What's on a Word skills test, and how to prepare
Word tests are common for administrative, legal, medical and reception roles, where producing clean documents quickly is part of the job. Many people use Word for years without learning the features these tests check, so a little focused practice goes a long way.
Formatting basics
Almost every test starts here. You may get a plain document and be asked to bring it up to a standard.
- Font, size, bold, italic and underline
- Alignment and line spacing
- Bulleted and numbered lists, including sub-levels
- Indents and tabs
- Find and replace
Styles and document structure
This is where many test-takers lose points. Making a heading look bigger by hand isn't the same as applying a Heading style, and tests can tell the difference. Styles are also what make a table of contents work.
- Applying Heading and Title styles
- Inserting and updating a table of contents
- Headers, footers and page numbers
- Page breaks, margins and orientation
Tables and working with others
More advanced tests move on to features you'd use on longer or shared documents.
- Inserting tables, and adding rows and columns
- Turning on Track Changes, then accepting or rejecting edits
- Adding comments
- Mail merge, which fills a letter with names from a list
Mail merge and Track Changes are worth extra attention. They're rarely used in everyday writing, so they catch people out, but they're quick to learn.
How to prepare
- Practice on the Ribbon so you know which tab each command lives on
- Use real keyboard shortcuts such as Ctrl+B and Ctrl+E
- Check your work the way an employer would: is it a real list, a real heading, a real table?
- Time yourself, because document tests reward speed as well as accuracy
Read each instruction twice. These tests often ask for something specific, like 1.5 line spacing on every paragraph, and close doesn't count.
More guides
DeskReady is an independent practice tool, not affiliated with any software vendor or employer. Tests vary, so use this as a general guide.