MomReviews

I’ve been trying to think of a way to explain just how much I love Microsoft Student with Encarta, which we received as a free download from MomCentral. I don’t know how else to say it besides to say that I LOVE IT! This software from Microsoft, aimed at middle-school to entry-level college students, has everything a student needs to help them with homework, presentations, or to just improve their knowledge of the world. We’ve spent hours looking at it, listening to the music made by instruments from other countries, playing trivia games about animals, looking at the extremely cool World Atlas-even at night when most of the world is dark, the lights of Japan can be seen from space, did you know?

I took notes on my favorite parts of the program and what they do:

Microsoft Student- Teaches PowerPoint slide design, how to write a speech, how to deliver a presentation.

Project templates-book reports, science projects, historical timelines. This is great for my younger son who has a hard time organizing information.

Microsoft math-calculator for statistics, trig, algebra, calculus.Type in the problem you need to solve, and it will suggest the first step you should take to get the answer. Do you know how much I could have used this when I was struggling through three required years of High School Algebra?

Geography tools -World Atlas showing the earth during the day and at night, plus topography and also political affiliations.

Dictionary and foreign language tools

Literary tools-book summaries, quotations, citation guide. The quotations section is searchable, and the book summaries are sorted by author and are very comprehensive. In addition, the Book summaries suggest ideas for reports and papers-questions for the student to ask as writing prompts.

Homework tools-historical timeline going back as far as recorded history goes, periodic table of elements, human anatomy. The human anatomy section shows the digestive system, the endocrine and circulatory systems, and the reproductive systems.

At only $49.99, Microsoft Student with Encarta Premium would be a great gift to give a middle school to entry-level college student. Oh, these are the requirements you will need to have:

Personal computer with a Pentium 600MHz processor or faster (1GHz recommended)
Windows XP with SP2 or later
256MB of RAM (512MB recommended)
1.9GB of available HD space
Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 requires between 210 and 620 MB of hard-disk space (included on disc)
DVD-ROM drive
High color capable or better video card with a 800 × 600 resolution (1024 × 768 recommended)
Microsoft Mouse, Microsoft IntelliMouse® or compatible pointing device
16-bit sound card and headphones or speakers

Thanks so much, MomCentral, for letting us try out Microsoft Student! We will be buying a copy for ourselves!

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