About the Competition
The Competition will consist of 4 categories:
- Microsoft Certifed Application Specialist – Word 2007
- Microsoft Certifed Application Specialist – Excel 2007
- Microsoft Office Specialist – Word 2003
- Microsoft Office Specialist – Excel 2003
The tertiary institutions will be representing Singapore in the Word 2007 and Excel 2007 categories while the pre-tertiary institutions will be representing in the Word 2003 and Excel 2003 categories.
The Microsoft Certified Application Specialist exams and Microsoft Office Specialist exams are based on a computerised, performance-based (also known as Task-based) format with a time limit of 50 minutes where each participant will attempt to score the highest passing mark and the quickest time in the event of a tie in mark. A score report will be generated at the end of the exam. The score report must be validated by the exam/competition invigilator/administrator.
All participants who score a certain standard minimum passing mark will be eligible to achieve Microsoft® Office Specialist or Microsoft® Certified Application Specialist credential, receiving the internationally recognised certification from Microsoft.
For preliminary round, the participants will first compete to be among the best in their institutions/cohorts and then proceed to the National Finals where they will compete to be the best in Singapore and have a chance to represent the country at the 2009 Worldwide Competition on Microsoft Office Presented by Certiport in Toronto, Canada.
The Preliminary round will officially begin on 1 January 2009 and must end by 8 May 2009. Each individual academic institution may conduct their own competition to select the finalists to represent their institutions at the National Finals. The academic institutions must follow the proper procedures to select the finalists.
For every five participants, each academic institution is entitled to send one finalist to the National Finals; however, the minimum number of participant must be at least five. Schools that have less than five participants will be pooled together to determine the number of participants and who the finalist(s) will advance to the National Finals. All perfect scorers will automatically advances to the National Finals, regardless of the cap as specified above.
Tertiary Level
Tertiary institutions must hold their in-school competition between the period of 1 January 2009 and 8 May 2009 (both dates inclusive) to select the finalists to represent at the National Finals.
For the National Finals, these participants will be tested on their skills in the Microsoft Word 2007 or Microsoft Excel 2007.
Pre-Tertiary Level
For Pre-Tertiary institutions, preliminary round, all participants will be tested on their skills in the Specialist Level in either Microsoft Excel 2003 or Microsoft Word 2003. No Exceptions given.
At the National Finals, these participants will be tested on their skills in the Expert Level in either Microsoft Word 2003 or Microsoft Excel 2003.
The academic institutions with the qualified finalists will be notified after the 8 May 2009. The National Finals will be held on the 15 May 2009 with the venue yet-to-be-determined.
Please visit the Official Competition website for regularly updates of the Competition around the world. For more information on the Microsoft Office Specialist Certification program, visit http://www.certiport.com.sg. Exam demonstration of the Microsoft Word 2002 Specialist and Microsoft Excel 2002 Specialist can also be found at the website. However do take note that the actual exam interface may be different and that the competition is based on version 2003 and 2007.
