Basic Excel
I'm a current senior in high school interested in majoring in finance. I'm trying to get ahead of the game and prepare myself prior to taking classes. I received the 6 free modeling courses as a result of signing up for this site and found the first course (Excel shortcuts) very useful. However, I didn't understand any of what I was actually doing, as I was just hitting the keys I was told to hit. When I received the second course (calculating DCF), I was way out of my league. Is there anywhere I can learn more about Excel and how formatting the actual model works? I have very basic Excel knowledge and don't fully understand the format of models. If anybody has some insight, that would be very helpful. Thanks!
Don't stress on the format of the model right now after all you're only in high school! Take the time to actually develop an understanding of the concepts of the DCF model and valuation itself. As you go through business school, excel will become like a second language to you so don't worry!!
You are wasting your time learning Excel and DCFs right now. Though it takes some time to prepare for your banking interviews, you sure as hell don't need 2+ years. You should spend your time doing something more productive, like participating in good ECs, volunteering, entrepreneurship, etc.
I don't see there being any harm in buying WSP's Excel program and maybe practicing a hour a week or so.
Just from experience...I took WSP's excel course during my sophomore year in college and honestly it made me wish I had taken it sooner. Valley its definitely worth a look if you get the chance
and it's only like 35 bucks or so.
So Wall Street Prep's excel crash course is good for beginners?
Help, Terrible at Excel (Originally Posted: 03/21/2012)
I managed to network, do well in school, build a decent resume, and ultimately landed a summer IB gig. Problem is I am terrible in Excel.
Does anyone have any advice on how to learn the basics and get a hang of it. I have used it only a handful of times. Everyone is telling me I should def have at least a basic grasp of Excel before I start this summer.
Would like to hear from everyone but specifically people who used excel for the first time at their internship or full time. How did you pick it up and any advice.
check out the BIWS (breaking into wall street) excel training module. I think its somewhere around $40. If you're on a budget, youtube has plenty of excel video tutorials. Just find a user whose teaching style your comfortable with, and watch all of their videos.
Actually it's Wall Street Prep that offers an Excel crash course for $40. BIWS' package is $197.
What excel versions should the videos cover?
Relax, it doesn't take long to get fairly proficient in Excel. Take one of the online WS prep courses and go over it a few times, I'm sure it has the necessary content.
I think it's important you find out what version of excel your firm is using. If you are not familiar with excel as it is and learn 2003, show up to work and they're using 2007, it might be a pretty big adjustment.
You can't be "terrible at Excel" if you "have used it only a handful of times". Practice. Posters above have given ver good suggestions.
This isn't something to stress over. There where quite a few kids in my training class that didn't know the first thing about excel, and by the end of the program a lot them where flying through spreadsheets no mouse and all.
One thing I will say that's invaluable, that you should know, is: "Alt" + "e" + "s", paste special. As an intern, you'll likely be doing a lot of formatting bitch work on books and such, so you'll use that short-cut many times over. Anyone here who works can prolly attest to that.
So what Excel versions are commonly used?
Excel - Good source online to develop excel skills (Originally Posted: 09/15/2011)
Is there somewhere online that is a good source for developing excel skills?
If I were you I would buy a good excel book, that way you can reference it from time to time. They can be had for relatively cheap (thank goodness since a new excel is launched quite often). I don't know what edition you have, so it's hard to say which book to buy.
PS This also assumes that you have only limited excel background.If you only want to brush up on a few formulas/formatting issues, then obviously a book would be less useful to you. I can't really direct you to any good online resources because I myself, even though I've been through some excel courses, use a book. It's on my bookshelf and I reference it from time to time.
Yeah, limited-ish. Like you say, largely need to brush up. I dont have any books at this stage but I will head down in the morning to see what i can find.
motion training on youtube.com
I would strongly recommend Breaking Into Wall Street.
Thanks guys. This seemed a decent resource http://www.mrexcel.com/ - not sure if anyone has used it.
Wall Street Prep's excel intro package is good.
Udemy has some descent online Excel courses that you should check out. Each course is often packed with tutorial videos and Excel files to work along. Not as elaborate as WallStreetPrep, but it's definitely cheaper so all depends on your budget.
Excel - SA offer for the summer (Originally Posted: 04/03/2008)
Just got an SA offer for the summer. I'm DECENT at best w/ excel. What are the best ways to improve/learn new methods. I'm not really down w/ spending 500 bucks on WallStreetPrep just so I can learn to model. Any good websites/free downloads?
Thanks
A majority of your value-add as an SA will be in your formatting in PPT and things of that nature. By all means, bone up on Excel if you can, but don't sweat it; I haven't seen too many summers charged with building accretion/dilution or lbo models.
I 2nd this request, who knows of any free material on the web regarding financial applications in excel?
What are you looking to learn here? A modeling in excel course? Are you looking to get taught short-cuts? Or are you simply asking for things that allow you to learn to navigate faster in excel?
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