Amazon.com: Customer reviews: Learn Excel 2007 Essential Skills with The Smart Method: Courseware tutorial for self-instruction to beginner and intermediate level

Reviewed in the United States on April 25, 2022

This is a great book. I figured that the book would refer to some pretend worksheets (it did) but I was pretty sure that the examples (from Microsoft) would no longer be there. Of course they weren’t there any more, but the publishers of the book have a site where you can get them all.
The book could not be easier to use. I was a complete novice but had no problems going through the entire book.
I highly recommend it. It’s the only book that I found for this older version and it did not disappoint.

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R. Beste

Best Excel Book on the market

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2009

Verified Purchase

Finally I've found a book that teaches the way that I teach; Cover everything but fast if the student knows the area and slower where the skill is new. And using interesting example spreadsheets (Fastest cars in the world, Best-selling music albums of all time and so on)

My first thoughts at seeing this book were disappointment at the fact that it is in black and white and self-published by an IT training company without the slick graphic design of the big publishers. But, as they say, 'never judge a book by its cover'.

The layout is really easy to read with each step title summarized in bold font so you can see where to skip the stuff you (or your students) know and where to concentrate. Some of the larger publishing houses could learn a thing or two from this layout.

Each chapter has a summary exercise to consolidate the learning.

Every page seems to have gems that not many people know at all. For example, if you select a single cell at the top left of a set of figures, say, and then hover over the right edge and double click, it selects to the right edge of the figures. Double-click on the bottom edge and it selects the table downwards. And, Excel has a fast, accurate, text-to-voice command that will read back your figures to you to check them (either along the row or down the column as you want).

I would have liked the book to say that it covered the Microsoft Certified Application Specialist exam syllabus - which I think it does (or at least, in combination with the soon-to-be-published Advanced Skills book but this is a minor quibble.

Overall, I've seen many books on Excel but this one is the best I've found so far. I'm looking forward to trying Mike Smart's other books.

47 people found this helpful

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Arzurama

Excellent product up to a point

Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2010

Verified Purchase

This book is a terrific reference. However, it will only take you so far in the process of learning Excel. You will be allowed to utilize a couple of free sample video sessions which correlate to the first 2 lessons in the book, then you must spend another $13 to download the rest of the video sessions. $13 is not a big deal, but you realize the shortcomings of using the book ONLY after you have had access to those 2 free lessons. Save yourself some time & simply purchase the entire lesson package, inc video, from the very beginning. Beyond that, I learned more in a few hours with this video than in all the times of trying Excel from various "instructors" previously. And the book does make for a good fall-back reference source later.

33 people found this helpful

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SEC

Awesome Book

Reviewed in the United States on October 5, 2014

Verified Purchase

I was not very optimistic after reading the other reviews. But I was very surprised when I read the book. So many shortcuts I never knew existed. Easy read, no long winded technical explanations. Just the facts. Yes, I did notice some typos..... The author is from Great Britain (Isle of Man) and there are some British spellings. None of the typos had any impact on my understanding of what he was attempting to convey. I had no problems downloading and using the practice files. In the beginning I just put some general data into a worksheet and followed along without downloading the sessions. I cannot give this book a high enough recommendation. I have been using excel for over 10 years and if there had only been one or two shortcuts I could use it would have been well worth the price. There were much more than that for me. I cannot wait to work through the expert version.

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Edward B Greene

A book by a teacher

Reviewed in the United States on September 21, 2012

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Mike Smart is primarily a teacher and only secondarily an author. He teaches people how to use software in his classroom in England. He wrote this book, and the more advanced companion to it, to teach people Excel as he teaches it in his classroom: hands on, step by step. On page 21 he quotes Confucious: "Tell me, and I will forget. Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand." That epitomizes his approach. Most computer books tell without showing, and most don't tell very well. They are padded with extraneous material: heavy tomes to justify a heavy price. Mike's books carry no extra weight.

Mike presents each lesson on two facing pages. Each teaches a single new skill. The instructions are step by step, keystroke by keystroke. The student starts with a sample file downloadable from Mike's website and modifies it in accordance with Mike's instructions. By the end of the lesson, if he has done all the steps correctly, he will have produced the next sample file. If he makes a mistake, the difference between his work and the next sample file will be obvious and he can try again. It is impossible not to succeed if one follows the instructions.

Others have commented how accessible Mike is by email. I have emailed him several times and he has always responded promptly, sometimes within an hour. That is because he is primarily a teacher, not a seller of books. He wants his students, both those who attend his classes and those who buy his books, to learn.

These books are astoundingly good.

2 people found this helpful

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Amazon Customer

This is the best way to learn Excel 2007

Reviewed in the United States on December 27, 2012

Verified Purchase

I was a professional programmer for nearly 30 years and I have never had a better constructed learning course than Mike Smart's Learn Excel 2007 Essential skills. You will find that the text is very well designed so that each lesson progresses in a logical sequence that builds on your previous learning. If you forget a previous learned skill you are reminded of the place to refresh your memory; you are not told again. I find that the back referencing aids the learning more because Mike's back referencing forces you to concentrate on the particular skill as you look it up. I am 75 and my memory has never been stellar but I am learning and remembering because of this wonderful feature of this course. My programming experience was mostly on IBM mainframes and COBOL language programs. Learning the PC world has been, at best, a frustrating activity until I found this course. In my opinion, you CANNOT go wrong with this course.

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P. L. Mallory

Finally a book that teaches Excel rite.

Reviewed in the United States on November 9, 2010

Verified Purchase

I really enjoy it when you find a book the teaches you something in a way that makes it easy to remember the information. I have several books on Excel but it almost seems like the authors are trying to impress you with thier ego and the tricks they knows rather than teach you to use Excel in a effective way. The Smart Method starts you with square one and takes you to Excel understanding in bite size lessons that are well organized and really help you to remember the key points of each lesson. I find this format is very easy to learn from. I only wish my high school text books had shared this enlightend format. I would have done much better in high school if they had. Don't be afraid to buy this book. It is well worth the money. Maybe Mr. Smart will branch out into text books for our children in school some day. We can only hope. Sincerely Pat M.

6 people found this helpful

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Jay Berkenbilt

Excellent for learning at your own pace.

Reviewed in the United States on March 27, 2010

Verified Purchase

After browsing through many books on Excel, I'm thrilled to have found this one. The author recommends reading the book from cover to cover (and I concur!), and the organization of the book makes it easy to do this just a few minutes at a time if that's all you have. This book presents the material in small, easy-to-digest lessons that are organized into longer sessions. If you're a complete beginner, all the information you need is presented, and if you're a more advanced user, you can skip over stuff safely and go at a good pace. There are also interesting side notes throughout the material that you can read or not. All this is explained very well in the introduction, which you should definitely read!

Although I'm a computer professional with over 20 years of experience, I was a complete beginner with Excel when I bought this book. Until recently when I took a volunteer role as treasurer of the community band I play in, I had never really needed to use Excel. When I took this role, I found myself fighting with Excel when working with budget files and so forth. I decided to stop wasting my time and to learn Excel properly. This book is perfect for that. It explains everything in context and is about as hands-on as a book can be. There is no shortage of material out there on Excel, but I haven't seen any of it as well-presented as this. Most of the books I've seen are either really dumbed down, highly specialized, or presented like cookbooks for people who'd rather not understand what they're doing. This book really helps you understand the tool, which empowers you to make the most out of it. After just a few hours with the book, I have already become much more comfortable with Excel. I'm now finding that it actually helps me do my work rather than just being in the way, and I haven't even finished the book yet! I have already purchased the Expert Skills book and look forward to reading that when I finish with the Essential Skills book.

If you really want to understand how to make the most of Excel and not just have a few out-of-context recipes, this is the book for you. I highly recommend it.

2 people found this helpful

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G. Beglaryan

"Learn Excel 2007 Essential Skills with the Smart Method" - Brief Review

Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2010

Verified Purchase

I have used Excel for some time, but I decided to improve my skills and came across this book. I was surprised of how much further I could take my skills, even though I was familiar with 50% of the material. The method of this book is very good. The author provides you with sample files, also with practice problems to test the skills you learned in each lesson. Most of the lessons contain some interesting historical facts. Overall I am very satisfied for the little money I paid for this book. I completed this book, and the second book of this course, called the "...Expert Skills..." is already being delivered to me. I am sure that after completing the second book I can call myself an Excel expert.

Good luck studying Excel. :)

2 people found this helpful

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Morris J.

Fantastic

Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2009

Verified Purchase

This Excel 2007 Essential Skills manual by Mike Smart is fantastic. I have little experience using Excel and after training with the manual, I now consider myself at the intermediate level.

The author provides you with his website and gives you Excel files to download in order to do your lessons.

I got stuck with my lessons two times and I wrote the author an email. He was very quick and curteous in his response. He answered my email and provided me with the instructions I needed to continue my lessons. I was surprised by his outstanding customer service in standing behind his product.

I can highly recommend it as a starting point for all those who need to learn Excel.

96 people found this helpful

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5 star		69%
4 star		17%
3 star		6%
2 star		5%
1 star		3%

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