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How do I get started?
How do I train as a student competitor?
As a faculty member, how to I train my students?
These are by far the most common questions we receive. Here are three suggestions. Good luck and have fun!
1. Sign Up for MECC (it's free!)
1. Sign Up for MECC (it's free!)
Go to https://Mecc.college and click the “Sign Up” button. Once you’ve done this, you will receive an email containing an ExPrep course code.
If you already have an ExPrep account for a course at your university, login to ExPrep as you normally would. From there, click your name on the top right of the screen, select “Enroll in course” and enter the code you were provided.
If you are new to ExPrep, go to portal.excelpreparation.com and create one using your university email. After logging in, click your name on the top right of the screen, select “Enroll in course” and enter the code you were provided.
2. Familiarize yourself with MECC cases available on ExPrep.
2. Familiarize yourself with MECC cases available on ExPrep.
When you access the MECC class in Ex Prep, you'll see three folders under "Exams/Assignments":
(1) Case explorer challenges. This folder contains eight different cases. The "Keyboarding" cases are designed to help make you more efficient with shortcuts. The other six cases were actual competition cases used in the September/October 2024 online rounds. Each of these competition cases contains a cover tab with a link to a walk-through video. The walk-through videos don't represent the only way--and not even necessarily the best way--to work the case. Rather, they simply offer a way to do it. MECC offers a "Case Explorer Badge" to students who complete six of the eight challenges with at least 50% accuracy.
(2) Personal finance challenges. These cases deal with fairly simple personal finance applications. They were featured during 2024, but they are NOT competition cases. Rather, they are simply learning tools. You may view many of the topics as very basic, but also very useful in real life. MECC offers a "Personal Finance Badge" to students who complete all size challenges with at least 50% accuracy.
(3) Vault. These cases represent the archives of much of what MECC has produced over the past three years.
3. Try your first case.
3. Try your first case.
My personal recommendation is the July 2023 Speed Challenge.
This case is pretty simple, and it (mostly) uses functions you've seen before. You can find it in the vault inside the MECC ExPrep course. I suggest working this one first because it offers a good way for you to acquaint yourself with how competition cases are structured, and it will get you started thinking about creating replicable processes for solving a series of problems.
You likely won't be able to finish it. Or at least you won't be able to finish it quickly. Don't get frustrated though. Like real life, these cases entail problems that are likely bigger than yourself. And for many of them, your goal should not be "a perfect score". Rather, set your goal as something more like "reasonable progress for the day".
Once you've taken a stab at the case, watch this playlist on my YouTube channel. Focus mostly on Part 1, where I simply walk through the case. Then when you're feeling comfortable, try Part 2. There, I show you how to use Data Tables to solve many of the levels much more efficiently. You can ignore Part 3 for now (unless you are itching to learn what a "let" function does).
4. Work through the individual and team recaps.
4. Work through the individual and team recaps.
The 2024 MECC Regional Competition (Excel on Rocky Top 2024) contained a total of five cases -- two for the individual competition and three for the teams. This website provides at least one walkthrough video for each case. Since there is no single-best way to solve any case (much like the situation with real-world problems), you can learn a great deal by watching others work through a problem. If you'd like to access the case files themselves, you can do so by signing up (for free) at https://mecc.college/. See #2 below for more details.
I encourage others to create their own walkthrough videos to the cases as well. Please let me know when you create them, and I'll post them here for all to see.
5. Engage in the current MECC season
5. Engage in the current MECC season
The 2025 MECC season has already begun. You may join at any time. View the entire schedule here.
Some key highlights:
monthly online battles, each containing cases for a Varsity division and a Junior Varsity division. The Junior Varsity cases are designed for brand new competitors.
multi-site regional competitions (including Knoxville) on April 5.
a Certificate of Completion and Badging for students who submit solutions to a specified number of cases.
a live world championship event (for both individuals and teams) in Las Vegas alongside the prestigious Active Cell Conference.
6. Follow the experts.
6. Follow the experts.
A fantastic community of life-long learners has come together to challenge and educate one another about the usefulness of Excel in the world. If you've read this far, you are part of this community. As you dive in, find some of your "favorites" and follow them. Watch, listen, and learn.
Where do you start? Connect with and follow our guest speakers from the 2024 event!
Here are some links that are particularly useful in the competition space:
These links are for some more general Excel resources that I use again and again:
Beyond Excel (main page; YouTube channel)
Excel Campus (main page; YouTube channel)
XELPlus (main page; YouTube channel)
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