Training on MS Excel

1. Working with a Worksheet

For better understanding, let us have a sample application. Since we have different
academic background, let us work on an application that most of us are familiar with and
one that captures the different features of Excel. In this case, let us use the Class Record
application.
You will be provided with a workbook whose Sheet1 contains a list of students. It
contains 2 columns and 37 rows. Let us insert two rows on row 1 and 1 column on
column A.

Inserting Rows
To insert a row, do the following:
i. Place the cell cursor on the row where you want to insert.
ii. Click the Insert menu and hit Rows to insert a row. Do this until the desired number
of rows are inserted.

Inserting Columns
i. Place the cell cursor on the column where you want to insert.
ii. Click the Insert menu and hit Columns to insert a column. Do this until the desired
number of columns are inserted.
Label the second column (B) as Surname and the third column (C) as First Name by
typing them on the corresponding columns at row 2. After you have typed them, you
center the labels and bold them to emphasize.
To facilitate the entry of scores, we have to order them by Surname and First Name.

Sorting Data
To sort the two columns, do the following:
i. Select the range of data for sorting. This is done by
placing the cell cursor at the first cell (upper left
cell of the data range), press the Shift key
continuously and using the mouse or arrow keys,
go to the lower right cell of the data range.
ii. Click the Data menu and select the Sort item. The
Sort dialog box appears.
iii. Select the Surname in the first combo box and then
First Name in the second combo box. Both should
be sorted ascendingly so check the Ascending radio
button for each.
iv. Check the Header row radio button since we have a heading.
v. Click Ok, and voila! The data are now sorted in a matter of a few milliseconds.

Trainor: Winston M. Tabada 1

 Training on MS Excel

The first column should contain the number corresponding to the student. You may type
the number from 1 to 37 but this task will become tedious if the number of students
become big say 100 students. Excel has a filling feature that you just type the first two
numbers and the rest are filled-up by Excel.

Filling a Range with a Series of Numbers

i. Position the cell cursor to the beginning cell
of the range, in this case at cell A3 and type
1.
ii. Pressing the Shift key continuously,
highlight the range of data, in this example,
up to cell A39.
iii. Press the Edit menu, select the Fill item and
click the Series subitem. The Series dialog
box appears.
iv. Check the column and linear buttons and then click the OK button.
v. Cells A1 to A39 are now filled up with a series of numbers from 1 to 37.

Usually, a teacher formulates his/her own grading system. For example purposes, let us
have the following grading system:
Criteria Weight
a.) Quizzes 10%
b.) Long Exams 30%
c.) Term Exams 40%
d.) Projects 20%
Take note that each criterion may contain one or more activities, that is, quizzes are
conducted many times as needed depending on the teacher. The same also with long
exams, projects and term exams (midterm and final examination). The weight of the
criterion is applied after getting the cumulative results. That is,
S q1  S q2  ...  S qn
CQuiz  wquiz 
Tq1  Tq2  ...  Tqn
where
Cquiz = score for the quiz criterion whose value ranges from 0 to
wquiz.
wquiz = the weight of the quiz criterion, that is 10%.
Sqi = the student actual score for quiz i.
Tqi = the total points for quiz i.
Some teachers usually get the score percentile, that is Sqi/ Tqi for each quiz with the
assumption that all quizzes have the same weight but others argue that we give more
points to quizzes on important topics than those quizzes on trivial topics, hence, the use

Trainor: Winston M. Tabada 2

 Training on MS Excel

of the cumulative formula. The same assumption and formula are applied to other
criteria. To obtain the percentile grade of the students, we just get the sum for all criterion
score, that is:
Percentile Grade = Cquiz + Clong exam + Cterm exam + Cprojects
The percentile grade will then be transmuted to index grade.
Let us now place these criteria as columns to the Master list of the Class Record. The
first criterion is typed at column D row 1, second at column E row 1 and so on. Type the
weight at row 2 correspondingly. In manual class record, the column labels are usually
written in slant. This can be done also in Excel.

Slant Orientation Format

To format a cell in a slanted position, do the following:
i. Position the cell cursor to the cell you want to format.
ii. Click the Angle Clockwise or the Angle Counterwise icon depending on your
preference.
iii. The text of the cell will then be slanted accordingly.

Add another columns for Total Grade, Index grade and Remarks. They should have the
same format with the preceding columns. At cell H2, sum up the weights using the sum
formula.

Set the Sum Formula

To get the sum of data from a selected range, do the following:
i. Position the cell cursor to the cell where you want to place the sum.
ii. Click the summation () icon from the toolbar then click and drag the range of cells
containing the data that will be added.
iii. Press Enter to get the result.
The grid lines shown in the worksheet are just guide but actually will not appear when the
worksheet is printed. The user must format the cells with lines if the intention is to embed
the cells with lines for better appearance. To avoid confusion, the grid lines can be “turn-
off” and replaced with real lines.

Removing Grid Lines

To remove the grid line, click the Tools > Options > View tab
and then uncheck the gridline button.

Drawing Cells Border Line

After removing the grid lines, you will be left with a plain
white worksheet. Now you want to draw real borderlines on the
cells of your data.

Trainor: Winston M. Tabada 3

 Training on MS Excel

To draw borderlines to cells, do the following:

i. Select the range of cells to draw borders.
ii. Click the Borders icon in the tool bar as shown in the figure to the right. A pull down
menu of different border lines will pop-up.
iii. Select the borderlines you prefer, in our example, select the one at the second column
of the third row.

The worksheet should look

like this one after you draw
the borders.

Let us name this worksheet

us the MasterList

Naming a
Worksheet
To name a worksheet, double click the
Worksheet name, as shown in this
figure, and replace the default name of
the worksheet to an appropriate name,
say MasterList.

The MasterList Worksheet contains the summary of the class record. The Quizzes
column contains the accumulated quizzes in percent; Long Exams contains the
accumulated long Exams in percent, and so on. This means that each type of aptitude
measure should have separate worksheet respectively. Each worksheet should contain the
name of the students column. To create the Quizzes worksheet, click the next sheet
labeled as Sheet2. Rename the worksheet as Quizzes. Leave the first column blank and
go to the second column B at row 2. Type the following formula on cell B3.
=MasterList!B3&", "&MasterList!C3
What the formula does, is to concatenate (& is the concatenation operator) the value of
cells B3 and C3 of the MasterList worksheet. You can simply copy the name of students
from the Masterlist and paste it to the Quizzes worksheet, however, this will make your
file large unnecessarily. Copy the formula to row 3 up to row 39.

Copy the content of a Cell down

To copy the content of a cell to adjacent cells below the source cell:
i. Position the cursor to the source cell, in this case at B3.

Trainor: Winston M. Tabada 4

 Training on MS Excel

ii. Pressing the shift key without releasing, bring the cursor down to the last cell of
destination, in this case at B39.
iii. Press the Ctrl D keys simultaneously to copy the source cell down.
Take note that it is the formula defined at B3 that is being copied down. You will notice
also that the formula at B4 is =MasterList!B4&", "&MasterList!C4 which is not
exactly the same to the formula at B3. This is because we are using relative referencing.
That is, the cell address used in the formula is relative to the cell where the formula is
placed.
Fill-up the first column with a series of numbers 1-37 like what we did at the MasterList.
Labels also the
right columns
and format cells
similar to the
figure below.
There are 4
quizzes
conducted with
a total score of
20, 25, 30 and
20 respectively. Cell C2 is a sum formula that adds up values from column D to H (the
column with a yellow background) on the same row. Copy the same formula to cell C3
down to C39. You fill-up the quizzes results for each student correspondingly.
To insert another quiz, say a quiz for July 25 with a total score of 50 without altering the
formula at column C, position the cursor at the yellow column and click Insert >
Columns from the menu bar. You type July 25 at row 1 column H and enter the total
score 50 to the next row of column H. Notice that the Total value also change
correspondingly.

Basic Statistics
Formula
For each quizzes including the accumulated result, you may want to know the central
tendency of the quizzes. Central tendency is measured by the Mean/Average, Standard
Deviation, Highest and Lowest Score. Insert these at the end of the list as shown in the
above figure.
To compute for the mean, use the following formula:
== AVERAGE(<beginning cell>:<end cell of the range>)
For example, at cell C40, type the formula =AVERAGE(C3:C39)
To computer for the standard deviation, use the following formula:
==STDEV(<beginning cell>:<end cell of the range>)
For example, at cell C41, type the formula = STDEV(C3:C39)
To determine the highest score, use the following formula :

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 Training on MS Excel

==MAX(<beginning cell>:<end cell of the range>)

For example, at cell C42, type the formula =MAX(C3:C39)
To determine the lowest score, use the following formula :
==MIN(<beginning cell>:<end cell of the range>)
For example, at cell C43, type the formula =MIN(C3:C39)
Copy cells C40 : C43 to adjacent cells to the right to get the statistics for each quizzes.

Copy a range of cells to another range of cells

To copy cells C40: C43 to D40 : H40, do the following:
i. Select cells C40:C43
ii. Click the Copy icon or press the CTRL C keys simultaneously.
iii. Select cells D40 : H40 and press the Enter key.
You notice that when we scroll down to the last student, the column labels disappear and
you cannot remember what column you are now working. It will be good that the
column label will stay or freeze. The same also when we pan to the right, the names of
students disappear. Excel has a feature to freeze a row or rows and columns.

Freeze Panes
To freeze panes, do the following:
i. Select the pivotal cell, in this example, cell C2
ii. Click Window in the menu bar and click Freeze panes.
iii. The left column of the pivotal cell will remain/freeze when you scroll right and the
rows above the pivotal cell will freeze/remain when you scroll down.
Now we are through with the Quizzes worksheet and we will do the same for the Long
Exams, Term Exams and Projects. Since we will be using the same format and formula,
we will just copy the Quizzes worksheet to another worksheet.

Move or Copy a Worksheet

i. To move or copy sheets to another workbook, open the workbook that will receive
the sheets.
ii. Switch to the workbook that contains the sheets you want to move or copy, and then
select the sheets.
iii. On the Edit menu, click Move or Copy Sheet.
iv. In the To book combo box, click the workbook to receive the sheets.
To move or copy the selected sheets to a new workbook,
click new book.

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 Training on MS Excel

v. In the Before sheet box, click the sheet before which you want to insert the moved
or copied sheets.
vi. To copy the sheets instead of moving them, select the Create a copy check box.

Master Worksheet of the

Class Record

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Training on MS Excel

The Quizzes Worksheet

Sample Graph of a Class Record

Grade Histogram

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Training on MS Excel

12

10

8
Frequency

0
1.25 1.50 1.75 2.00 2.25 2.50 2.75 3.00 3.25
Index Grade

The Transmutation Table from Percentile Grade to Index Grade and Descriptor

Trainor: Winston M. Tabada 9