Practical Exam Guide for Computer Operator Exam of Public Service Commission

• Tweet
• Email

• Tweet
• Email

First of all, let me congratulate all the successful candidates of written examination of Computer Operator. Its your hard work and wit bought colors from rainbow. Work harder for the last hurdle – the Practical Exam and Interview!

This post intends to give overview idea about the exam so that you can better direct your preparation for comfortable attempt.

Practical exam of computer is divided into two parts – typing speed test and computer operation test.There are seven questions – All compulsory.

Typing Speed Test

This test is taken into two parts – Nepali Typing and English Typing each of 5 minutes. You will be given time to start computer and open typing application. Till the last year it was MS Word on which you type the given text.

When all the candidates are seated with application opened, a printed page of text is given to every one. You can start typing only when bell rings. They will choose whether the English typing or Nepali typing first.

After 5 minutes, you need to stop typing and the invigilator will print out whatever you typed, then the next part of test runs again.

Tips:

• Nepali typing is done with Preeti font. So remember the ALT+number codes of most frequently occurring characters.
• When typing Nepali, it is better to skip the very complicated words and those that require you to insert symbols. They consume more time than typing other words. Every words you skipped are not counted but the words you typed wrong gets negative marking.
• The simple formatting on text such as bold, italics, underline, superscripts and subscripts and paragraph and line breaks should be considered.
• Start bit slower and try to achieve 100% accuracy. After one or one half minutes increase the speed gradually. This would help to cope up with nasty mistakes done due to nervousness at the beginning.
• The maximum speed required is 35 WPM for Nepali and 40 WPM for English which scores 5 marks. More speed than this is not counted. So, if your typing speed is good, try focusing on correctness.
• You will be asked to repeat the same text when you finish typing the given text before time ends. Why not to apply the nasty trick if you can finish it up before 5 minutes? Press Ctrl+A (Select All) and Ctrl+C (Copy) when you finish typing first three or four sentences so that when you finish the given text, just press Ctrl+V (Paste) to produce copied text typed.
• Your score is calculated as TYPED WORDS – WRONG WORDS / 5

Computer Operation Test

The second round of test is of 35 minutes with Five questions each from MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, MS Access and HTML. The order of questions is not necessary for this second round of test – you can start any question first.

MS Word Test: A sample document is given and you are asked to reproduce it in Microsoft Word. It might be designing a visiting card, letter, Identity Card, or a document with three or four paragraph and format it as asked.

Most of the candidates spend too much time on MS Word question and can’t attempt the remaining question. I suggest you not to begin with MS Word.

MS Excel Test: You can score almost full marks in Excel. You will be asked to type a few data around 4 or 5 column and 3 or 4 rows, then, perform calculation or processing such as total, average, maximum, minimum, sorting, filtering, consolidating etc. You must practice well for all of the frequently using functions Excel provides. Array and Data functions are the area where most of the students don’t pay much attention. Beware! learn all the necessary functions. The task is quick, easy but you won’t be able to accomplish if you don’t know right function required for that task.

MS PowerPoint Test: A text is given and you are asked to create 3 or 4 slides out of that text and apply slide design, transition and custom animation. This test does not take much time if you don’t waste on custom animation. Do not try to choose most attractive animations, they consume your time. Try to focus on what question asks and try to score your deserved marks. Exam hall is not the place to entertain!

MS Access Test: You are asked to create a database and two or three tables as given in question. Enter three or four records given there. Create a form, query and report. You might be asked to build up relationship between tables and enforce referential integrity. Most of the time the query might not return any data because there are none satisfying given criteria, it’s not your problem. Don’t waste time trying to get them.

HTML Test: Sample web page is given to create typing HTML code. You might need to use heading, bold, italic, underline, font color, insert image, create table etc. using HTML code. You need to type it in Notepad. Go through the Class 9 and 10 text book of Computer Science. The course coverage of those classes and computer operator syllabus matches. So it will be easier for you to decide how much on HTML you need to prepare.

Tips

• Time management is the most difficult on this part of test. Avoid wasting of time. Don’t go for best piece of work but just make sure you score all the marks on that particular question. There is lot of typing, lot of formatting and much to process and create formula, queries etc. Practice well to cope up with time inefficiency.
• You can allocate 9 minutes for Word, Excel and Access. Give 3 or 4 minutes for PowerPoint and HTML. Remember this is all you can spend. If you can save time in one, would be beneficial for other questions.
• Practice using short-cut keys and keyword operations rather than menu actions and mouse clicks. This will greatly improve your working speed and won’t need to keep searching for required command. Make a list of frequently required commands of each application and paste it on your wall.
• After 35 minutes the test begin, you are asked to stop using computer and wait for the invigilator to record your works.
• Press Ctrl+S to save and continue your work many often. Who knows when an application gets hang? If anything nasty happens, its you to suffer. Remember to save it in time.
• The test is given in Office 2003 but some general idea on Office 2007 is beneficial. Who knows when they make change. After all, according to rules, any update and changes within 3 months are included in course. But I don’t guess they’ll provide Office 2007. Still, don’t be total ignorant of new Office Systems.

Great guys! Work harder. The more you work on preparing the less to worry during exams. I’ll be preparing some sample and model practical question papers in coming days.

Tagged As: computer operator practical examination, english typing test, HTML test, ms access test, ms excel test, ms powerpoint test, ms word test, nepali typing test, practical exam guide, Public Service Commission, tips for practical exam