Can I Learn Excel in 3 Months?

Microsoft Excel is one of the most widely used professional tools globally, with an estimated 750 million users. Once you’ve decided to learn this popular spreadsheet tool, you may wonder if it’s possible to do so in three months. While no two learners are the same, most individuals who embark on spreadsheet study will find that they can acquire knowledge of basic Excel features, functions, and calculations in well under three months. The following article will take a closer look at the kinds of spreadsheet skills you can expect to learn in a three-month window, some tips for expediting the learning process, and any additional training you may need to fully master complex spreadsheet tasks. 

How Much Excel Can I Learn in 3 Months?

The length of time it takes to learn Excel depends on a host of factors that are relative to each learner, including the type of learner they are, their prior educational background, and their ultimate goals for learning Excel. That said, most people can become well-versed in Excel in much less than three months. Some individuals can learn Excel’s basic features and functions fairly easily and quickly on their own (in just several hours or days), especially those who have prior experience working with spreadsheets. For others, however, who are new to data management or spreadsheet applications, it can take longer to become familiar with Excel’s interface and its capabilities. With the help of educational resources and instructor-led coursework, the learning process can be streamlined and expedited. And, like any other skill, the more time the student is able and willing to invest in their training and practicing with the Excel skills they learn, the more familiar they’ll become with its features and capabilities. 

The speed at which you acquire Excel knowledge will depend on the type of training you opt for. In-person or live online coursework, such as a bootcamp, is an excellent way to learn the ins and outs of Excel in just a few days or weeks. These classes provide hands-on training with real-world datasets and allow students to ask questions as they occur and have instantaneous clarification as they progress from basic to intermediate and advanced-level tasks. Those who opt for self-teaching through on-demand courses, free online resources, or other print or digital training materials may need to invest additional time in their studies since no instructor is present to provide guidance or clarification. They may have to find answers to questions on their own or seek additional resources to help clarify tricky spreadsheet concepts. Individuals who wish to self-teach Excel basics can expect to become proficient with this app in several weeks if they commit to learning.

Another factor determining how much Excel knowledge you can acquire in a three-month window is whether you study full-time or part-time. Full-time courses offer a condensed training format. Bootcamps, for example, may take only three full days to complete when taken full-time. Spacing the same class part-time can take much longer, though it can still be accomplished in several weeks. Certificate programs typically offer a much longer and more involved learning format. Those who choose to learn Excel in a certificate program in data analytics will likely encounter other topics in the course, such as additional tools like Tableau and programming languages like SQL and Python. These comprehensive programs are much more involved and demanding than a short bootcamp or skills class. On a full-time basis, most learners take approximately six to ten weeks to complete them. With part-time study, the same course can require six months. This may make part-time certificate programs prohibitive for learners who want to acquire Excel training in a much shorter time frame.

Within a three-month window, most people can gain a solid understanding of core Excel skills and progress from the basics to a range of more advanced concepts. Introductory-level coursework like skills classes or bootcamps usually commences with an exploration of the app’s interface, including how to work with rows, columns, and individual cells. Students also become familiar with skills like formatting individual cells using color or bolding to indicate trends or patterns within a dataset. These classes also teach students basic formulas and calculations for popular Excel actions, including SUM to add values in a series of numbers and AVERAGE to determine the mean of a range. Basic data visualizations, including bar graphs and pie charts, are usually taught in skills classes and bootcamps. Once these core foundational skills are covered, learners move into more complex Excel skills, such as working with PivotTables, splitting and joining text, and using complex functions like SUMIFs and VLOOKUP. By the end of most bootcamps, participants graduate with advanced Excel training in topics like creating basic macros, using INDEX and MATCH, and working with What-If Analysis for Goal Seek and Data Tables. This can all be achieved in much less than three months for most Excel students.

How Can I Learn Excel More Quickly? 

If you want to speed up your Excel learning process, the good news is that many excellent resources are available that can help. In addition to live training options, many free Excel resources are posted online from educators around the globe, including short videos, tutorials, blog posts, and research articles. The following sections will take a look at each.

Free Online Videos

Free online Excel videos can be a great supplement to your Excel studies. Microsoft Support offers free video training options for learners at all levels, such as how to get started working with this app, work with tables and charts, share and co-author documents, and use Power Query. Tech training companies like Noble Desktop also have free online Excel resources, such as 10 Beginner Excel Tricks You Need to Know. This hour-long video provides instruction on core topics like navigation shortcuts, autofill, and absolute cell reference. 

Other top educators upload short videos on platforms like YouTube, where they provide instruction on specific Excel tasks. You can select short video clips that take just a few minutes to watch or opt for more involved video training that takes an hour or longer to view. Some popular YouTube Excel channels are available from Excel Campus, ExcelisFun, TeachExcel, and Excel Dude. There are also various free books, blog posts, and other training content that cover Excel skills. 

Online Blogs & Tutorials

Many top educational providers post written content on Microsoft Excel. These articles are useful for those looking to learn a specific spreadsheet skill. A simple Google search will yield many such resources that students can read on their own to learn how to perform a specific task in Excel. Educators like Noble Desktop post well-researched articles on a range of useful Excel skills, features, and topics. Noble’s Learn Hub contains more than three dozen articles on Excel topics like how to customize the ribbon, create a basic sparkline, and use Excel on an Android phone.

Live Excel Training

Although free resources can be a great supplement when learning Excel, there’s no substitute for learning in the live environment. Live Excel training classes are the most engaging and interactive way to learn this industry-standard spreadsheet application. Both bootcamps and shorter skills classes are available with a focus on Excel. These courses are taught in person at designated training facilities in major cities around the country, as well as in the live online environment using Zoom or a similar teleconferencing platform. Students benefit not only from personalized instruction from a teacher with real-world spreadsheet knowledge but also from the sense of community and camaraderie that comes with studying alongside others. Live Excel skills classes typically take just one day to complete and are a cost-effective way to learn this application. 

Bootcamps are another excellent option for those interested in expediting their Excel training. These courses typically begin with introductory-level Excel instruction, including an overview of the app’s basic features and functions, as well as how to navigate its cells, rows, and columns. Students then devote several days (or longer) to building on this basic foundation and accumulating intermediate and advanced-level spreadsheet knowledge, including how to split and join text, create dynamic data visualizations, and automate repetitive spreadsheet tasks with macros. Bootcamps are typically a more affordable study option than enrolling in beginner, intermediate, and advanced-level skills classes independently; some providers offer a discount for those who take all three. 

What Excel Skills Will I Need to Learn After 3 Months?

While most basic Excel skills can be learned in a much shorter timeframe than three months, complicated spreadsheet tasks require time and practice. Advanced Excel functionality includes proficiency with skills like creating PivotTables, performing complex calculations, designing dashboards, and performing detailed data analysis and visualization. It also extends to working with Power Tables to combine multiple worksheets or workbooks, as well as creating, recording, and modifying macros. Skills such as these can take some learners additional time and practice to fully grasp.

There are many professional benefits to acquiring advanced-level spreadsheet skills. Excel mastery is an asset in the business setting because it can help you devise effective solutions and create dynamic data models. Those who have attained advanced knowledge of worksheets or workbooks can put this training to use, creating a range of engaging tables, charts, and graphs that present research findings to audience members who don’t come from a technical background in a manner that they can understand and interpret. Excel mastery is useful for executing data simulations that can forecast essential information, including investment returns or net income. This advanced-level knowledge is also useful for creating financial statements or templates.

Certificates in data analytics are an excellent way to learn advanced-level skills in Excel and other popular data tools. Certificates in fields like data analytics or business intelligence provide students with the opportunity to learn several essential skills alongside Excel and grow into well-rounded professionals. Programs like the Data Analytics Certificate, which is available from Noble Desktop, are designed to teach a range of relevant, in-demand data skills. Participants work with programming languages like SQL and Python, as well as software like Tableau for data visualization. The Excel component of this training is specific to data analysis and intended to be used alongside these complementary skills. Upon graduating from a certificate program, participants have the skills necessary to pursue an entry-level data analytics or business intelligence career path. Most certificate programs also offer students additional incentives, including 1-on-1 mentoring sessions, professional support and development, and the opportunity to compile a professional portfolio. These resources are in place to help students secure a career and put their skills to use once they graduate.

Learn Excel with Noble Desktop

If you want to learn how to work with spreadsheets and do so in well under three months, Noble Desktop offers in-person and live online Excel courses. These programs are available to those who are just getting started using spreadsheets, as well as professionals who want to acquire advanced-level Excel training. All Noble courses provide hands-on training in the small class environment and offer a free course retake for up to one year after graduation.

If you’re interested in basic spreadsheet training, Excel Level I: Fundamentals is an excellent learning option. This one-day program teaches all the essential spreadsheet skills you’ll need to get started working with this application. Participants explore basic functions, calculations, graphs, formatting, and printing. This program is intended for students who have limited experience with Excel and want to become more proficient.

Excel Level 2: Intermediate is available for those who want to build on their basic Excel training and take their skills even further. This short class covers skills like working with SUMIFs and VLOOKUP. Participants become familiar with using PivotTables to summarize data, split and join text, and sort and filter databases. As a prerequisite, students should have already completed Excel Level 1 or have a similar skill set, including knowledge of formulas, functions, formatting, and printing.

Noble also offers Excel Level 3: Advanced for those who want to master this application’s complicated features. This program teaches students how to use advanced analytics tools, write macros to save time and improve efficiency, and use complex functions like INDEX-Double MATCH and VLOOKUP-MATCH. Those looking to enroll in this program should have proficiency with spreadsheets that are equivalent to Noble’s Intermediate Excel course, including knowledge of IF statements, VLOOKUP, and PivotTables.

In addition to short course offerings, Noble has a bootcamp that offers more comprehensive spreadsheet training. In Excel Bootcamp, participants progress from Excel beginners to pros over the course of several days. This hands-on course combines beginner, intermediate, and advanced course training and gives students the skills to work with functions and formulas, create macros, and work with PivotTables.