>\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n I found the books that were among the first results, ordered them also and began studying.<\/span><\/p>\n Pretty soon I realized that reading about it wasn\u2019t going to be enough, so back to Google it was.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cPractice Tests for MOS exam<\/b>\u201d was the search term which landed me to Certiport\u2019s<\/b> site. There it was. The solution to my problem. Gmetrix<\/b>. <\/span><\/p>\n It is a hands-on training solution<\/b> for the MOS exams. I paid it, downloaded the software and began practicing.<\/span><\/p>\n I completed all the tests it had. I pinpointed my weak spots and I run the tests again. I ignored a few questions and at last I found the first of the questions I wanted to emphasize. <\/span><\/p>\n I continued this routine until I have completed all my available test re-runs. Gmetrix allows certain number of tests<\/b> to be run and when you spent that number you no longer have access to the tests.<\/span><\/p>\n So, I went for my first try. I failed<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n I was devastated, but not enough to make me stop trying.<\/p>\n Meanwhile Microsoft had launched their MOS 2016 certifications, so I decided to go for the latest.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Second Attempt<\/strong><\/p>\n Back to Google.<\/p>\n \u201cFailed on the MOS exam. What now?<\/strong>\u201d was my first search term, which didn\u2019t offer any serious results. \u201cExamples of the MOS Exam 2016<\/strong>\u201d, \u201cActual MOS 2016 exam questions<\/strong>\u201d were my second and third searches to try to find some questions of old tests<\/strong>. I found some and studied them, along with a new subscription to Gmetrix<\/strong>.<\/p>\n MOS 2016 introduced a new examination type. Now the whole examination was one multi-project question.<\/p>\n The time for the second try on the MOS beast was there, and defeat was as bitter as the first time.<\/p>\n I had to try a different perspective, find something else, something new, something better.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Third Attempt<\/strong><\/p>\n Google was my weapon of choice again and the search term this time was \u201cAlternative to Gmetrix<\/strong>\u201d.<\/p>\n Among the results was TEST4U<\/strong><\/a>. It seemed the same as Gmetrix but I decided to give it a go.<\/p>\n I went on to buy it and found the first difference. TEST4U had some kind of time charging instead of test repetitions<\/strong>. I opted in for the 15 hours and bought it.<\/p>\n I downloaded the software and installed it, pretty much like I did with Gmetrix.<\/p>\n The first surprise<\/strong> was when I launched the program and clicked on the MOS EXCEL 2016 product I had bought.<\/p>\n TEST4U asked to assess my abilities<\/strong> (benchmark test they called it<\/strong>). I went for it. I had studied so long for the MOS exams that I was sure to ace it. It was also a way for me to assess the level and the difficulty of their questions.<\/p>\n The result was enlightening. It was at about the same percentage I had scored at my last failed MOS exam.<\/p>\n Then there was the second surprise<\/strong>.<\/p>\n There were no tests, at least not in the form I used to see them in Gmetrix.<\/p>\n There were only skill categories<\/strong> as they were shown in the official MOS exam syllabus<\/strong>. Each category had a massive number of questions to train on<\/strong>. This way I could train to the part of the syllabus I was lacking<\/strong>.<\/p>\n First, I went through all of the questions in all categories to have a better idea of where was my real problem and then focused on the categories I wanted<\/strong>. I could even focus on certain questions if I needed.<\/p>\n And then I was mind blown<\/strong>. TEST4U had videos of the solution for each of the questions<\/strong>, for me to see and find out what exactly I was doing wrong. Hundreds of videos at my disposal.<\/p>\n My 15 hours<\/strong> were diminishing and I started to worry that they were not going to be enough but then I realized that as I was focusing on certain categories, and as I was acquiring the missing skills the rate of time-spending, fell drastically.<\/p>\n Line graphs beside each category<\/strong> showed my progress in it and a general graph showed my total progress<\/strong>. They even had questions simulating the MOS 2016 exam environment.<\/strong><\/p>\n I thought that that was the end of the surprises but I was mistaken.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n