High school and college students will have the chance to test their Microsoft Office skills in a worldwide competition hosted by Certiport, an organization that assesses and certifies people on their technology skills.
The Microsoft Office Specialist World Championship officially kicked off in June 2016, but students ages 13 to 22 have the chance to enter until June 15, 2017. They participate in the first round by taking a Microsoft Office Specialist certification exam on Excel 2013 or 2016, Word 2013 or 2016 and PowerPoint 2013 or 2016. Once they’ve passed the exam and received their Office credential, their scores are automatically entered into the contest. “Country” champions will be selected by top score or by the results of regional test events.
All regional and country champions will then be invited to a world championship event in July 2017 in Anaheim, where they’ll be tested again with a new set of tasks in a proctored lab on their chosen product. Their job will be to recreate a Word document, Excel workbook or a PowerPoint presentation that will be presented to them at the beginning of the final contest. They’ll be given 50 minutes to do that.
The first place world finishers in each product category will receive $7,000 and a medal of achievement. The second place winner will receive $3,500 and a medal. The third place winner will receive $1,500 and a medal.
“Every year this competition grows — last year we had over one million exam entries and 150 student finalists from 48 countries competed in the final round of competition,” said Bob Whelan, president of Pearson Assessments, of which Certiport is a division. “Every student who enters is a winner because they have Microsoft Office Specialist certification to put on their resume. Certification aids employability and academic success and this competition encourages more students worldwide to take that extra step to validate their Microsoft Office skills.”
The contest site is here.
