You're at the end of Expert Week 1. Five things to do before moving on: (1) write a short reflection on the multi-workbook design experience, (2) honestly grade your own work using the Self-Assessment Rubric, (3) take the Knowledge Check Quiz, (4) skim the Troubleshooting list for any issues you hit, and (5) tick off the Week 1 Completion Checklist.

Open a new Excel workbook. In cell A1, type "Week 1 Reflection — [Your Name]". Widen column A to about 90 characters (Home → Format → Column Width → 90). Turn on Wrap Text for cell A2 (Home → Alignment → Wrap Text). Same setup as Associate Week 1's reflection — same pattern, new content.

In cell A2, write 150–250 words responding to all three of these prompts:

1. Describe a moment when the Formula Bar saved you during the Linking Lab or the Build. What did the cell display? What did the Formula Bar reveal? What did that gap tell you?
2. If you had to teach someone the difference between "Update Links → Don't Update" and "Edit Links → Break Link," what's the one-sentence summary that would prevent them from confusing the two?
3. Describe one trade-off you noticed while building the Multi-Workbook Roll-up. (Examples to choose from: links vs typed values, point-and-click vs typing, AutoSave on vs off, Dashboard pulling from Detail vs directly from sources. Pick one, name the trade-off, give your reasoning.)

Save the workbook as lastname-firstname_week01_reflection.xlsx. Set Workbook Properties (Title: "Week 1 Reflection"; Author: your name). Submit to the Week 1 — Reflection LMS assignment.

Same five dimensions and weights as Associate. The Proficient descriptions below are tuned for Expert Week 1 — your bar is higher now.

Five questions to confirm you've got the core Week 1 concepts. Expert-level — more reading-the-syntax, more diagnosis. Click an answer for instant feedback. When you've answered all five, click Submit Answers for your final score.

• 🔗
  "My formula shows the values, not a reference — but I clicked the source cell." You probably created a same-workbook reference (the source workbook wasn't actually focused when you clicked). Click the destination cell, look at the Formula Bar. If it shows =Budget!B5 without the [filename.xlsx] in brackets, the link is internal — Excel grabbed a sheet with the same name in your master. Delete it and try again, this time using View → Switch Windows to be sure you're in the source workbook before clicking.
• #️⃣
  "Copying my external reference down the column gives #REF! errors after row 4 or 5." Almost always the absolute-reference issue. Your first formula probably looks like ='[budget-marketing.xlsx]Budget'!$B$5. The $5 prevents the row from shifting when copied. Edit the formula to '[budget-marketing.xlsx]Budget'!$B5 (remove the second dollar sign), then copy. Now each row references B5, B6, B7… instead of all referencing B5.
• ⚠️
  "I get a 'circular reference' warning." Somewhere in your workbook, a formula refers back to itself (directly or through a chain). This is unrelated to external references — it's a same-workbook problem. Use Formulas → Formula Auditing → Trace Dependents to find the loop. Most common cause in this lab: typing a SUM that accidentally includes its own destination cell.
• 💾
  "My PDF only has the Dashboard sheet." Same trap as Associate Week 1 — you exported the active sheet only. File → Export → Create PDF → Options → choose "Entire workbook". Or in Save As, click the Options button before clicking Publish.
• 🔒
  "My AutoSave toggle is grayed out and reads 'Off.'" The file is saved to your local drive, not OneDrive. AutoSave is a OneDrive/SharePoint feature only. File → Save As → choose your OneDrive location → save. AutoSave activates automatically.
• 🚫
  "Edit Links is grayed out — I can't click it." The workbook has no external references. Either you created same-workbook references by accident (see the first item above), or the references were stripped (Break Link was used). Use Show Formulas (Ctrl+`) on the Detail sheet — you should see [filename.xlsx] in every linked cell. If none appear, the links aren't external.
• 🛡️
  "I clicked through the Update Links prompt too fast and now I'm not sure if values updated." Don't worry — open Edit Links and click Update Values. That refreshes every source on demand. There's no penalty for being unsure; the prompt is a convenience, not a one-shot deal.

Check every item before you consider Week 1 complete. If any box is empty, go back and finish it before moving on to Week 2.

• I can write an external reference formula by hand AND recognize one written by someone else
• I can read the full-path version of an external reference and know what changes when the source is opened
• I can interpret the Update Links prompt and choose correctly between Update / Don't Update / Cancel
• I can use Edit Links → Change Source to repair a moved-or-renamed source file
• I know that Break Link is irreversible after save and I have the discipline not to click it casually
• I know AutoSave requires OneDrive/SharePoint and can find Version History via File → Info
• I can find the Trust Center → External Content settings page and explain the three Workbook Link options
• I know that .xlsm preserves macros and .xlsx silently strips them
• I completed the 5-exercise Linking Lab with the Observations, Edit Links Notes, and Trust Center Notes sheets filled
• I built the Multi-Workbook Budget Roll-up with Dashboard, Detail, Audit, Notes sheets and the break-and-repair drill
• I exported the master as a PDF with "Entire workbook" — all four sheets present as pages
• I wrote a 150–250 word Reflection answering all three Expert-level prompts
• All three files use the course naming convention lastname-firstname_week01_…
• All files submitted to the correct LMS assignments
• I self-assessed using the rubric and honestly scored my own work