Crabby Office Lady

With more than 60 free Office Online quizzes to test your mettle, I'm surprised you all aren't Office experts by now. This week I'll go over some of my favorite quizzes.

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When the first Office Online quiz was published on this very Web site in 2002, we had no idea what a huge hit it would be. Months and months of discussions among the various designers, program experts, and writers resulted in the fact that quizzes are among the most popular types of content on the site. And what started as one has now turned into more than 60. (If that doesn't spell success, then I don't know what does.)

Quizzes? What quizzes?

If you read that heading up there and said to yourself, "Yes, what are the Office Online quizzes?" put your hand in front of your screen so I can give it a whack.

There, I feel better. Don't you?

Office Online quizzes are just about the easiest way to find out if your Office skills are on track . And they're also a way to teach you some new tricks. They're short, they're fun, and they're free. You answer a few multiple choice questions, you check your answers, and you get to see how you measure up — after every quiz, your score is averaged with everyone else's score. You also have the opportunity to comment on the quiz and let us know what you thought about it. This feedback is valuable because it helps us develop better quizzes.

Of course, I have my favorites. Today, I'll let you in on what what they are.

Crabby's favorite quiz destinations

While my choices may seem arbitrary, I can assure you that they're not. I pick my quizzes like I pick my travel destinations.

For example, sometimes I'm interested in comfort and ease — I want to go somewhere (or, in this case, take a quiz) where I know what I'll be getting. I may not know everything about this place (or have all the answers), but it's a good time and place to refresh my knowledge.

Other times I want a little bit more adventure — I may want to try new and exotic foods, be completely in the dark regarding the native language, and perhaps stay away from the lush life that resorts have to offer. In other words, I want to be challenged — thereby, changed — by my experience.

And finally, there are vacations when I like a little bit of both: The sun I need, the sand that gets everywhere, the resort amenities I crave…and yet perhaps a few days tucked in there spent traveling around, sleeping under the stars, and cooking over an open fire. I call those my adventure-within-a-vacation destinations.

I'm like that with Office quizzes, and I suggest you think about incorporating them into your life just as you do your various vacations. Let me explain.

If you can think of me as your vacation planner, your Julie McCoy (the perky, kittenish cruise director from the 70s show Love Boat), and your ticket to a successful vacation experience, I can help guide you to a few quizzes that I think will match your particular needs. Of course, every Office customer is unlike the next — we're all unique — and so my idea of fun and easy might be considered by you to be a real drag. Conversely, what I find challenging and difficult might just be your walk in the park. So, just take these as examples and then head on over to the Office Quizzes and pick your own dream destination.

The sun and surf vacation

If you're interested in comfort and warmth and knowing what you're going to get (that'd be the carefree beach vacation), I suggest you take a look at one of these three quizzes. They're about basic things we all do in Office, and while you may have the answers to some of the questions, you may learn a thing or two you didn't know.

• Quiz: Office basics
  From using task panes to keyboard shortcuts, this quiz covers the things most Office programs have in common.
• Quiz: Keyboard basics in Office 2003
  Using the keyboard is elemental when it comes to computers. This quiz tests you on some of the fundamental ways you can make better use of this tool.
• Quiz: Get started with Word 2003
  Word is one of the (if not the) most basic programs that all of us probably use on a daily basis. But, how well do you know that friend who is always there to do your word processing bidding? You may be surprised with what you take away from this quiz — kind of like coming home with all that sand in your suitcase.

The "challenge me" vacation: A trek through the mountains of Vietnam

If I want to be challenged, and perhaps learn a few things along the way while I enjoy myself, I go for a quiz that may cover things I do once in a while but not enough to be an expert at them.

• Quiz: Use formulas to revise text in Excel 2003
  I do use formulas in Excel but not to the extent that I know all there is to be known. This quiz covers how to save time in Excel by using formulas instead of retyping to change the text you've already entered. (I had no idea.)
• Quiz: Project Server
  I don't know about you, but I'm not a Project Server expert. So when I took this quiz, I didn't do so well. After I took it, I felt I had a bit more information and knowledge than when I started out and, frankly, it inspired me to dig deeper into the program. Kind of like visiting a foreign country and deciding you must start learning the language — Arabic, Vietnamese, French, whatever — the moment you get home so that you'll be prepared the next time you visit.
• Quiz: Visio scheduling
  Although I like and use Visio, I'm not too up on using it for creating scheduling diagrams. This quiz taught me some terms and techniques for facilitating communication during a project.

The in-between vacation: Comfortable,yet surprising

If you like the comfort of a beach vacation with a bit of adventure thrown in there (with a hot shower at the end of the day, of course), try the following quizzes. They're not totally difficult, but you may take away a tip or two that you didn't even know existed.

• Quiz: Get started with Access 2003
  While you may think you can breeze through this quiz like the wind blows the sheets hanging out to dry on a gusty summer evening, you may find a few hidden gems here that you didn't know. Knowing the terminology is critical to understanding how databases work.
• Quiz: Photos in FrontPage
  In a previous life, I used to write Help topics for FrontPage, so I think I know it pretty well. But, to my surprise, there were some things I really didn't know before I took the quiz. And now I do. (And no, I won't tell you which questions I got wrong.)
• Quiz: Get rid of Track Changes in Word 2003
  The Track Changes feature in Word is a sticky subject. It's what I like to call "robust." You have a lot of choices to make and when you're working with someone else on a document that uses tracked changes, they need to be on board too. This quiz tests you to see if you really do know everything there is about this feature.

Go forth and quiz thyself

Now you know a little bit about me, the kind of vacation I take, and why I use quizzes to beef up my Office skills. Of course, there are lots of ways you can improve the way you use Office — training courses, assistance articles, even a Crabby column or book — but the quiz is a bit different. It's interactive like a training course, but it's also a lot shorter. And, as a bonus, if you do well, you get a very pretty picture congratulating you when your results are shown — just a little prize from us to you.

"The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance — it is the illusion of knowledge." — Daniel J. Boorstin

About the author

Annik Stahl, the Crabby Office Lady columnist, takes all of your complaints, compliments, and knee-jerk reactions to heart. Therefore, she graciously asks that you let her know whether this column was useful to you — or not — by entering your feedback using the Was this information helpful? tool below. And remember: If you don't vote, you can't complain.

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