Everyday Excel, Part 2

Go to Course: https://www.coursera.org/learn/everyday-excel-part-2

Introduction

**Course Review: Everyday Excel, Part 2 on Coursera** In today's data-driven world, proficiency in Excel is more than just a convenience—it's a necessity. For those looking to elevate their Excel skills beyond the basics, "Everyday Excel, Part 2" offers a comprehensive suite of tools and techniques to deepen your understanding and enhance your productivity. This course, which serves as the second installment in a three-part series, builds upon the foundational skills acquired in "Everyday Excel, Part 1," and is perfect for intermediate users aiming to refine their proficiency. **Course Overview** "Everyday Excel, Part 2" is designed for those who have some existing knowledge of Excel but want to tackle more sophisticated functions and applications. The course blends theory and practice through quizzes and assignments that not only test your skills but also encourage the application of newly learned concepts. Upon completion, you will be well-prepared for "Everyday Excel, Part 3 (Projects)," making this course a crucial stepping stone in your Excel education. **Syllabus Breakdown** 1. **Advanced Data Management (Week 1)** - The course kicks off with a focus on advanced data management strategies. You will learn how to perform two-way look-ups, create conditional drop-down lists, and manage duplicates effectively. Techniques such as finding maximum or minimum values in an array and working with expiry date management are integral to managing large data sets efficiently. The week concludes with a quiz and a practical assignment, ensuring that you can apply what you've learned. 2. **Excel for Financial Applications, Part 1 (Weeks 2 & 3)** - Understanding financial modeling is critical in various careers. In these weeks, you’ll explore the time value of money, learn to calculate simple and compound interest, and create loan amortization schedules. The practical assignment reinforces your understanding with real-world applications, crucial for those in finance, accounting, or business analysis. 3. **Excel for Financial Applications, Part 2 (Week 3)** - Continuing the theme of financial applications, this section covers depreciation, cash flows, and net present value calculations. The understanding of financial alternatives is particularly valuable for budgeting and forecasting roles, making this week critically important for anyone with financial management responsibilities. 4. **Case Studies and "What-If" Analyses (Week 4)** - Perhaps one of the most fascinating facets of Excel is its capability for scenario planning and optimization. You'll learn how to construct case studies and use tools like Goal Seek and Solver. This knowledge is instrumental for analysts looking to make data-driven decisions based on varied scenarios. 5. **Model Building in Excel (Week 5)** - The course culminates with model building for experimental data. You’ll get hands-on experience with regression analysis and learn about trendlines and interpolation, expanding your analytical skill set. The introduction to logistic regression equips you with tools that are immensely valuable in market research and statistical analysis. **Overall Experience** Throughout "Everyday Excel, Part 2," the blend of interactive quizzes, practical assignments, and a structured learning journey creates a rich educational experience. The course is paced reasonably, allowing you to digest complex concepts while still challenging your problem-solving abilities. **Recommendations** For anyone looking to enhance their Excel skills, I highly recommend "Everyday Excel, Part 2." Its well-structured syllabus, combined with practical applications, makes it an ideal choice for both intermediate users and those seeking to refresh their knowledge with the latest Excel functions. Whether you're in finance, data analysis, marketing, or any field where data handling is essential, this course provides invaluable skills that will enhance your employability and productivity. Completing this course will not only prepare you for the subsequent project-focused course but will also empower you to tackle real-world data challenges with confidence. In conclusion, invest in your Excel skills today—your future self will thank you!

Syllabus

Advanced Data Management

In Week 1 you will learn all about advanced data management strategies in Excel. These techniques include two-way look-ups, two-way conditional look-ups, how to find the maximum or minimum location in an array, conditional drop-down lists, advanced conditional formatting strategies, how to compare lists (for unique, duplicates, and absent items), advanced duplicate management, and how to work with expiry dates. Week 1 will conclude with a required quiz and an on-computer, in-application assignment. When you successfully complete Assignment 1, you will be given a "completion code", which you can input into the Assignment 1 submission quiz to earn credit for the assignment. For paid learners, the Week 2 Excel files will be released when you have successfully passed Quiz 1 and Assignment 1. Good luck!

In Weeks 2 and 3 you will learn all about advanced financial functions and applications in Excel. In Week 2, you will first learn about the concepts of and how to implement Excel formulas for the time value of money, simple and compound interest, and various loans (amortized, interest-only, and line of credit loans). You will learn how to create amortization schedules in Excel for these loans. Week 2 concludes with a required quiz and an on-computer, in-application assignment. When you successfully complete Assignment 2, you will be given a "completion code", which you can input into the Assignment 2 submission quiz to earn credit for the assignment. For paid learners, the Week 3 Excel files will be released when you have successfully passed Quiz 3 and Assignment 3. Good luck!

In Week 3, you will continue learning about advanced financial features of Excel. First, you will learn about depreciation and how to calculate depreciation and implement depreciation schedules in Excel. Next, you will learn about cash flows and net present value, and how to implement Excel functions to analyze cash flows. Then, you will learn how to compare financial alternatives. Finally, you'll learn about internal rate of return (IRR) and how to implement the IRR function in Excel. The week concludes with Quiz 3 and Assignment 3. When you successfully complete Assignment 3, you will be given a "completion code", which you can input into the Assignment 3 submission quiz to earn credit for the assignment. For paid learners, the Week 4 Excel files will be released when you have successfully passed Quiz 3 and Assignment 3. Good luck!

One of the most valuable aspects of Excel is that it can be used nicely for case studies and "what-if" analyses. In Week 4, you'll learn about case studies, one-way and two-way data tables, and how to use the Goal Seek and Solver tools for targeting calculations. You'll also learn to use the Solver tool for optimization problems and problems for which you have constraints. The week concludes with Quiz 4 and Assignment 4. When you successfully complete Assignment 4, you will be given a "completion code", which you can input into the Assignment 4 submission quiz to earn credit for the assignment. For paid learners, the Week 5 Excel files will be released when you have successfully passed Quiz 4 and Assignment 4. Good luck!

Week 5 of the course is all about creating mathematical models for experimental data. In this week, you'll first learn about how to insert trendlines into Excel plots and how to linearly interpolate between data points. Next, you'll learn about simple linear regression, general linear regression, and multilinear regression models and how to use Excel's Regression tool to create these regression models. The week concludes with an introduction to the logistic regression model, which is a type of nonlinear regression model. The week concludes with Quiz 5 and Assignment 5. When you successfully complete Assignment 5, you will be given a "completion code", which you can input into the Assignment 5 submission quiz to earn credit for the assignment. Then, you can pat yourself on the back for completing "Everyday Excel, Part 2!"