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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Excel Skills for Business: Essentials by Macquarie University

4.9
stars
48,065 ratings

About the Course

In this first course of the specialization Excel Skills for Business, you will learn the essentials of Microsoft Excel. Within six weeks, you will be able to expertly navigate the Excel user interface, perform basic calculations with formulas and functions, professionally format spreadsheets, and create visualizations of data through charts and graphs. Whether you are self-taught and want to fill in the gaps for better efficiency and productivity, or whether you have never used Excel before, this course will set you up with a solid foundation to become a confident user and develop more advanced skills in later courses. The best way to learn Excel is to use Excel. In this course, learners will solve a broad range of business problems as they apply the Excel skills and techniques they learn along the way. This course uses downloadable Excel workbooks and full data sets with applied examples and practical challenge exercises. This provides learners with countless opportunities to practice their Excel skills while discovering new and useful productivity features of Excel for a variety of business contexts. Spreadsheet software is one of the most ubiquitous pieces of software used in workplaces across the world. Learning to confidently operate this software means adding a highly valuable asset to your employability portfolio. At a time when digital skills jobs are growing much faster than non-digital jobs, make sure to position yourself ahead of the rest by adding Excel skills to your employment portfolio....

Top reviews

DN

Feb 1, 2023

The explanations in this course were concise and easily understood. The course materials are very helpful with helping you get some practice in and furthering your understanding of the course content.

KS

Jun 29, 2020

This is an amazing course for learners. I am having a lot of fun completing this course from the starting point. It is very much enjoyable and the way the course teachers deliver every lecture superb.

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126 - 150 of 10,000 Reviews for Excel Skills for Business: Essentials

By 邱澤宇

Dec 14, 2022

Best Excel class ever! I've wasted so much time struggling in those Excel guidebooks I bought, and still couldn't find my passion to learn this fantastic skill. But following Nicky and Prashan's instructions in the course videos, everything became perfectly logical and reasonable. What surprised me even more was that every exercise and quiz didn't just ask you to copy and paste what the teachers had taught. Instead, there were additional difficulties for us to overcome by try and error , but the problems were not frustrated enough to hold us back. As the course progresses, I feel that my Excel skills has been further improved. I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to all the teachers of this course for providing such good learning resources.

By Natalie M

Oct 18, 2021

I genuinely thought I was beyond this course because I'd used Excel in college, but discovered so many shortcuts and a few little tricks I didn't know. This is a great course to start with as a refresher, but also just to get a feel for how the specialization courses go for this Excel specialization. The flow of the course is logical, well-planned, and builds without spending too much time on the easiest bits and also without excluding them. It's ideal for the beginner or intermediate user...if you can open Excel, you can take this course. If you have been regularly using Excel with a few basic functions but the idea of manipulating data seems intimidating, this course is still extremely helpful. Great course!

By Helaine D

Nov 17, 2020

Overall, this was a great course and I built up a solid knowledge of Excel. (Prior to this course, I used Excel quite a bit, but I was self-taught on the job, so there were a lot of holes.)

I did have just a little bit of trouble as a Mac user. Most of the time, there were good instructions for Mac, but on occasion, the instructions weren't correct. (In those cases, I had to do my own research to uncover the correct method on Mac.) Also, on rare occasions, there are procedures in Excel that simply don't work on Mac at all, and that was a little frustrating. I spent a lot of time researching online to only find that those procedures simply won't work at all.

Again, happy overall. Thanks for a great course!

By Georg D

Feb 13, 2021

I like this course big time - the style of the presenters, that they speak standard English, the tests really help to ensure the candidate has understood Excel but also uses the brain to identify the right answer. The quizzes are geat as they give you hints on common errors that people make and if you repeat it, you get different questions. So it is really about learning the stuff, not memorizing the right answer.

I was using Excel 365 on a Mac in another language than English. This can be hard as the menus, functions, keywords are obviousley different. Also Excel365 on MacOS reacts at time differently than on Windows. Overall great that they referenced the differences between MacOS and Windows versions.

By Antony L

Dec 10, 2023

The Excel course provided by Nicky and Dr. Karunaratne was an exceptional learning experience. Their clear and concise explanations of Excel's fundamental concepts have significantly enhanced my technical proficiency in the software. Despite my self-taught approach to Excel over the years, I discovered that I had significant gaps in my understanding of the program's core functionalities. However, this course has equipped me with the necessary knowledge and confidence to navigate Excel's basics with greater proficiency. I am deeply grateful for the valuable insights and guidance provided by Nicky and Dr. Karunaratne. I am eager to continue my Excel learning journey by pursuing the certification program.

By Santa I

Jul 7, 2020

I am more than happy to express my hole journey during this course. Its amazing as well as comprehensible . The course has the ability to meet all the needs of novices and also freshers. Excel skills for business course has provided all desired stuffs which I looking for.The presentations are very nice and easy to understand. This is a very nice and effective way to work on learned elements in excel through practice quizzes. At the end of every module self test for getting grade is very worthy for ascertainment of our actual position after practicing throughout the week.I personally have been very benefited from this course.Needless to say , I highly recommend this course to complete successfully.

By Justin R

Aug 22, 2020

This course was very well understandable and helped me brush up on my knowledge of Excel from grade school in the 90s. I've had to use Excel at different times at work and it always took forever for me to figure out charts, filtering, sorting, hiding and unhiding, etc. Now, I feel much more confident and quick. Plus, I learned so many new tools in such a short period of time. The course was so entertaining that it was always hard to say enough for today! Nicky and Prashan did a great job and are a great team! The quizes were difficult enough to make you have to think, but not too difficult if you work through the exercises. Thank you very much! I'm looking forward to the next course already!

By Kartikeya D

May 6, 2020

FANTASTIC course! This course has given me the skills which will be useful in my career in management. The course is designed in a perfect manner : right from the basics with increasing difficulty. But, the instructor did a brilliant job by teaching in a lucid and friendly manner. The course contents and especially the workbooks were very instrumental in the learning process. Practice assignments were very good. And last but not the least, the final course assignment was a tough nut as it used every skill that is learnt throughout the course duration. I would love to re-visit this course again to brush up my newly learned basic skills in Excel. Thanks Coursera and Macquerie University!

By Ketan K

Jun 30, 2020

This course on Microsoft Excel is simply an excellent one !! I have been using Excel from the past 10 years or so, but it was just that I wasn't utilizing the full potential of this very powerful tool !! I By successfully completing this course, I feel that I have mastered all the essentials which I can utilize to move ahead in my career... All thanks to the superb and very knowledgeable Instructors Nicky Bull, Prashan Karunaratne from Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia & Coursera for such a wonderful course ! I have made hand-written notes of about 15 pages to remember the invaluable knowledge & skills which I have learnt. Now I can say that '"Practice Makes Permanent !!" :-)

By Johnson A M

May 31, 2020

Fantastic Course, Intricately prepared and More practical...!!!

Since I am a beginner to Excel without having any prior experience in Excel, I signed for this course and followed the course, its workbooks and its quiz. Initially I felt it is difficult to pass, but the instructing videos pulled me back to enhance my interest. It really taught me from scratch to finally become a professional. Initially I was bit hesitant to take up Final Assessment Quiz, which had 22 questions, but I took my time and passed the final assessment in my very first attempt.

Thank you very much Prashan and the lady coordinator. You took away all my fears working in Excel. My heartfelt thanks to you both.

By Nasser A A

Jul 15, 2020

An excellent course for beginners.

In general, the videos were excellent and clear.

The shooting of the videos on some worksheets goes at an angle. I think it's better to keep the view straight on, with highlight of the focus area.

I liked the simplicity and easiness in presenting the topics and concepts.

I didn't participate in the discussion forum, but I noticed that there are many threads with request for help, and there are no comments from the instructors! May be they should participate more!

The assignments could have been designed in an interactive way using Macros!

I have done another basic course on Excel before, and Macros were used. It was really good!

By TANYA R

Apr 24, 2021

What I especially appreciated about this course were several things: Once Prashan stopped smacking his hands together, he did a good job with the cues and both instructors have those lovely Australian accents ts, the course was basic but it covered a lot of skills in Excel that may get overlooked because a certain employer may only need/want certain things from Excel users, and, critical for me, I especially appreciated that course dates could be reset to accommodate life. I felt the pace was right, the content was right, and the challenge was good. I look forward to more courses with Macquarie University. Now if I can just find where to print my certificate...

By yousef e

Aug 3, 2021

ما شاء الله لا قوة إلا بالله .. منهج مفيد جدا كل شيىء تم تدريسه هو موقف بيفيدك مباشرة في الشغل. الأمثلة/الأسئلة كلها ما شاء الله عملية جدا وفعلاً بتتأكد هل أنت فهمت المحتوى وتقدر تطبقه أم لا. حتى إن المنهج حيخليك تشتغل مع إحصاءات فعلية من مواقع أمريكية وتطلع منها نتائج مفيدة. وكل ده في مجرد محتوى منهج واحد من أربعة مناهج ^_^ أنصحك باستمرار إنك تحتفظ بنسخة من كل سؤال وإجابة عشان المراجعة في المستقبل، الممارسة هامة جداً الحمد لله وحده وشكرأ جزيلاً لكل منسقي المحتوى Mrs Nicky Bull, Dr Prashan and professor Yvonne Breyer. ملحوظة: أنا أخدت الكورس مجانا عن طريق البريد الجامعي وموقع Coursera أصدر الشهادة مباشرة في نفس يوم الاختبار النهائي. عمل ما شاء الله رائع.

By Ozoda F

Sep 7, 2020

I really loved this course . I have been constantly using excel for a year and I had no idea that I did not know so many thing in excel. I wish I could have seen this course before I started using excel

Pros

This course is easy to understand, whether you know how to use excel or not . This course have small tests after each class which usually takes around a 1 or so. There are also practice assessment which will help to test your knowledge .

Cons

Slightly difficult final assignment and that is all.

I am not very good writer and I can't express all my gratitude for this course but for those who still hesitates whether or not take this course .Absolutely, yes !!!

By Jason L

Sep 2, 2021

Very good course for developing basic excel skills. The class is paced just right so you can learn enough information that you can digest it and retain it. The assignments and quizzes were at an appropriate difficulty level and well constructed. The presenters were good and made the content accessible. I took the "every Day" Excel course fist, but I wished I had taken this course first; Every Day Excel was faster and harder, and I wasn't able to digest and retain everything. I recommend people take Excel Skills for Business first and Every Day Excel second. I want to also take more courses from these presenters and from this school because they are good.

By Edina K

Apr 24, 2023

This course is brilliant! in short:

The course is well structured, the material is very well put together, the examples used are excellent, and realistic. Everything is explained so an absolute beginner could understand. The terminology notes are super helpful and the Excel shortcut collections. Whether you use an Apple Mac or a OC they have you covered. I love that the regional settings are touched on too. I really enjoyed the tests too, even though they are MCQs they are really well thought out.

I would highly recommend this to absolute beginners, but also seasoned Excel users to refresh their skills, and they may even learn a few things or more.

By Sharon V

Oct 25, 2022

MACQUARIE University Excel course is the first course on Coursera that had an impact on my learning. Online learning has been a challenging and frustrating experience for me, but this course was designed in a way that someone like me who learn at a slower pace, was able to pass and acquire new and necessary skills that will help me become a more productive employee. The instructors, Nicky and Dr. Prashan taught and guided the lessons in an easy-to-understand format, and their instuctions motivated me to stay on course when the lessons were challenging. Thank you to the instructors, the Coursea platform and my sponser, the NYS Department of Labor.

By Ahmed R

Jun 23, 2020

This course has empowered me with the ability to control the excel workbook using keyboard shortcuts although 80% of the knowledge presented I already knew before and the ninja tips was really helpful.

Although my knowledge for this material came from using excel in every day work and learn by doing required tasks, it was great to learn in this professional presented videos and exercises, Besides I have learned new things that was missing from my day to day usage.

I recommend any one thinking of learning excel skills to attend this course weather he or she is a new user or a professional.

Looking forward to the next course: Excel Skills for Business.

By Utkarsh B

May 30, 2020

I feel that this was one of the courses, I was waiting on for a lifetime! For a person who feared Excel for his entire life, I can assure you that by the end of the course, you will not only overcome your fears but will have a solid understanding of the concepts and have made far greater progress than learning excel online because the worksheets, tutorials, assessments are designed in a way to tackle challenges and that too at your own pace. I highly recommend this course to everyone and anyone who feels that excel is an important skill and he wants to learn either start from basics or revisit building concepts. Thanks, Coursera & Macquarie

By Pavan B C

May 26, 2020

The course was well organized. The instructors have Explained in very good pace and friendly manner. The way the instructors has explained all concepts hardly we need to view videos again. and everything is understood first time only. Another positive thing about course is the content is divided in very small videos and after each video their practice video and assignment. So this makes the course more practical and easy to understand. The Instructors have in depth knowledge and Definitely this course will be very benificial for all students future.

Good experience

Overall Excellent Course as well as Instructors. I had very

Pavan chaudhari

By Pankaj P

Feb 7, 2020

I would like to thank the Coursera team for providing this course. The course started from the basics which helped me to understand and clear all the tiny specifications that I was missing out like Flash fill and Autosum functionality. tutors' way of teaching is nice, the flow of speaking is easy to understand and examples and materials provided in the course are good enough to practice each point thoroghly. What impressed me a lot was the Ninja tips at the end of each week's assessment which I found extremely helpful and informative! By completing this course, I am feeling confident in implementing this taught syllabus in my routine work.

By Tanya A W

Apr 30, 2020

I enjoyed learning all of the new skills - and the final assessment really was challenging-and helped me to see how important it is to really know each of the skills we learned to be prepared to use Excel in a business environment. I'm going to go over sorting, filtering and conditional formatting before I go on to the new class, but I was quite pleased with how much I learned and retained overall. And the 49.00 a month fee is more than worth it, because you can really take your time with the material in order to understand how to use it and apply it to real world situations. Thanks so much for offering these classes!

By Ali B A A

Nov 18, 2020

Although this course is titled "Excel Skills for Business: Essentials", do not underestimate the "essentials" part. This course has proven that there is a lot to learn in Excel and it requires daily practice to become good. One of the biggest advantages is providing numerous methods and tools to increase overall productivity and quality. As a Finance graduate, Excel will be a daily part of my professional career. Coursera has provided a perfect way for students and professionals to become better, smarter, and more effective while using spreadsheets. Big thanks to Macquarie University for such a great course!

By Deokumar G

Feb 20, 2020

Prior to taking this course, I had basic to intermediate knowledge of Microsoft Office. Microsoft Excel was always a program that I was intimidated by, because of the amount of customization and overall options in the program itself. Doctor Prashan and Doctor Nicky have shown me that with the step-by-step instructions and excellent reading and downloadable material they have provided in their on-demand education course from MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY, anyone can master and use MS Excel. Last comment would be that I feel like I am being educated, rather than being bored or intimidated. - deokumar gandharry

By Dan R

May 27, 2020

This course is essential for everyone who wishes to learn about the fantastic world of excel. It's a skill that can be used in day to day life, not just for work. I work for one organisation but in multiple locations. This course helped me put all my hours in one timesheet and from there generate multiple timesheets specific for each site. Before completing this course, I used to do them individually spending a lot of time, but now completing timesheets is more fun. The videos in this course are clearly presented. I decided to complete the rest series of excel courses and see what else I can learn.