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Learner Reviews & Feedback for Introduction to Spreadsheets and Models by University of Pennsylvania

4.2
stars
3,808 ratings

About the Course

The simple spreadsheet is one of the most powerful data analysis tools that exists, and it’s available to almost anyone. Major corporations and small businesses alike use spreadsheet models to determine where key measures of their success are now, and where they are likely to be in the future. But in order to get the most out of a spreadsheet, you have the know-how to use it. This course is designed to give you an introduction to basic spreadsheet tools and formulas so that you can begin harness the power of spreadsheets to map the data you have now and to predict the data you may have in the future. Through short, easy-to-follow demonstrations, you’ll learn how to use Excel or Sheets so that you can begin to build models and decision trees in future courses in this Specialization. Basic familiarity with, and access to, Excel or Sheets is required....

Top reviews

MM

Jun 21, 2017

This course has made me understand cost accounting, has provided a fresh perspective on how to solve some of the challenges i had with management accounting and as a bonus, made me love maths again :)

RJ

Jun 11, 2020

The course is worth the time , the faculty teaches you about some complicated advance formulae with so much clarity and ease that even beginners can be pro in excel related to business and finance.

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276 - 300 of 711 Reviews for Introduction to Spreadsheets and Models

By Charles P

Jul 17, 2022

This course gave a lot of helpful tools and the lectures were very useful. There were some errors though and the quiz grading of formulas was also flawed as it rejected some answers that gave correct values in Excel. Glad I took it though. More legitimately useful content than the first course. I wish it had more traditional finanial modeling content that you would use in the finance world (like for IB).

By Srishti C

Apr 21, 2020

Overall, it helped me to understand how to use speadsheets and models in my daily life by making it less of a chore once I understood how they worked, as well as the functions within them. I think it was a good course, but perhaps the end-of-week quizzes could be tailored to be understood better by the learners of this course as the questions did not always align what had been taught previously.

By Rafeh S

Aug 25, 2017

The course was a great introduction to using spreadsheets, although the information was a bit basic. Anybody with decent working knowledge of excel should not take this course unless they are trying to complete the specialization. For true beginners it is fantastic The instructor was clear and concise, although it felt like he was rushing through the material sometimes.

By Artem S

May 11, 2016

I like the course but currently it has some issues. First and foremost problem is tests. There are some questions that allow ambiguous interpretation, some questions require to know the information that is discussed later in course and so on. Also the lectures are quite short. Other than that course gives very nice introduction into using the spreadsheets in modelling

By Omar R

Mar 3, 2020

Overall all good experience. I defently walked out knowing more about excel that I did before, considering I have used it quite a bit.

Week 4 was by far the best. Could have gone into a lot more detail about Monte carlo simulations. I found myself going back to the first course for more info on the topic, even though there wasn't much about about it.

Thanks.

By Sean P M

May 26, 2021

The financial and data models were helpful in knowing the different types of tools I can use in analyzing data. However, the course did not really provide a walkthrough in how to do these data models myself. The course was mostly theoretical and I wished there were exercises or project in allowing students to apply the concept in Excel or google sheets.

By Abhinav J

Oct 10, 2019

It was a great course where I understood how spreadsheets can be used in modeling. Different types of models and the characteristics of each model. I would have appreciates if the course has taken more complex and real-world applications and models so that the utility of the subject can be much more appreciated.

By Daguo X

Apr 14, 2017

This course teaches how to use spreadsheet to do some predictive modelings. Although no depth in math, but for me, some practical skills and functions are introduced.

I just give 4 stars only because the overall content is still kinda simple. I though I could have learnt more with this price.

By John P

May 26, 2017

Good overview of implementing statistical tools we have learned so far in excel. Loss of one star due to quiz questions & and answer requirements in week 1 & 2 being ambiguous. This caused some frustration. Week 3 & 4 were quite good in my opinion. Overall a good class. Thanks.

By Alexander T d O

Aug 13, 2020

I am accountant from Brazil and at the beginning I thought It was a single Spreadsheet course, ok here I go. Then when I realised it was a wolrd of possibilities, including statistical tips for Forecasting, using a toll we already have. It will help me a lot

By Riccardo C

May 10, 2020

The course is useful and insightful even to someone who used spreadsheets for a life (I think the name makes it sound too simple). I didn't understand what I got wrong in some questions in the tests, and I think that some of those. could be thought better.

By Bhaskar

Jul 22, 2016

Sometimes, when I worked the spreadsheets out, the data differed from that on the examples. The items in the course were good and built up well. Some more details would have been nice. The instructor went over some spreadsheet steps quite fast.

By Roger M J

Apr 19, 2016

Great introductory course for the subject. There were some parts, especially at the start of this course, in which the subject matters were being explained too simplistically and very quickly - not a good combination to maximize ones efforts.

By John C

Feb 8, 2018

Very good, but on its own it left me wanting more detail. Better if followed with Modelling Risk and Realities (the next in the specialization), which provides more substance and detail to some of the concepts glossed over in this course .

By Yawei D

Sep 4, 2020

Some of the quiz questions are not explicitly covered in the course. I could not figure out the right answer even going through the videos again. Guess I missed some basic knowledge there myself. Overall, very interesting course as well.

By Antonio J

Jul 15, 2017

O único problema é ter que comprar o curso para ser avaliado nos questionários.

Entendo ser o modelo de negócio estabelecido pelo Coursera ou mesmo pela faculdade, mas essa situação não possibilita a ampla disseminação do conhecimento.

By Markus M

Sep 1, 2023

The work (spreadsheets) and concepts were difficult but with practice (and time), all became clear. Introduction to Spreadsheets and Models was a great and challenging at the same time. The instructor made the course interesting.

By Volker

Mar 15, 2017

I think its oa good course, however, the XLS examples could be better and more complete (?) did not find some functions. German English Exec translation is a bit anoying - bit worried how that will work in more complex courses...

By Bryan L

Jan 20, 2020

This course was fantastic! I only wish we had more "Homework" or somewhere in which we could test the skills we are learning. It would have been nice to be given some data and then attempt to make a Cash Flow Model on our own.

By Gytis R

May 9, 2017

A pretty basic intro to spreadsheets - good for complete newbies or for those who want to refresh their memory! I wish the course was a bit longer and showed a wider variety of Excel functions and worked examples.

By Jim H

Apr 23, 2017

I enjoyed the course quite a bit. What would really be useful is more opportunity to work examples or problem sets. The quizzes and knowledge checks don't really give me a sense that I really know the material

By Samir D

Mar 5, 2017

The course was well blended and covered depth about models which can be seen in a business work place. However there should have been practice exercises before the quizzes to understand the topics better.

By Ranita M

Feb 11, 2020

The course structure is easy to understand and follow. The content may be too easy for those with Excel proficiency. Assignments that require students to use Excel can deepening the learning.

By Scott M

Apr 5, 2020

Course was generally very good...however, apologies if I've missed it, but doesn't appear to be a way to get a transcript of the lectures. Not ideal for taking learnings into practice.

By Omar G A

Jul 8, 2019

This course requires discipline, patience and attention to details. I learned things, about the subject and beyond. Don Huesman is the organizer of this entire series. Thanks for that.