Excel College Student SOS

Excel does tend to evolve, so perhaps this is mostly an issue of an antiquated textbook / assignment. As mathetes suggests, it may be best to try out some simple exercises; Perhaps with reference or logic functions, the construction of simple plots. But it is a vast landscape. If you'd like to see some more advanced projects, and get your hands on some freeware to further extend the environment, feel free to see the Blackbelt site: www.blackbelt-apps.com

I'm not sure if Microsoft Excel has changed...

Excel changes--mostly through addition, but also other ways--on an ongoing basis.

The homework given from my (ACG Excel class basically) has me following directions...

As is often the case with directors, if the landscape has changed, streets have been blocked by new construction, whatever, you sometimes need to get to the destination by different routes. Does the assignment give the end destination, in any reasonable form, or are you just beginning and it's purely a matter of orienting yourself to tool bars which, as HansVogelaar​ has said, have changed. 

You'd be far better served by an assignment that asked you to create a modest or simple spreadsheet, and then look for the tools--wherever they might be found. You'll find, I predict (IF, that is , you stick with it) that Excel is fairly intuitive. Functions are named by names that generally describe what they do. You'll also find resources like the book Excel for Dummies helpful in getting you familiar with the basic functions. There are also really good introductory videos on YouTube. And helpful websites, including this one. You might find ExcelJet to be useful once you are a bit more comfortable with the basics.

But more than anything else, I would suggest that you will learn best if you give yourself permission to play with the program, stop following directions . You're not going to break anything. Give yourself a simple assignment with calculations that mean something to you, whether it's having to do with a hobby or a job, your finances or your recipes; give yourself the assignment of creating a spreadsheet that does some cool things. In short, have some fun. You'll learn that way.

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