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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.

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876 - 900 of 934 Reviews for Mastering Data Analysis in Excel

By Maria S

Feb 25, 2016

this course is definitely NOT for beginners. you MUST have intermediate to advanced knowledge of statistics and math. I had to resort to google and khan academy extensively just to grasp the concepts in this course. This course also does not teach you everything about excel, let alone master it. you just refer to pre made excel sheets for quizzes. thats it. Good luck figuring those out.

By Mauritz S

Jun 14, 2017

This course has nothing to do with data analysis in excel, but rather the mathematical concepts behind analysis in general. The only thing related to excel are the spreadsheets provided with the videos. Unfortunately, the professor never uses the spreadsheets and actually shows how to build said analysis, but rather just hands them to you and lets you figure it out with 0 guidance.

By Paula A C G

Oct 26, 2020

This course can not be taken by any beginner. Further, the instructor can have a lot of Knowledge but is a terrible teacher.

Is a course for advanced peers and only if you really have the knowledge and you do not need any support or you do not mind that he is not explaining how he creates the formulas and so on.

But if you are a beginner this is not the right course for you.

By Simeon H

Apr 22, 2016

This is an advanced Statistics class. Learning was chaotic, confusing, and fast paced. Strong Mathematics skills required. As icing on the cake, there is an 8 hour project at the end of the course .. and they only tell you at the end that you should have been working on this all along! Not at all what I wanted to learn or find productive in the real world.

By Shivek C

Jul 10, 2020

I did not like the course at all. The first week was fine but then the course only offers pre-made excel sheets where we just have to change values and pass tests. The teaching videos every week are for less than 30 minutes total and there are 2 tests for 30 mins each. How is it even fair? It is really a pain. I am sorry but I am highly disappointed.

By Tyler R

Jan 23, 2022

I stopped listening as soon as I heard the statement that aggregate information was pretty much useless. That is a blissfully ignorant statement. I am a Data Integrity Analyst for a large corporation with a global presence and I can tell you from real world work experience the opposite is true.

By Nicole H

Jan 19, 2016

Was very frustrated with this course. Does not have a strong emphasis on Excel skills and the statistics models provided seem to be randomly chosen and poorly explained. Quizzes were interesting, but time-consuming because of the necessary extra research outside of provided lectures.

By WEI H

Jun 29, 2020

I don't even want to give 1 star even. The videos do not match the quizes at all. You have to put in much much more time on the useless sheets it provided, and they call it as practical experience! It's probably the worst course I've encountered on Coursera. Don't enroll it.

By Stella Y

Feb 14, 2022

instructor jump here and there, making me confused the relationship of one with another. the lecture video was also not very neat, it's difficult to follow. funny i have to watch more youtube videos (which help more) to be able to understand what he's trying to say...

By Camilla O

Mar 8, 2016

Content is not well organized, videos are disconnected from one another, explanations are not clear, spreadsheets contain vast information that is not explained anywhere. It is been quite difficult to follow through the course and I bet many students are giving up.

By Eduardo S

Jan 22, 2016

Being honest, the lessons in the course are disconnected with the weekly tests, specially for the final exam. Professor Daniel Egger and his assistan MUST improve the lessons, including examples step by step specially for the multiple linear regression su

By Ketian Y

Feb 21, 2017

Not very helpful for those with a solid statistical background. I prefer to use R to do the modeling things, while this course should talk more about pivot tables and existing useful financial functions which advantage over other statistical tools.

By Mohamad H

Jul 10, 2016

Really unhappy with how difficult and over complicated it is. I came here to learn about Excel. Pivot tables? functions? The course really loses focus and its unfortunate that I am now stuck here and cannot continue the entire specialization.

By Ümüd O

Jul 4, 2020

I can't even convey my frustration. Terrible course with a terrible teacher and misleading name. At the end of the course you don't learn any practical skills in Excel. Just avoid this course if you looking for practical knowledge

By Nikki P

Dec 12, 2015

Very confusing lectures, he says you don´t have to have a basic level of excel to do the course but I didn´t find that true. Struggled through all of the lecture videos and the quizzes seemed to come out of left field.

By Aaisha A

Jul 5, 2020

No concept was shown in Excel, it was just like paper and pen, the traditional one. And the professor was eating half of the words in between. Please explain all the concepts using excel. this course is a total waste.

By Dan L

Jan 22, 2016

In the course info this is described as the first course in the series and that it requires no prior knowledge but the first week quiz contains questions referring to an equation 'discussed in the previous course'.

By E B

Feb 11, 2016

Given this is the third (or fourth) iteration of this course, it's telling that the errors from the original release remain in the videos and quizzes. There are other, higher-quality Data Science MOOCs available.

By Abhiroop B

Apr 18, 2020

The Audio is not audible properly and the course material is not explanatory. The content and the quizzes or tasks dont add up. I had to often refer to google to find the modeling ideas.

By sagar c

Mar 24, 2016

The course structure is not thoughtfully prepared. There is a lot of confusion around what the instructor wants to say. The practice quizzes and course content have no match whatsoever

By 吳詠妤

Nov 14, 2015

Don't know how to apply the statistics and excel formula in real world situation. Besides, it becomes focus on approving statistics equation than teaching data analysis in excel

By Iselie I

Aug 10, 2016

En mi opinion es un tema muy interesante sin embargo cuesta entender lo que el profesor está diciendo por lo que es muy dificil llevar el ritmo del material...

By Esuene S

Apr 24, 2016

Poorly coordinated lectures. References to resources that are not provided. No response (at least, for days on end) when questions are posted on the forums

By Roberto K

Apr 13, 2016

Interesting statistical concepts, and great theory. However, the lectures and the quizzes do not prepare the student well for the final project.