Excel Interview Questions Mastery: Unlocking your path to Success

Microsoft Excel is one of the most popular business tools available today. It has incredible features and can organize and speed up your workflow processes. The widespread application of this software has made it essential for professionals to use Microsoft Excel confidently. With the rise of hybrid work culture, it has become one of the most sought-after digital skills today.

It has extensive functions like establishing financial ledgers, generating pivot tables, data visualization, data collection, generating reports, etc. Microsoft Excel helps companies monitor their bottom lines, make sense of the data, and streamline their operations for better productivity and performance. If you are looking for job opportunities with a decent salary, consider reviewing Excel questions for interviews to increase your odds of getting hired by the organization.

Should you learn questions about Excel?

Microsoft Excel has applications in various roles like accounting, auditing, management, business operations, market analysis, and cost management. You can benefit from studying the top 50 Excel interview questions.  

• Preparing thoroughly for an Excel interview test increases your chances of landing a job quickly.
  
• You can confidently negotiate higher-than-average salaries if you have a firm grasp of Excel skills.
  
• Effectively utilizing Microsoft Excel increases your efficiency and work output and helps you achieve more in less time.
  
• You get better at organizing and analyzing data using a practical approach. It helps you evolve into a valuable leader for your company.

Basic Excel test questions and their answers

These questions about Excel are suitable for beginners or freshers.

Q1. How do you wrap a text inside a cell?

Click on the cell, go to Home Tab, and click Wrap Text. This way, your text appears in the same cell without getting clipped.

Q2. Explain Microsoft Excel’s ‘freeze panes’ feature.

The Freeze Panes feature allows you to freeze a range of cells temporarily. You can see those cells even after scrolling down the document. To freeze the cells, follow the steps below:

• Choose the cells you want to freeze.
• Go to View Tab and click on Freeze Pane.
• Select the appropriate option for freezing the chosen rows and columns.

Q3. What is the meaning of the Pivot Table?

A pivot table is an efficient tool to summarise vast data quickly. It enables you to display the exact data for analysis from different perspectives. You can recognize trends and patterns and add links in Pivot tables.

Q4. Is it possible to combine information from several sheets into one Pivot table?

Yes. You can build a pivot table from separate sheets, provided they are from the same workbook. You can even filter data according to your requirements with Excel pivot tables.

Q5. What is the difference between Formulae and Functions in Microsoft Excel?

An Excel formula can include values, functions, or names. It can be easy or complex, depending on your need. It is a statement used for calculation and always starts with equal to the operator. A function is a built-in code designed for calculations. It measures the outcomes of several formulas that save time.

Q6. How to insert a link in Excel?

You can easily add links to any cell of your Excel sheet. To do so, follow the steps below:

• Select the cell or the text you wish to link.
• Press CTRL+K. 
• A dialogue box will appear. Fill up the details and click OK.

Q7. What is the Excel order of operations?

The operations order followed in Microsoft Excel are parentheses, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction (PEMDAS).

Q8. What is the difference between Lookup and Vlookup functions?

The LOOKUP function allows users to search for specific information within a given row or column, and its result appears in another column. The VLOOKUP function enables the user to search for a value in the table’s leftmost column. It returns the value from left to right.

Q9. How do you apply the same formatting to every sheet in the workbook?

Right-click the ‘worksheet tab’ and choose ‘Select All Sheets’ or the specific sheets you want to apply the same formatting. Any formatting you do now will be applied to the entire sheets in the workbook.

Q10. What does the small red triangle in the upper right corner of a cell indicate?

The small triangle in a cell’s upper right corner indicates a comment linked to that particular cell. To view the comment, simply hover over the cell, and you will see the comment.

Advanced Excel test questions for interview

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Go through the video to learn more about Microsoft Excel and how it can help you advance your career.

Q1. How do you prevent the duplication of a cell in a worksheet?

You can prevent other users from accidentally or deliberately deleting or modifying the data in the specific cells of a worksheet. Follow these steps:

• Select the text or cell that you want to prevent duplicating. 
• Press CNTRL+SHIFT+F to bring up the Format cells popup window.
• Go to the Protection Tab, check the Locked box, and click OK.
• Go to the Review Tab and click Protect Sheet. 

Q2. Define Conditional Formatting in Microsoft Excel.

Microsoft Excel allows you to format cells in specific ways depending on particular criteria using its conditional formatting feature. You can use it to highlight cells that are duplicates or have less than a threshold value. You can also add a different formatting style to a particular section in your sheet to differentiate it from other sections.

Q3. Explain WhatIf Analysis.

It is a function that alters one or more cellular formulas to see how those changes impact the worksheet outcome of such formulas.

Q4. What is the use of a Macro in Excel?

A macro allows you to perform a series of tasks repeatedly. It is a great way to automate repetitive instructions, saving time and effort.

Conclusion

These questions about Excel will equip you better for job interviews. It might also help you find a solution if you are stuck with a problem using Microsoft Excel. An ideal way to test Excel skills is to work on a real-time project that gives you a hands-on experience with the different features of Excel.