To achieve the Microsoft Office Specialist: Microsoft Excel 2016 Expert certification, candidates are required to pass a single exam known as Microsoft 77-728: Excel 2016 Expert: Interpreting Data for Insights. Candidates for this test are expected to demonstrate a thorough comprehension of the Excel environment as well as the ability to instruct others on how to use the program's capabilities correctly. These individuals should be capable of designing, managing, and distributing professional spreadsheets for a wide range of specific applications and scenarios. Moreover, they need to know how to adapt their Excel workspaces to match the needs of their projects and to increase productivity. Examples of expert workbooks may include custom business layouts, multiple-axis financial charts, amortization tables, and inventory schedules. The Microsoft 77-728 evaluation is also a part of the requirements for an advanced-level MOS certificate, Microsoft Office Specialist 2016 Master. Along with this exam, you are to pass 77-726, 77-729, and one of the elective exams either 77-730 or 77-731.

Intended Audience

If you’re the one those candidates who wish to obtain a separate Microsoft Office Specialist: Microsoft Excel 2016 Expert certification, or a student with solid skills in Excel but you aim to advance them, if you want to become an expert in Excel, then exam 77-728 is right for you. Holding the Microsoft Office Specialist: Microsoft Excel 2016 Expert accreditation can also make your job easier if you are in charge of an office’s clerical support or a business based on client-specific requirements. Besides, anyone who wants to advance their career with Microsoft Excel 2016 can take this exam. Accountants, Auditors, Financial Analysts, Business Intelligence Analysts, Data Analysts, Cost Estimators, Market Researchers and Analyzers, and even Digital Marketers will benefit from this exam. Simply put, any professional who uses Excel for their day-to-day work activities may take the certification test.

Exam Details

The Microsoft 77-728 exam has a 50-minute time limit. It will consist of 26 questions that will measure your ability to use Microsoft Excel 2016. To pass the test you need to score 70% of the correct answers. Once you've completed your preparation and are ready to schedule your exam, you need to go to the Microsoft 77-728 exam information webpage to complete the registration process. While registering for the evaluation, you will be required to pay a fee of $100. After passing this test, you will receive an email confirming your Microsoft Office Specialist certificate as well as a letter welcoming you to the MOS community.

Overview Of Exam objectives

The Microsoft 77-728 exam will assess your knowledge of the four domains. These are described in detail below:

Exam Domain 1: Managing Options And Settings For The Workbook

• Managing workbooks.

  Microsoft Excel 2016 offers a series of customization choices. You should be able to save a workbook as a template, work with macros between workbooks, transfer data in another workbook. To add more, you should demonstrate your ability to enable macros in a workbook and present hidden ribbon tabs.

• Operating workbook review

  Once your workbook has been finalized, you may want to protect it, so that users cannot come in and either delete or edit information in any of your worksheets. That’s why you should be proficient in protecting a worksheet as well as workbook structure, be able to operate various versions of the workbook, and secure it with a password.

Exam Domain 2: Creating Custom Data Formats And Layouts

• Implementing custom data formats & validation

  Within this subtopic, the candidates are required to show their ability to create custom number formats, configure data validation, as well as populate cells with the help of advanced Fill Series options.

• Implementing advanced conditional formatting & filtering

  Here, you will be asked to demonstrate that you are capable of creating custom conditional formatting rules in addition to conditional formatting rules with the use of formulas. Your skills to operate conditional formatting rules will be also tested.

• Creating and adjusting custom workbook components

  This subsection requires skills in creating custom color formats as well as inserting and configuring form controls. Besides, you need to be proficient in creating and adjusting cell styles, custom themes, and simple macros.

• Preparing a workbook for internationalization

  You are expected to have competency in displaying data in various international formats. You should also know how to apply international currency formats as well as manage multiple alternatives for +Heading and +Body fonts.

Exam Domain 3: Making Complex Formulas

• Applying functions in formulas

  This subtopic measures your ability to execute logical operations with the use of AND, NOT, and OR functions. You will also be tested based on your ability to execute logical operations with the use of nested functions as well as statistical operations with the use of COUNTIFS, SUMIFS, and AVERAGEIFS functions.

• Checking data with the use of functions

  In this subdomain, you will need to demonstrate that you are conversant with using the HLOOKUP, VLOOKUP, INDEX, and VLOOKUP functions.

• Applying advanced time and date functions

  Here you should be proficient in referencing the time and date with the use of the TODAY and NOW functions. The ability to serialize numbers with the use of time and date functions is also required.

• Executing business intelligence & data analysis

  The skills measured within this subdomain include referencing the time and date with the use of the TODAY and NOW functions; utilizing cube functions to derive data out of the Excel data model; importing, modifying, uniting, displaying, and connecting to data; executing what-if analysis with the use of Scenario Manager and Goal Seek; calculating data with the use of financial functions.

• Troubleshooting formulas

  Within this subtopic, the following skills are required: tracing precedence and dependence, evaluating formulas, monitoring formulas and cells with the help of the Watch Window, and validating formulas with the use of error checking rules.

• Identifying named objects and ranges

  You will be required to demonstrate that you are able to name cells, data ranges, as well as tables. You should also know how to manage named objects and ranges.

Exam Domain 4: Making Advanced Graphs And Tables

• Designing advanced charts

  The subtopic requires you to demonstrate skills in adding trendlines to charts, creating dual-axis charts, as well as saving a chart as a template.

• Making and managing PivotTables

  Here you should have expertise in creating PivotTables, adding calculated fields, adjusting field options & selections, formatting data, creating slicers, grouping PivotTable data, referencing data within a PivotTable with the use of the GETPIVOTDATA function.

• Creating and operating PivotCharts

  The abilities tested in this last subdomain include creating PivotCharts, manipulating alternatives in existing PivotCharts, investigating PivotChart details, as well as applying styles to PivotCharts.

Career Opportunities

The Microsoft Excel 2016 Expert certification can help you stand out in the job market by demonstrating to employers and hiring managers that you have the relevant abilities to efficiently perform the tasks using this application. In some cases, having this accreditation may be a decisive requirement to be accepted for a position. The certificate will serve as proof that you have proficiency in creating complex worksheets, executing large-scale data analysis, and designing pivot tables. Hence, it’s safe to say that Microsoft Excel 2016 Expert certified individuals have higher chances to get the desired job across a variety of industries. After clearing the Microsoft 77-728 exam, successful candidates can take up jobs like Office Manager, Accountant, Administrative Assistant, Data Analyst, Business Analyst, among many others. The average annual salary associated with these roles is around $54k, as estimated by Payscale.