MOUS exam appeal

[dawnd3]

Hi there, I am going to be appeal my scores on my recent Outlook 2000 MOUS exam. I thought I would see if anyone has had a similar experience. You don't know me, but I can assure you that I am not a "sore loser". I know Outlook fairly well, certainly well enough that I know my answers in the test were correct, yet I failed! 4 times with the same questions. I have taken all of the other MOUS tests and passed. If you have taken the tests you know that they are very vague about how and why you scored what you did. You also know that it will say that you got 50% on a section that you are positive you know cold. So you have no idea of what you did wrong. When I took the test the first time, I asked to take it again, because the configuration was off. (names and emails did not appear when sending emails, etc) So, they reconfigured it and I took it again. Now, knowing all the questions, I was sure I would pass with flying colors. Not. I then paid 2 more times, thinking I must be doing something wrong. This was after a day of being able to look up all the stuff I might have been unsure about. Now I knew for sure I would pass and still I didn't. There is no way for me to argue about any particular question until I know what they think I missed. I have heard they have marked people down for not answering a specific way, yet it explicitly says in the instructions that the method does not matter, only the end result matters. I assure you I very carfully read each question and did exactly as it asked. I closed all dialogue boxes, etc, etc. I had the test down. My score didn't get much better. I talked to the company that distributes the tests and they said I could appeal. What was most interesting is that they admitted that the bar for passing can change from week to week. i.e. What is a passing score this week, can be a failing score next week. Does this seem a little fishy to anyone, or is it just me? Just wanting some feedback...

Dawn

http://www.calliopeconsulting.net

 

[AngO]

Dawn,
Sorry to hear about your exam. I was not aware the passing scores could change from week to week.

I don't know that there is anything I can say/do to make things better. But would be happy to *talk* about the experience if you'd like.

Do you have a specific example you'd like to analyze-see how many different ways we can come up with to do the same thing?

Just some ideas...
AngO

 

[dawnd3]

Ok, here is one of the ones that I "questioned". The question read, "Create and post a word document in the projects folder with the subject Report." So I clicked on the projects folder, clicked on the drop down next to "new", clicked on office document, clicked on the option to post in current folder, word now is opened, and I went into the properties under file menu and put Report for the subject, and then clicked ok, and then clicked "post". Now, I got 100% on the 2nd 2 tests for "Integrating other office programs" but on the first 2 I got 50% doing the exact same thing I just described. Hmmmm, another one asked me to accept a task from the inbox. So I right-clicked on the message and clicked "Accept". I guess I don't think there is much to discuss until I know what they marked me down for. It is just frustrating because I KNOW Outlook fairly well. Thanks for "listening"

http://www.calliopeconsulting.net

 

[AngO]

Dawn,
Happy to listen - Anytime!

I think I would have answered those two questions the same way you did. If you scored 100% on the first example, sounds like you did it the way they wanted. Not sure what to tell you about the previous tries.

Did you take all of the exams from the same testing site? I was just curious since you had mentioned the very first one you took was not configured correctly; if they had fixed everything in Outlook's configuration.

If you want to *talk* more, post back.
AngO

 

[dawnd3]

I took the other Office tests elsewhere, but all of the Outlook tests at another site. I will let you know what happens when I call tomorrow. In these types of situations you always risk them saying "well you obviously don't know this well enough" but I am going to be pushy and make them tell me EXACTLY what lowered my score.

Dawn

http://www.calliopeconsulting.net

 

[Storyteller]

Hello dawnd3,
I agree with you that it would be nice if the print-out listed exactly what the missed question was. Being told that I got 55% on Calendar features is not helpful, however I understand that that is how the "Premier" (MSCE, MCDBA, etc) exams are scored.

If you are looking for an avenue of appeal try this email address: instructors@mous.net I don't think that this is the correct email address to use. However if you explain your situation they may direct you to the correct department/person.

Nivo International are the Administrators of the MOUS program. Their website is

http://www.certiport.com/

Good luck,
Michael Microsoft Office 2000 Master Instructor
Corel Certified Instructor WordPerfect 9

 

[dawnd3]

Michael, thank you for the information. I actually just sent an email to someone at Certiport. They are being very nice and agreeing to look at my tests and see if there is any problem with the scoring. If anyone else wants the information, please email me. I would really love to know if anyone else feels that they should have passed the Outlook exam but didn't. It would help if it wasn't "just me". Thank you all for your comments.

Dawn

http://www.calliopeconsulting.net

 

[ETID]

Did you try the

http://www.certiport.com

web site?

 

[dawnd3]

Yes I went to the certiport site after I talked to the guy from certiport. I already had a phone number of someone to present my appeal to.

Dawn

http://www.calliopeconsulting.net

 

[DennisNH]

Dawnd3,

Did you get this issue resolved? I have completed 4 of the 7 exams and the Outlook exam will be the last one I take.
I'm just curious if they provided absolute details as to the questions missed?

Thanks for your time.
Dennis
dennis.hightower@attbi.com

I develop applications in Access, Excel, PowerPoint, FrontPage, Word to intranet site at work. Looking to go beyond macros into VBA, and then to VB6.

 

[dawnd3]

Hi there, no they didn't provide me with any details. What they did is investigate my complaint and determine that I was in the right and that there was a problem with the configuration of my particular test. But no good details. Dawn

http://www.calliopeconsulting.net