Basic Statistics Tutorial
Microsoft Excel
Objective: To use basic statistical functions in a worksheet
Introduction: Gradebooks are frequently used by educators to record and chart the academic achievement of students. Excel, Microsoft's popular spreadsheet software, has a variety of statistical functions that can simplify the grade calculation process for educators. Excel makes it easy for educators to calculate measures of central tendency, such as the Mean, Standard Deviation, Median, and Mode, along with literally hundreds of other educational, financial, and business statistics. Excel can also be used to organize, manipulate, and chart the statistical data in a visually appealing way.
Skill Practice: Use basic statistical functions in a worksheet
Step 1: Open 
. Go to File > Open, and open an existing gradebook, or go to File > New and create a new gradebook for a current class. Use column A for student names, and the following columns (B,C,D,etc.) for specific grade categories, such as Exam 1, Quiz 1, Presentation, etc.
Step 2: Once you have inserted all of the grades for each student into your spreadsheet, go to File > Save, or click on 
, to save your work.
Step 3: To calculate the Mean (Average) for a grade category - Choose a grade category, such as Exam #1, to calculate the Mean for. Click on a spreadsheet cell where you want the mean statistic to be displayed. The chosen cell will become outlined in black. Now, click on the function icon 
. The "Paste Function" window will appear, consisting of a column of "function categories", and a column of "function names". Select a function category, and choose a specific function in the category. When finished, select 
.
Step 4: A "Stats" window will appear that will allow you to specify which spreadsheet cells to include in the calculation of the mean. Select the cells, such as B2:B22 - all cells between (and including) B2 to B22 will be included in the calculation of the Mean for the column. When finished, select . The calculated Mean statistic will appear in the highlighted spreadsheet cell.
Step 5: Follow the same procedures in Steps 3 and 4 to calculate other basic statistics, such as "Standard Deviation", "Median", and "Mode".
Step 6: Formula Check - To check formulas in specific cells, click on a cell that contains a calculated statistic. In the "formula bar" at the top of the page, the cell number and the formula for the chosen cell should appear, such as 
. If the "formula bar" does not appear at the top of your screen, go to View > Formula Bar to have it appear on screen.