Chevron Left
Back to Mastering Data Analysis in Excel

Learner Reviews & Feedback for Mastering Data Analysis in Excel by Duke University

4.2
stars
3,909 ratings

About the Course

Important: The focus of this course is on math - specifically, data-analysis concepts and methods - not on Excel for its own sake. We use Excel to do our calculations, and all math formulas are given as Excel Spreadsheets, but we do not attempt to cover Excel Macros, Visual Basic, Pivot Tables, or other intermediate-to-advanced Excel functionality. This course will prepare you to design and implement realistic predictive models based on data. In the Final Project (module 6) you will assume the role of a business data analyst for a bank, and develop two different predictive models to determine which applicants for credit cards should be accepted and which rejected. Your first model will focus on minimizing default risk, and your second on maximizing bank profits. The two models should demonstrate to you in a practical, hands-on way the idea that your choice of business metric drives your choice of an optimal model. The second big idea this course seeks to demonstrate is that your data-analysis results cannot and should not aim to eliminate all uncertainty. Your role as a data-analyst is to reduce uncertainty for decision-makers by a financially valuable increment, while quantifying how much uncertainty remains. You will learn to calculate and apply to real-world examples the most important uncertainty measures used in business, including classification error rates, entropy of information, and confidence intervals for linear regression. All the data you need is provided within the course, all assignments are designed to be done in MS Excel, and you will learn enough Excel to complete all assignments. The course will give you enough practice with Excel to become fluent in its most commonly used business functions, and you’ll be ready to learn any other Excel functionality you might need in the future (module 1). The course does not cover Visual Basic or Pivot Tables and you will not need them to complete the assignments. All advanced concepts are demonstrated in individual Excel spreadsheet templates that you can use to answer relevant questions. You will emerge with substantial vocabulary and practical knowledge of how to apply business data analysis methods based on binary classification (module 2), information theory and entropy measures (module 3), and linear regression (module 4 and 5), all using no software tools more complex than Excel....

Top reviews

TB

Nov 16, 2021

I like and appreciate courses provided through Coursera.This course is very interesting and valuable for those whose jobs do have relevance with data management .God bless Coursera and Duke University

JE

Oct 30, 2015

The course deserves a 5-star rating because: (1) content is relevant, (2) the professor is concise and possesses great teaching skills, and (3) the learning modules are applicable to daily problems.

Filter by:

776 - 800 of 934 Reviews for Mastering Data Analysis in Excel

By Joseph C

•

Dec 20, 2020

Great information, but poorly executed or explained. There was inconsistencies in the quizzes and which resources to use. Information that was not updated over the lifespan of the course. When the course was first created there were errors found with the information provided. These adjustments were implemented but not updated in the actual course so the only recourse to find out what to do or which spreadsheet to use were only found in the discussion forums.

By Donna K

•

Sep 20, 2016

It is best to have a strong statistical background before taking this course. Lots of statistical calculations and procedures. If you don't have a strong background in statistics , there is a good chance you will get lost at some point in the course. There is no questions that the instructor of this course is an accomplished mathematician, I just found it hard to follow his lectures as he got deeper into various statistical aspects of the course.

By Donald L

•

Dec 28, 2015

Much work needs to be done on this course to make it friendly to learners. The quizzes and assignments do not align with what is taught in the lessons. Further, the content in the lessons does not even show or explain what is expected from the learning.

I spent the majority of my time exploring the discussions to discover what I was supposed to be doing and the rest of it on Google teaching myself the concepts that were not taught in the course.

By Valerie P

•

Feb 5, 2018

The professor jumps from subject to subject like if he assumes that people know the stuff he is teaching. Sometimes he goes on about something without telling you why he started talking about it, how it will be used, what is its relations with the whole course or at least that week's course. He even goes on to start the definition of a concept but then starts talking about an example and does not go back to the actual definition or use.

By Yoav S

•

Jul 10, 2017

First of all, it's important to point out that this course hasn't got a lot to do with Excel. It's more about statistics.

I am somewhat disappointed with this course. A lot of the assignments and tests were unclear, and it was hard to get clarifying information that will help you proceed. I was often left confused about some of the topics. Nevertheless, I learned some techniques that will probably be prove very valuable in the future.

By Philip g

•

Feb 20, 2016

I found this course too advanced for my level of familiarity with statistics. Its true that most basic stuff is covered to be fair, but the progression is very rapid.

As I work long hours and other commitments I didn't have enough time to dedicate to study beyond the time needed just for this course. If I had been able to study an extra 10 hours a week practicing using the formulas then I'm sure I would have got more out of it.

By Mark A

•

Mar 8, 2018

The description of the course series does not adequately represent what is taught, more details up front about the material covered would have helped set expectations. The first course in the series focuses primarily on terminology, with little practical application. Almost all of the material was on finance & accounting.

In week 2 of this course, I realized this wasn't addressing what I expected and dropped out.

By Kevin R

•

Jan 2, 2017

All theory. Quizzes you were left with the task of answering questions based on models never seen or explained spent most time trying to make sense of them. Final project is almost a joke to try and decipher how to create from scratch based on the ones they provided in the quizzes. Its not a joke but it is very difficult when the actual excel and model making isnt part of the lectures.

By Justin M

•

Nov 11, 2015

So many equations presented without explaining why these things work or how they are derived. I'm having a hard time seeing the relevance. Also, I learned a lot of these statistics in college and the explanations provided in these lessons actually confused me about things I already know. Very disappointed in this course. Especially since part 1 of the specialization was so good.

By Bruno G

•

Jan 17, 2016

I would have liked the class to be less theoretical, with more frequent explanations linking concepts to practical applications in daily / business life, in order to keep interest and motivation high and facilitate understanding and memorisation. It sure would help to enter this course with a certain background of probability. Those memories were too ancient in my case :-(

By Andrew

•

Mar 19, 2020

Not recommended if you're a beginner. I don't understand a single bit of the math involved in this course, it is explained little if at all. Every time I start a video I have to stop and learn from elsewhere how to learn from this course. I'm sure it's great for people that know what is going on, but if you don't understand one thing at any point you're lost for good.

By Jade C

•

May 7, 2017

I wish this course was more focused on building and analyzing data in excel. It feels like it's more focused on financial measurements and probability, it hasn't related to my line of work yet (marketing analysis). I wish the course also focused on advanced excel formulas outside of probability like advanced pivot tables, arrays, and macros.

By Anthony R

•

Feb 29, 2016

While the first week touched on Excel and the equations can be used in Excel and have efficacy in regards to analyzing data, it feels as if the course emphasizes more on utilizing math than utilizing Excel. And according to my understanding, that was what I thought I was signing up for. So, it felt like a bait-and-switch to me.

By Niyazi E D

•

Jun 13, 2020

This Course has the wrong title, as many others mentioned prior to me. It was a lot about statistics and math, but the thing was that none of it was explained very well. It was unorganised and sometimes had crucial mistakes in it, which wasted a lot of my time. I give it two stars, because I learned a little Excel.

By Karolis M K

•

Nov 1, 2015

The course name is very misleading. While overall it is not a bad course, I believe a lot of people come here expecting very different material. Let's just put it this way: Mastering Data Analysis (mostly things to do with probability) with occasional use of Excel. Do not expect to learn anything new in excel.

By Ajai G G

•

Nov 18, 2016

Course did not meet any of the expectations. Neither Excel nor the analysis part. Should have focused on one of the aspects to make it more stronger. In my opinion "deviated" & stressed too much on statistics and model building (regression, logistic regression etc.) but did not do justice to that also!

By Rich

•

Mar 2, 2016

Does not teach Excel very well while tryng to apply the basic usage instruction to not too difficult problems. The ability to interface with Excel after some knowledge of Python/R or other programming languages would be helpful in the Data Science programming that is increasingly being promoted.

By James B

•

Mar 18, 2016

This class required far too much independent study. The instructor did not provide enough instruction or reading material to complete the quiz each week. There was too much focus on the conceptual data with very little emphasis on practical application of the material.

By Terry-Ann L

•

Mar 5, 2016

This course is doable if you have prior knowledge of probability and statistics. This is not for beginners and should therefore by reclassified as intermediate and above. I am sorry I enrolled in this course. I have truly hit a brick wall and can go no further...

By Guillaume C

•

Nov 17, 2015

Way too many abstract concepts that are not relevant to the challenges that I encounter in my day-to-day role. I wish this course would actually show me how to solve PRACTICAL business problems.

The 2nd part of the course is not enjoyable at all. Sorry.

By Ivan K

•

Apr 4, 2020

There are dozens of formulas, but almost no examples and clear instructions of what to do step by step and explanation of how we can apply obtained knowledge in real world. One exception is the Markowitz Portfolio Optimization which is great.

By Loukas K

•

Sep 4, 2016

This course is only supported by a course of data analytics. It should clearly state that advanced statistics is a prerequisite knowledge. I expected to learn advanced excel techniques, not to be required to know statistic models to apply.

By Luke B

•

Oct 1, 2017

Poorly explained , you don't actually learn much excel . They just continuously provide spreadsheets for you without teaching you how to actually use excel for data analysis. Would not recommend for beginners wanting to learn excel.

By Gani

•

Feb 6, 2016

I feel that the course does cover adequate topic to improve our mastery of data analysis in Excel. The course is more focus on the statistic and probability theory without giving adequate explanation on how to work on Excel.

By Cheng-Kang C

•

Mar 28, 2019

Extremely challenging to put so many concepts into one course.

I have to do my own studying and research outside of this course to catch up with.

However, it is a good start to follow what need to be learnt for data analysis.