What Every Student Should Learn About Excel?

Excel can be very useful for students. They can learn a lot using it, such as how to transform a collection of data into an effective and beneficial set of facts and figures. They will absorb knowledge by doing tasks.

They will learn to perform faster calculations, understanding how to envisage data, building effective financial plans, learning how to track the progress, how to calculate salary and more.

Students will learn many essential things from Excel and use them in the future as they proceed to follow their career paths. Knowing how to use Microsoft Excel most effectively and efficiently will make it easier for them to manage a large amount of data effortlessly and appropriately.

Here are a few things students should learn about Excel:

1. Creating a pivot table

Many expert Excel users believe the Pivot Tables to be one of the most influential features that come within Excel. Using Pivot Tables, you can organize and create reports on data in your Excel spreadsheets that otherwise would take hours to accomplish without using a Pivot table.

Pivot Table is one of the more significant features to learn and master. It can be used to categorizing, counting, computing, or finding averages from data recorded in one big spreadsheet and then record the newly generated data in a new table format, whatsoever way you need.

You can launch a Pivot Table in Excel by going to Insert Tab, choosing the ‘Tables’ group, and clicking on Recommended Pivot Tables. You can choose a layout, modify the table and more.

2. Entering basic formulas and calculations

Many people either don’t know or forget how to perform basic calculations and use formulas in Excel. Using formulas, a user can do calculations with data recorded in their spreadsheet.

Simple formulas accessible in Excel will allow you to do addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and finding averages of one or more numbers stored in your Excel spreadsheet. Excel also has more advanced formulas allowing you to compute almost any equation.

3. Flash fill

In 2013, Microsoft introduced the Flash Fill feature in Excel. Suppose your spreadsheet has two columns filled with first and last names, and you need to create email addresses from those names. Using Flash Fill, you can do it only for the first row, and Excel will understand what you want to do and do it for the rest of the names.

First, tell Excel exactly how you want to use names in creating emails by entering one correct email address in the third column. Then go to the Data Tools group, then Data tab, and then click Flash Fill or press ctrl +E.

3. Conditional formatting

Conditional Formatting is used to change the color of a cell and its contents based on a particular condition. For instance, you want to highlight a particular word in all the cells in your spreadsheet or color every negative number in red.

Here the given condition is a particular word or a negative number. Conditional formatting makes it possible for you to highlight any content added with a given condition. You can find it on the Home tab in the Styles category.

4. Ctrl + Arrows

If you want to go to the bottom cell of your spreadsheet, most likely you would scroll down through the whole dataset. It can be frustrating at times when the data-sheet is large. Instead, what you can do is use a shortcut with a ctrl key + arrow key.

This shortcut can take you directly to the end of the column or row you would be using based on the arrow key you press with the ctrl key. Press Ctrl and an arrow key on your keyboard, it would straightaway move you through large parts of your worksheet.

Best Free Online Excel Courses

Excel/VBA for Creative Problem Solving, Part 1

The University of Colorado Boulder is offering its free online course” Excel/VBA for Creative Problem Solving, Part 1”. This course is the first part of a three-part series. In this course, you will study the basic programming structures in Visual Basic for Applications (VBA). The course is focused on learners who are seeking to optimize and increase the efficiency of their Excel spreadsheet skills.

Provider: University of Colorado Boulder
Subject: Computer Science
Duration: 5 weeks
Start Date: Available 
Apply Now

Mastering Data Analysis in Excel

Are you interested in improving your working skills in Excel? Then there is a great chance for you to join the “Mastering Data Analysis in Excel” free online course created by the Duke University. This course is part of the Excel to MySQL: Analytic Techniques for Business Specialization. In this course, you will study how to design and implement realistic predictive models based on data.

Provider: Duke University
Subject: Data Science
Duration: 6 weeks
Start Date: Open
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Excel Skills for Business: Advanced

The Macquarie University is providing you a free online course entitled as “Excel Skills for Business: Advanced”. In this course, you will learn how to prepare data for analysis and how to work with dates and financial functions. You will also understand how to build professional dashboards in Excel.

Provider: Macquarie University
Subject: Business
Duration: 6 weeks
Start Date: Open
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Problem Solving with Excel

Improve your excel skills by joining this free online course entitled as “Problem Solving with Excel” offered by the PricewaterhouseCoopers. This course explores Excel as a tool for solving business problems. In this course, you will understand the basic functions of excel through guided demonstration. Don’t miss the chance, enroll as soon as possible.

Provider: Pwc
Subject: Data Science
Duration: 4 weeks
Start Date: Open
Apply Now