Can I Learn Excel in 3 Months?

Table of Contents (TOC):

• Introduction
• Starting with the Basics
• Building to Intermediate
• Advanced Excel Skills
• Conclusion
• Bonus Points

Introduction

Microsoft Excel might have developed over thirty years ago, but Excel skills remain more relevant than ever before. Working in digitised industries naturally demands perfecting digital skills, but a recent Microsoft study found that despite agreeing on the importance of skills like Excel, a significant talent gap still exists.

As a professional aiming for career advancement and longevity, your career strategy should include building the skills that industries need and lack. Excel skills are also highly relevant to daily operations, with statistics showing that although office workers spend a third of their time on Excel, the majority of users never received formal training. If you learn Excel, you can utilise it to its fullest potential, from record-keeping to data analysis, with ease – in less than three months!

Starting with the Basics

Whether you have some previous experience or want to learn basic Excel from scratch, it is recommended to start with learning about and navigating through spreadsheets and workbooks. 

You will need to understand ribbons, quick-access toolbars and data formatting, along with fill, series, workbook view, zoom and freeze functions. Understanding the layout of the software, and what task is performed by each function on the ribbon, is key to building your Excel expertise. 

• Learn it for Free: 

UniAthena’s Basics of Excel Spreadsheets and Workbooks is a free course that addresses all of the aforementioned Excel skills. Delivered 100% online, in a self-paced and byte-sized format, this Basics course is a beginner-friendly way to self-learn excel online, for free. With a 4-6 hour learning duration, this is one of the fastest ways to learn excel. Upon successful completion of the assessments, you can also claim a free certificate from CIQ, UK. 

Building to Intermediate

Now that you are clear on the basics, it’s  time to explore Excel formulas and functions! This includes learning how to organise data, change the theme of the spreadsheets, basic formulas like SUM, AVERAGE, MIN/MAX, pivot tables and cell-referencing. This will help you perform basic calculations and data analysis processes, which is one of Excel’s most important functions. 

• Learn it for Free: 

UniAthena’s Essentials of MS Excel - Formulas and Functions can help you learn these key Excel skills in as little as 6 hours! Delivered 100% online, this course offers actionable knowledge to help you perform analysis with Excel. Access expert-delivered lectures and reading materials completely free of charge. This Excel Course also comes with a free Certification from CIQ, UK, so you can upskill without breaking the bank. 

Advanced Excel Skills

Once you have mastered the basic functions, it’s time to advance to the next round of Excel skills – advanced Data Analysis and Data Visualisation! This includes formatting, sorting and filtering data, conditional formatting, and developing charts and tables in Excel. 

You also need to learn how to use VLOOKUP in Excel, along with Indexing, Matching, and Macro Recording. With these, you can safely update your Excel skill level to ‘Expert’; keep in mind that, like all skills, Excel skills must be refreshed regularly. 

• Learn it for Free: 

UniAthena’s Diploma in Microsoft Excel is one of the more advanced Excel classes on the platform. Featuring a comprehensive curriculum of basics, intermediate, and advanced Excel formulas and functions, this free-learning Diploma is perfect for those who want to self-learn Excel on a budget. With this Diploma, you can learn Excel online at your pace, from the comfort of your home, in as little as a week. 

Conclusion

In this blog, we outlined the main Excel skills you need to develop in order to use the software productively in your day-to-day operations. We also recommended several budget-friendly and free-learning Excel courses that will help learners develop Excel skills in less than 3 months! 

With the growing role and impact of data analysis, professionals who are dedicated to honing their skills with advanced Excel classes will stand out for their analytical proficiency.

Bonus Points:

• Excel is a pretty powerful data software, as it has 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns.
• Excel skills are transferable, so unlike other specialised skills, Excel proficiency remains relevant across career roles and industries.