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

4.2
stars
3,919 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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826 - 850 of 935 Reviews for Mastering Data Analysis in Excel

By 051 J J C

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Oct 18, 2020

Was quite advanced and the topics weren't explained as well as I expected them to be .Overall, the course was below average.

By Michelle V

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Mar 28, 2016

I found much of this material wasn't as applicable to excel analysis as hoped and didn't cover many of the analysis tools

By Gabriela M

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Feb 15, 2020

Este curso tiene mal el titulo, no trata sobre excel en absoluto, sino mas bien es un curso sobre matemáticas.

By Brianna B

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Aug 4, 2020

The instruction was lackluster and left a lot of details out, filled with mistakes that were fixed in post.

By Jairo S

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Mar 11, 2019

The course is poorly structured, taking a lot of effort to decipher what is required in the assignments.

By Alfonso F

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May 7, 2017

Some hard statistical/mathematical concepts with little explanation. Bad pacing and confusing structure.

By Sahar B

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Jul 14, 2022

A lot of technical topics limited to excel was not that helpful and no adding real value for real life.

By Pradnya A

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Oct 11, 2022

The concepts are explained in a very indirect, confusing manner. Everything else is great, but alas.

By Hassaan K

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Jan 12, 2016

Content not discussed in proper detail. Instructor skims over the concepts. Its difficult to follow.

By Wings S Q

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Sep 25, 2016

I'm here learning Excel skills, but this course, especially week 2, does not teach Excel skills.

By Eric M

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Apr 26, 2021

This course is more advanced than a college stats class with not much explanation. Be prepared.

By Lidiya N

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Nov 12, 2017

Not enough examples on how to actually do the complicated assignment at the end of the course.

By Jaya S

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Feb 26, 2016

To course got tougher every week while the lecture video is not cover everything.

By 何泽林

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Apr 12, 2019

There are some problems with the spreadsheet, which cost me truly a lot of time.

By Jeffrey K

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Feb 5, 2021

Not enough instructor examples to look at and work through prior to the quiz.

By Kong L

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Jan 21, 2016

This course is mostly theory based and certainly not what i am expected!

By Bria M

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Aug 16, 2020

Video lessons did not prepare students for the homework assignments.

By Nazish K

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Mar 3, 2016

This is definitely not a course for beginners .

By Achilleas B

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Oct 19, 2020

Hoping that next courses will be more useful.

By Edward J B

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Nov 28, 2019

Not what i expected for my analysis via excel

By Yishu S

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Mar 4, 2016

This course contains too few solid content.

By Yvonne C

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May 5, 2016

Too difficult. The lessons go too fast.

By Francesca M

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Nov 16, 2020

Won't apply to my job in any capacity

By Michael D

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Mar 7, 2016

Week 1 a little disapointing

By Kecheng J

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Jul 8, 2019

many irrelevant content