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10.2.1: Tech Lab 1

  • Page ID
    63692
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    Tech Lab 1 – Introduction to Excel

    Your First Excel Assignment: Personal Budget

    This short activity introduces formulas and cell references in Excel and gives you practice with a real-world scenario, a monthly budget. It will help build skills you’ll use again throughout the course. Here’s a video walking through a budget demo that you can work along with: Excel Practice: Budget Activity (14:59) with written instructions below.  

    1. Save your file as “Tech Lab 1-First Name Last Name” either to your Onedrive account or to your local computer. 
    2. In cell A1, type "Budget". Increase the font size and apply bold formatting.
    3. Leave a blank row, then create column headers: Income, Amount, Expenses, Amount. Bold each heading.
    4. List at least 3 sources of income and input realistic or made-up values next to each. Format as currency.
    5. List at least 7 types of expenses in the same way (e.g., Rent, Groceries, Transportation), with values formatted in currency.
    6. Add borders beneath headers and around each table.
    7. Underneath the tables, add rows for: Total Income, Total Expenses, and Balance.
    8. Use the =SUM() function:
      • Next to "Total Income," calculate the sum of all income entries.
      • Next to "Total Expenses," do the same for expenses.
      • Under "Balance," subtract total expenses from total income (e.g., =B10 - D10)
    9. Try changing some income or expense values — watch how the Balance updates!
    10. Create a new column to the right of Expenses labeled "% of Total". Use cell references to calculate each expense as a percentage of the total expenses. Example: =D4/D10 (if D10 is your total expenses).
    11. Insert a Pie Chart to display your expenses.  If you have a lot of expense categories, you might use a bar chart instead.  Use the chart formatting tools to label the chart and change any formatting if you would like to.
    12. Be sure your file has saved, then upload it to the D2L assignments folder for Tech Lab 1. 

    Beyond the Basics 

    Some “next level” skills that you might want to investigate (or come back to later):  

    • Know how to sort data in a table: Sorting Data (4:30)  

    • Use a filter to select from data in a table: Filtering Data (4:45, first two minutes are plenty)  

    • Know how to perform calculations, use cell references, and use formulas: How to use Excel Formulas (12:41, the first 4 minutes are all you need)  

    It might be good to bookmark these last 3 videos so you can refer back to these later, as needed.   



    10.2.1: Tech Lab 1 is shared under a not declared license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by LibreTexts.

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