If you haven't checked out my syllabus for my 5-week Beginning Excel class, you can find it here.
If you missed Week 1 - The Basics, you can find that here.
If you missed Week 2 - The Worksheet, you can find it here.
If you missed Week 2 - The Worksheet, you can find it here.
If you are looking to purchase the book I use for this course, you can find it used and fairly inexpensive here. There may be some new or hardcover, but I generally use spiral bound.
In my experience, formulas are hard for students to catch on to. They seem to struggle with the basics, so I devote an entire 2-hour period to formulas. And practicing them.
I start by having my students work up a monthly budget. They must put in titles, bold expenses, and add in all miscellaneous spending. If I have a more advanced class, I will ask them to color code certain things. Bills get color coded one color; expenses another.
Once they have their budgets sorted out, I begin by asking them to add up all their expenses and bills. Then, they are asked to put the amount below.
In my experience, formulas are hard for students to catch on to. They seem to struggle with the basics, so I devote an entire 2-hour period to formulas. And practicing them.
I start by having my students work up a monthly budget. They must put in titles, bold expenses, and add in all miscellaneous spending. If I have a more advanced class, I will ask them to color code certain things. Bills get color coded one color; expenses another.
Once they have their budgets sorted out, I begin by asking them to add up all their expenses and bills. Then, they are asked to put the amount below.
They begin by adding the old-fashioned way. Then, I introduce the SUM formula. The easiest way to do this is to put it up on the projector if you have one. If not, you can use a white board or poster board if a projector is not available.
You will want to add together the Bill and Expense Totals. Your cells may differ, but you they should
=SUM(B7+B13)
The formula is as follow:
You must ALWAYS put an = at the beginning of your formula. This is how Excel recognizes that you are typing in a formula.
Then, you must add SUM after the =. This will tell Excel you are adding 2 or more cells together.
A parentheses should enclose the cells you are going to add together. You can put them in one at a time and separate them with a +.
I have them enter this formula next to the total they added up on their own.
Then, I ask them to find the totals added up by Bill and Expense. However, I introduce the range formula. If you are grouping together, you can use the : to save time.
=SUM(B2:B6)
=SUM(B10:B12)
I like to tell my students that they have just done it the long way when it comes to a range of cells.
Note: If you are adding cells that are not near each other, you must use the +. If you are adding cells that are in a range (like B10, B11 and B12) you can use a : to condense.
Then, I teach them the short cut.
Yes, after all that, there is a short cut!
And you can find it under the Home Ribbon under the Editing tab on the right hand side.
I deleted the totals under bills and then clicked cell B7. After that, I click on the AutoSum button and a marquee appears around the cells Excel believes you are trying to sum. You can adjust if you need to.
Click Enter and the new total will appear.
If I have time--and everyone has understood SUM--you can move onto Average, Max and Min. those seem to work well after teaching SUM.
If you have any questions, leave them in the comments below.
Happy Teaching!
Jessica
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