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Taking an ExcelCEO Course

A common problem with most Excel users is knowing where they stand. Many people claim they are experts, but how do you really know? At ExcelCEO, we’ve solved that issue. Here's how it works:

Step 1: To certify or not to certify? Why do you want to learn more about Excel? Does you employer require it, do you want to pick up a few tricks, or do you want to prove to the world that you are an Excel Master? If you have certain concepts that you want to learn, like creating PivotTables or learn more about writing functions, you can take just those portions of the course. But if you want an official ExcelCEO certification that you have mastered all of the concepts taught, you need to sign up for the entire course.

Step 2: Find out which Excel skills you need to learn: On the Free Tests link above, you can take any one of four free evaluation tests, at the Beginning, Intermediate, Advanced, and/or Comprehensive levels. The tests are very comprehensive, and they will evaluate how much Excel you really know. We encourage you to answer the questions without opening Excel to find out the answer. If you don’t know the answer to a question, choose the “I don’t know” option. Remember, this test is not a competition between you and your colleagues - it is designed to evaluate your skill set and show you what you need to learn. The chart below shows the level of Excel necessary for different job categories:

Job Category	Section	Description
Administrative Assistant, Accounting Clerk, Office Manager, Bookkeeper, etc.	Beginning	This section teaches the things every office person needs to know – Excel basics, formatting, working with graphics and objects, flowcharts, sorting, filtering, subtotals, and printing.
Beginning Accounting or Beginning Financial Analyst	Intermediate	This section focuses on writing formulas. Writing formulas and using functions is the “lost art” of Excel, and knowing how to write serious formulas sets the experienced users apart from the novices.
Experienced Accountant, Senior Financial Analyst, or Consultant	Advanced	This section teaches a very advanced skill set, including PivotTables, data analysis, graphs and charts, macros, and working with the web.
Excel CEO (Chief Excel Officer)	Master	This section requires the student to complete a comprehensive project on their own. Upon completion of the project and the final exam, the student will have mastered the skills taught in the course.

Step 3: Order the appropriate material: You can order the entire course, just the section you need, or you can order smaller sections by chapter. After you complete the free test(s) above, you will have a good idea of what you need to learn. Let’s suppose you are an administrative assistant and you took the Beginner test and you passed Chapters 2, 3, and 5 with flying colors, but didn’t do so well in Chapters 1 and 4. That would be an easy decision – just order those chapters. Chapter 1 is free, so you should order that chapter no matter how you do on the free tests. We have a lot of advanced students tell us they can’t believe how much they learned in Chapter 1, so it is definitely in your best interest to order at least that one chapter. If you want to become certified as an Excel Master, you need to take the entire course. Click on the Our Courses or Pricing links to place an order.

Within a minute of ordering a course, you will receive a confirmation email with your user ID and password. You will use your email address as your user ID and the password in the email to log on, download practice files and take tests within the ExcelCEO system. You can also open a PDF file of the course manual so you can get started on the course immediately!

Step 4: Complete the course: Let there be no mistake – taking an ExcelCEO course is not easy. In fact, it’s plain hard. But in the course, we give you all the instruction you need to take you step-by-step, and almost keystroke-by-keystroke to teach you every concept you need to know. There is a final exam at the end of each chapter, and it is necessary to pass each chapter exam before continuing on to the next chapter. This ensures you have learned the material before going on to more advanced topics. Upon completion of the course, your name will appear in the Graduate Verification page to show your current or potential employer that you are an Excel Master.

If you are an employer interested in training a group of employees with the ExcelCEO system, or if you are a recruiter that needs a more extensive Excel testing program, send me an email. We have special programs just for you.