MO-310 common mistakes
MO-310 · Understand the traps and how to avoid them.
Sets fonts, colors, or logos on each individual slide when the task asks for a change across the whole presentation, and never opens Slide Master view.
Normal view makes every slide look directly editable, so a font change appears to succeed on the slide in front of the candidate. Manual formatting applied on a slide also overrides the master, so the deck looks fine on the slides they checked and wrong on the rest.
What to do instead
Make global changes in View > Slide Master on the top-level master (a parent thumbnail), then check each child layout for overriding formatting. Use Design > Variants > Fonts/Colors for theme-level changes rather than selecting text. Verify by browsing in Slide Sorter and opening a slide of each layout type.
Changes the slide size to a custom or portrait dimension, clicks straight through the Scale to Fit prompt, and never checks that shapes and placeholders still sit inside the slide.
The Scale to Fit dialog appears immediately after the size change and both options ('Maximize' and 'Ensure Fit') read like reasonable defaults, so the choice is skimmed. Candidates then inspect only slide 1, where content often still looks acceptable.
What to do instead
Decide from the requirement: 'Ensure Fit' when all content must remain visible, 'Maximize' when content should fill the new canvas. Set exact dimensions under Design > Slide Size > Custom Slide Size where possible, then review every slide in Slide Sorter and Reset any layout whose placeholders overflow.
Inserts, duplicates, or reuses a slide, then drags the offset placeholders back into position by hand instead of fixing the applied layout and resetting it.
A duplicated slide inherits manual overrides from its source, and slides inserted with Reuse Slides keep the source deck's theme unless 'Use Destination Theme' is ticked. Hand-nudging looks like a quick repair but leaves uneven margins and content that shifts again after any theme change.
What to do instead
Apply the required layout from Home > Layout, then use Home > Reset (Slide > Reset) to restore placeholder position, size, and formatting. When inserting from another file, tick 'Use Destination Theme' in the Reuse Slides pane before clicking the thumbnail; when pasting, use Paste Options > Keep Destination Formatting.
Applies Shape Fill or Shape Outline when the task asks for text color or font changes, and creates bullet levels by typing spaces or pressing Enter instead of setting list levels.
Shape Fill and Text Fill sit adjacent in the Drawing group and both open a color picker, and the mini toolbar that pops up on selection is easy to misread under time pressure. Faux indentation with spaces looks correct on screen but breaks the outline structure the task is checking.
What to do instead
Select the text itself (highlight characters), then use the Font group or Text Fill/Text Outline; use Shape Fill only for the placeholder's background. Set bullet depth with Home > Increase/Decrease List Level or Tab/Shift+Tab inside the text pane, and control overflow with Format Shape > Text Options > Text Box > Autofit.
Leaves inserted pictures with the automatic filename-style description, types a visible caption to satisfy an accessibility requirement, or forgets to flag decorative images.
Alt text lives in a right-click dialog or the Alt Text pane rather than on the ribbon, so it is easy to assume a caption in a text box fulfils the screen-reader requirement. Auto-generated descriptions look like real alt text until read aloud.
What to do instead
Right-click the image > Edit Alt Text (or Picture Format > Alt Text), replace the generated text with a short description of the image's purpose, and tick 'Mark as decorative' for borders and dividers. Confirm with Review > Check Accessibility that no missing-alt-text errors remain.
Presses Tab in the last cell of a table to exit the table, silently appending blank rows, and sets column widths by eye-dragging borders.
In PowerPoint, unlike Word, Tab in the final cell always adds a new row, so repeated presses to 'get out' leave invisible growth below the visible area. Dragging borders feels precise at high zoom but produces unequal columns that fail a size or alignment check.
What to do instead
Exit the table by clicking outside it, or press Ctrl+Tab for a literal tab character; remove surplus rows via Table Layout > Delete > Delete Rows. Use Table Layout > Cell Size and Distribute Rows/Distribute Columns for exact, even geometry, and enable Header Row or Banded Rows in Table Design when the task mentions them.
Edits a chart by retyping values in the wrong area of the opened worksheet, and applies formatting by clicking repeatedly on the chart area instead of selecting the intended element.
Chart Design > Edit Data opens a worksheet pre-filled with sample data that invites wholesale retyping, and the colored outlines indicating the plotted range are easy to miss. Clicking selects the nearest large region (plot area, chart area) rather than the series, so formatting lands on the wrong object.
What to do instead
In the worksheet, change only the values inside the colored range and keep the header row and first column intact. Select the element from the Format pane's drop-down or Chart Design > Current Selection rather than by clicking, use Chart Design > Switch Row/Column to correct swapped axes, and add labels or titles with the '+' Chart Elements button.
Adds a SmartArt box with Add Shape while a shape is selected, producing a nested child instead of a peer, then tries to fix it by dragging the box; and edits 3D models or media with the generic Format tab.
Add Shape inserts relative to the current selection, so the new box appears indented under the selected one, and dragging changes only the picture, not the outline level the task checks. SmartArt, 3D models, and video each have their own contextual tab that replaces parts of the ribbon, so the generic Drawing and Format tools are what candidates reach for.
What to do instead
Work in the SmartArt text pane (the arrow on its left edge): Enter creates a peer, Tab demotes, Shift+Tab promotes, then Design > Layout reflows the graphic. For a 3D model use the 3D Model tab's Pan & Tilt and preset views; for audio or video use the Playback tab's Trim, Start, and Loop settings.
Applies a single animation to a whole text box when the bullets must appear one at a time, and leaves the Start setting on click when the sequence must run automatically.
The animation attaches to the object as a whole and the per-paragraph sequence is buried in Effect Options, while the Start drop-down defaults to 'On Click' with a small mouse icon that is easy to overlook next to the effect name.
What to do instead
Open Animation > Effect Options and set Sequence to 'By Paragraph'; set Start to 'After Previous' or 'With Previous' as specified. Verify order and numbering in the Animation Pane, reordering by drag or the arrow buttons so the numbered markers match the required sequence, then run the slide in Slide Show view.
Applies a transition to only the slide selected at the time, and sets a duration without configuring an automatic advance, so the deck still waits for a click.
'Apply To All' is a separate button from the effect gallery, so a transition chosen from the thumbnails affects one slide. In the Timing group, 'On Mouse Click' is ticked by default while the 'After' checkbox is empty, so a duration alone does not create the timed advance the task asks for.
What to do instead
After choosing the effect and its duration, click Transition > Apply To All and confirm every thumbnail shows the transition star marker. In Timing, tick 'After' and enter the stated time, clearing 'On Mouse Click' if the show must run unattended, then confirm the behaviour with Transition > Preview or Slide Show > Rehearse Timings.