You can turn off Word's correction features.  In fact, I do that
most of the time, and only use AutoCorrect.

There are several different features, each controlled separately.
The following instructions are for Word 2000, they might be
different for your system:

1. To turn off AutoCorrect, click Tools / AutoCorrect, and remove
the check mark by "Replace text as you type"

2. To turn off automatic spell checking, click Tools / Options,
Spelling & Grammar tab.  Remove the check mark by "Check spelling as
you type"

More long term solutions:  I don't remember whether these settings
will automaticall saved, and restored when you create a new
document.  If not, I know you can put them in your Normal.dot
template file.

Also:  If you want to be able to spell-check and grammar check all
parts of a document *except* for some intentional mistakes, then I
would first select those parts of the document, and then set them so
that the spell-checker will ignore them.  To do this:  Click Tools /
Language / Set language, on the Language window put a check mark by
  "Do not check spelling or grammar".

Steven

I think that you have to consider that the recipient's settings cannot be controlled by you. If your student has error correction
turned on, that will defeat your purpose. If you want your students to use the software to take the exam, you have to know more
about the software than they do if you want to control cheating. There are some tricks you can employ to get what you want, but it
will take a bit more effort.

When you want to do homework or make an English test so the students can
correct it, you can't; because Microsoft Word automatically corrects
EVERYTHING it sees that doesn't seem right.