The Bottom Line
The Photoshop CS2 ACE Exam Aid is a useful, interactive program to help you identify the topic areas you will need to study before taking Adobe's Certified Expert Exam. Cross references point you to the study material in Photoshop Help. The Photoshop CS2 ACE Exam Aid has been updated with a new section for users wishing to re-certify, new questions, updated help file references, and also includes several PDF documents which can be printed for offline study.
Pros
- Includes helpful points to remember at the end of each section.
- Each question cross-referenced to Photoshop Help for quick reference.
- Includes a section for people wishing to re-certify.
- Includes PDF reference documents which can be printed for offline study.
- For Windows and Macintosh
Cons
- Better statistics could help identify weak areas.
Description
- The program is divided into two sections for certification and recertification.
- Contains 385 multiple-choice questions arranged into 15 topic areas and repeated in 12 exams.
- The 12 practice exams feature a countdown clock, scoring, and the option of checking your answers.
- Points to remember are provided for each topic area, and in a 52-page PDF for printing.
- The certification mock exams contain 77 multiple-choice questions and last 1 hour 30 minutes.
- The recertification mock exams contain 33 multiple-choice questions and last 55 minutes.
- All questions include cross-references for looking up the related material in Photoshop's Help file.
- Questions can be flagged and referred to later.
- Click a button when reviewing by topic to see the correct answer explained and cross-referenced.
- Crib Sheet and Tips & Tricks PDFs are also included — these can be printed for offline reference.
Guide Review - Adobe Photoshop CS2 ACE Exam Aid by Shangara Singh
The Photoshop CS ACE Exam Aid program is very well put together and easy to use. It offers a good mix of questions based on the topic areas Adobe recommends for study. The program is divided into two sections for certification and recertification. Topic areas include: adjusting images, automating tasks, camera raw and video, channels & masks, drawing & editing, general knowledge, import/export/save, layers, managing color, painting & retouching, print output, selections, type, web output, work area & workspaces.
On my system, I found the reversed white type on dark gray background a bit hard to read. If you do too, try reading the questions aloud. I'd like to see better missed-question statistics to help identify weak areas. I was happy to see that sound effects have been made optional in this updated version for Photoshop CS2.
I've never taken an Adobe Certified Expert exam myself, but the Exam Aid is said to be laid out in a similar style. I have no doubt you can learn from this tool, and with dedication and study it will certainly improve your chances of "acing" the Photoshop ACE exam.
Note: The Exam Aid is an interactive program for download only. It is not a book or video.
