There is no definitive answer to this question, but here’s some information to get you started.

There are many resources right at your fingertips for learning Excel and VBA.    The real question is, which learning methods are easiest for you to grasp new material?

Although I am an Excel trainer, personally I learn new concepts the quickest when I do self-study rather than receive formal classroom instruction.   I learn quickest when I read the concept in a well-written book, then re-read it, then see example after example of how to apply the concepts such as you find on web sites or training CDs.   Then I practice what I’ve learned and when I inevitably get stuck, Google, newsgroups, or other books  are the first places I go for answers.   In 99% of the cases, other people have had the same problem, and they have posted their solutions on message boards and websites.

The answers are out there.   The problem is, some of the answers are wrong and some of the information is not totally accurate.    It’s not just Excel; any discipline you can think of has its group of experts of varying skills and knowledge.   Some people know more than others, and some people can teach better than others what they know.   You can remember one or two favorite teachers you had in your school days; those were the people who knew how to reach you, who really knew their subject and knew how to express it in a learning environment.    There are many postings on newsgroups from people answering a question, who say something cannot be done in Excel, when really it can be done.    Excel cannot do everything, but it can do a lot more than most people think.

Probably the best resource is yourself - - how you decide what you want to know and where to go to learn what you want to know.    I have not heard of a single expert in any field of study that learned everything they knew by being taught by others.   You will learn thngs on your own, and some of those things will be pieces of knowledge that will be new and welcomed in the Excel community.   I’ve banged my head on the keyboard dozens of times trying to figure out a problem where no answer could be found on the web or in a book, and which ends up as an unsolved problem.   But how I look at it is, at least along the way I learned a bunch of ways how not to do something.

The more you learn, the easier it becomes to graps the advanced topics.   There is a Site Links page on this web site with links to dozens of web sites that are all excellent and full of Excel information.

Additionally, here are Microsoft newsgroups where answers usually come back within an hour from experts who volunteer their time to help, all for free:

microsoft.public.excel.misc
microsoft.public.excel.programming
microsoft.public.excel.worksheet.functions

Connect through
msnews.microsoft.com

Look around the web before posting a question.   The chances are good that your question has already been asked and answered before by someone who had the same problem.   If and when you do post a question, please only do so in one newsgroup, because cross posting and duplicate posts are strongly frowned upon.

Books are a terrific tool.   Walk into any major bookstore and the shelves are full of technical books of all kinds, including several dozen books on Excel.   Which books to purchase will depend on which books seem to make the most sense to you when you flip through them at the bookstore.   Be careful about reviews or “star ratings”, what’s really important is how YOU feel about how the book presents its data in a way that makes the most sense to you.

Two other tools right on your computer at no extra cost to you, are Excel’s online Help and the Macro Recorder.   Frankly, Excel’s online Help leaves something to be desired, but there is an enormous amount of information that can get you started with understanding terminology, concepts, and examples.   As for the Macro Recorder, it’s an absolutely invaluable tool.    I used it every day when first learning VBA, because it produces basic syntax and coding structures that are always needed.   Code from the Macro Recorder is often more than you need, with all its selection methods and redundancy, but learning how to abbreviate code is part of the learning process too, after you learn the basics.

One final point:   No matter who you are or how long you have been using Excel, there is always something new to learn.    I have been developing Excel applications since 1994, as an independent developer since 2000, and there is not a day that goes by when I see something I have not seen before.    Excel is so broad and deep, no one knows it all.   It’s an exciting journey of a learning process, where you will never stop finding hidden answers, some of which you will discover on your own, to share with and thereby benefit the people who have helped you learn.