Accommodations: Changing Font Size and Type in MS Word Exams

Some students have an accommodation for a larger font size or a specific font type on exams. This article provides a guide and answers to frequently asked questions about changing fonts in exams created in MS Word. If you are creating exams in LaTeX, there is also a guide to changing fonts and sizes in LaTeX. If you have any questions about formatting or uploading exams for an accommodation, please contact the Mines Testing Center.

Changing font types and sizes in MS Word

To change the font size and type in Word documents, select the entire document and change the font and size on the Home tab.

• The font in headers and footers needs to be selected and changed separately.
• Equations use specific fonts to support mathematical characters. If accommodations specify a different font for text, you do not need to change the font of the equations to match. If the equation font appears smaller than the required font, you can highlight equations separately and use the font size options to increase the size of only the equations.
• Subscripts, superscripts, and fractions in equations will be smaller than the required font size. This is fine as long as the overall equation is larger than it was in the original document.

Document formatting for enlarged tests

• Paper should be 8.5” x 11” (letter size) and portrait orientation.
• Check page breaks, page numbers, and space allotted for answers to make sure no errors were introduced when the font size changed.

Enlarging images

• Enlarge images that contain text to make the text larger where possible.
  • Do not make images larger than a standard printed page.
  • Do not enlarge images so much that they become fuzzy or blurry.
• When creating images, scan or export images at 300ppi resolution or greater to allow them to be enlarged.
• MS Office products sometimes reduce the quality of images in order to make documents load faster, which may make images blurry when enlarged. To ensure that you are using original quality images in your documents, use the High fidelity image resolution option.