Microsoft Excel can seem a bit overwhelming when you first open it, especially if you’ve not had much reason to use it before.
But Excel is a really useful tool that can make your life much easier if you know how to use it. In your studies you can use Excel to perform data analysis, organise findings into tables, and turn boring data into colourful charts and graphs for your reports.
Excel can also be useful outside of your studies. You can use it for things like tracking your monthly spending, creating chore rotas for your flatmates, and making checklists of all those movies you’ll definitely get around to watching.
Even basic experience with Excel is a skill that many different careers value, and it can make you more attractive to potential employers, so it’s worth getting familiar with it. And you can use your University SSO to gain full access to the Office 365 suite.
It’s important to remember that underneath all those scary looking menus and formulas is something very simple: a grid made up of rows and columns.
In order to help get you more comfortable with using Excel, we’ve created the Excel Puzzle Blog series.
We will be releasing a new Excel escape room-style puzzle once a month. Each puzzle will introduce you to a different Excel skill or function whilst giving you a challenge to solve to test your knowledge.
And if you get stuck, don’t worry! The solution to each puzzle will be shared in next month's issue.
For our first puzzle, we’re looking at the very basics.
Meet the spreadsheet
When you open an Excel workbook, you will be greeted by a grid made up of lots of small boxes. Each box is called a cell.
Cells are arranged into:
- Columns, which run vertically and are labelled with letters: A, B, C, D, and so on.
- Rows, which run horizontally and are labelled with numbers: 1, 2, 3, 4, and so on.
A cell is the box where a row and column meet.
Every cell has its own cell reference, which is made up of its column letter and row number. For example, the cell where column C and row 5 meet is called C5.
Cell references are one of the foundations of Excel. They allow you to identify exactly where information is stored and, later on, use that information in formulas and other features.
For this puzzle, you will need to become familiar with cell references
Ready to beat the sheet?
Download the Excel spreadsheet here and see if you can crack the first puzzle:
If you figure it out and are hungry for more, remember to subscribe to the Academic & Employability Skills blog so you don't miss next month's issue.
