How to Pass the Excel Certification Exam

Want to pass the Excel certification exam? Maybe you want proof that you can rock Excel for your resume? For your LinkedIn profile? Do you want a confidence boost that, yes, you know Excel? Back in January, I registered for the Excel certification exam. I’d always been curious to see whether I could pass. Spoiler alert: I passed! In this blog post, I’ll share behind-the-scenes tips for registering for and pacing the MOS-200 exam.
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How to Use Vlookup in Microsoft Excel: Two Step-by-Step Examples for Beginners

Vlookup is my all-time favorite function in Excel! (Well, the entire lookup family—vlookup, hlookup, index-match, and xlookup.) In this blog post, I’ll walk you through what what vlookup is used for, why it’s tricky and how to fill in the four pieces of the formula. In this blog post, you’ll learn what vlookup is used for; why vlookup can be tricky; how to fill in the four pieces of the formula.
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10 Must-Have Analytical Skills

Data cleaning and data analysis alone can take hours, days, or weeks. It will always take some time, but it doesn’t have to take forever. It might not be your favorite part of the process. But it doesn’t have to be a headache, either. In this blog post, we’ll cover 10 analytical skills that can make your next data project easier, faster, and error-free.
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24 Conditional Formatting Visuals in Microsoft Excel that Should Be Retired

“You should go work at Microsoft and fix Excel’s terrible formatting.” I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard this from workshop participants. Bill Gates, are you reading this?? Microsoft Excel is lonnnnng overdue for some updates. Don’t get me wrong—it’s still my favorite program. With 750 million users worldwide, I won’t be switching to anything else. It’s used by every business professional I know for at least part of their workflow. I’m getting tired of making excuses for Microsoft. Here are 24 conditional formatting visuals that should be retired ASAP because they’re ableist, time-consuming to read, or look like they’re from 1995.
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How Drawing Makes Us Better at Data Visualization

“Which software program is best for data visualization???” This is one of the most common questions about getting started with graphs, charts, and diagrams. There are plenty of great software programs, like Excel and Tableau—and even PowerPoint! There’s also a lesser-known secret to creating strong data visualizations: hand-drawn sketches.
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The Data Strategy Show with Samir Sharma

How can we design the best possible dashboards for business leaders? I addressed this question on the Data Strategy Show with Samir Sharma. We talked about challenges companies face when trying to visualize data, what we should be thinking about when creating or re-designing dashboards and how to learn more about data visualization as a whole.
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