Does anyone recommend a good way to learn excell for a student anticipating having to use excell in a business/ finance/ consulting context?

Hi Aisling, thank you for your post, in answer to your question, I think you are going in the right direction by attending structured courses in Excel. There are numerous books on your chosen subjects some of them good and some terrible, but really nothing can substitute for user experience, just keep using the program whenever you can in every way possible. Look forward to seeing you on the Advanced Course? best regards Pete