Microsoft Excel Intermediate Level: Formulas & Functions, 3-Week Class

During this three-week course, students will learn to utilize formulas and functions within Microsoft Excel. I will share my screen so that students can see what I am doing in Excel. Students should use Excel on their laptop or computer in-order to follow along and get hands on experience during class. In order to benefit from this course, students only need a basic understand of Excel, like how to type in cells and select/highlight cells with their cursor/mouse.

During each class, we will pretend we run an online book and movie store. I will upload an Excel file to the classroom and we will use that file during class to create formulas and use data to make decisions for our "business." As time allows, we will also discuss how the formulas and functions can be used in other scenarios.

Week 1: We will begin by briefly discussing real-world uses for Excel and related vocabulary. I will define "static" and "cell reference" formulas and then we will discuss the benefits of cell reference formulas. We will then dive in and begin using the program.  We will create basic math formulas, including addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and exponents. We will then discuss how "dragging" a formula effects the formula and how the formula can be changed to allow for auto-populating or "dragging". We will use the SUM function to total sales, the COUNT function to total transactions, and the RANK function to rank our most popular items.

Week 2: We will continue to use our "business's" sales data to practice using formulas. We will use Excel functions to calculate our average transaction size. We will also determine the median and mode transaction values and discuss why these formulas would be helpful.  We will use additional functions to combine information in cells and limit the number of characters in cells. We will use date functions to split information into different cells.

Week 3: We will conclude our course by learning to use "IF" functions. We will calculate sales tax and shipping costs based on conditional information. Finally, we will use the VLOOKUP function to bring data into an existing spreadsheet.

Topics covered will include:
•	Excel vocabulary (cell, column, row, worksheet, formula, function, static, cell reference)
•	Math vocabulary (exponent, median, mode, sum)
•	Formulas (addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, exponents, change)
•	Functions (SUM, AVERAGE, MEDIAN, MODE, RANK, LENS, &, YEAR, MONTH, DAY, DATE, SUMIF, COUNTIF, VLOOKUP)

In order to maximize class time for all students, please ensure your learner is signed into Excel before class begins. 
Students do not need much experience with Excel, but should have basic desktop or laptop knowledge, such as the ability to use a mouse, use a keyboard and open a program. They should be able to type in an Excel cell and select it with their mouse or cursor.

This class can be, but does not have to be, taken after any of my "Microsoft for Beginner" one-time, multi-day, or Flex classes.

Troubleshooting during class:
Occasionally, learners may need additional help in completing a task in Excel. I am able to give students the ability to share their screen so that I can see exactly what they are looking at. Usually, this works very well, and I am able to talk them through the task. (This will not work if the learner is using Excel on a separate device than their Outschool class.) If the learner is still not able to complete the task, they are able to grant me remote access so that I can complete the task for them. This allows us to move and cover all material in the class.  At the end of class, I will revisit the skipped step and further troubleshoot with the learner.