The class is graded just by HW and attendance (no tests). The HW was often more difficult than what we did in lecture and was very time consuming. You also cannot ask him or anyone questions about the HW (if you consult other people it's cheating). At the end of the quarter the class got curved down which I found to be discouraging. In order to end up with an A you had to finish with a 98.5% in the class, and you had to have at least a 95.5% in the class for an A-.

*Lecture is recorded.
*You cannot use a MacBook for this class because excel on the MacBook doesn't have all the features required for the HW.

This class was a decent introduction to Excel. However, if you're taking this class over summer where you pay by unit, I can't recommend this class. I think you could learn Excel quicker and more thoroughly with a Udemy or other e-learning platform. Approx. $1,200 (UCLA) vs $20 (Udemy) seems like an easy choice, but if money is irrelevant then it's one of the more practical courses I have taken.

Also, I averaged a 93% on the projects and got rounded to a B+ which I found unfair.

For anyone interested in any field of business, especially one requiring knowledge of Microsoft Excel, this class is absolutely amazing. The professor is one of the most engaging and funny professors I have ever had at UCLA, but is also one that teaches the material very thoroughly in order for all students to understand what they are doing. Every assignment is online, giving you the chance to display your new Excel skills. The homework is based on correctness, giving you only one chance to get it right, but if you go to lecture and do the readings, you can get full credit. The only thing I didn't like about this class was that it was based on a scaled grading system, making it difficult to get a full A. I had above a 90% after the class was done, but with the scale, I received a flat B. With that being said, I still see this class as one of the most important class I have taken and have used the knowledge in many situations in my personal and work life.

Obviously Ravetch is a good professor but because of the required curve for management, this class is not a guaranteed A like bruinwalk says. I got an average of 97% and was just about over the threshold. I think that if you were to get a 96% averaged on all the different homework problems (which are online) you would still finish with an A- so be warned. However, the class is good because its really easy to get an A if you just follow directions. Everything is based on homework so its extremely important to double check and make sure your Excel spreadsheets you turn in are correct. My friend has an internship in IB and the pivot tables vlookups we learn are exactly what he does at his job so if you want to go into finance this class is great and extremely important. Ravetch wasnt always organized in this class because sometimes his videos didnt match up to the spreadsheets he shared with us. But basically what I did was I watched all his videos, skimmed the chapter in the book, did the hands on problems, all the book problems he told us to and I was prepared to get a 100% on the majority of the tests (2 per chapter).
TLDR: not an easy A bc of the curve but very useful class for future finance careers