Advanced Excel Interview Questions and Answers

It’s not always easy to identify the proper skills, and assessing them might be difficult. Nonetheless, there are a few practical methods for selecting a professional with outstanding Excel skills. After you’ve narrowed down your options, you may invite the prospects to an interview where you can test their skills further using advanced Excel interview questions. Our advanced Excel course syllabus covers them all.

We’ve made it simpler for you to ask the advanced Excel questions you should ask during the interview. You can ask your candidates these commonly asked questions about advanced Excel interviews. Excel interview questions and answers pdf can be downloaded on our website.

Basic Excel Interview Questions and Answers for Freshers

What does an Excel cell address mean? 

To identify a specific cell in a worksheet, use its cell address. A combination of the specific segment letter and a line number is intended. 

In Excel, how would you freeze sheets? 

Freeze sheets make it easier to see the lines and segments as you navigate through the worksheet. Choose the View tab and then select Freeze Panes to freeze sheets. 

In the unlikely event that you want to freeze the first two portions of a dataset, choose the third section and choose “Freeze Panes.” This is shown as a thick, dull line. 

How can you avoid the pivot table losing column width during refreshes?

To stop format loss, you can alter a pivot table’s parameters. Now, select “Enable Preserve Formatting” after turning off “Auto Format” and enabling “Pivot Table Options.”

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Explain the various types of protection for Excel workbooks.

There are two ways that you can protect a worksheet in Excel:

• Using a password to access a workbook
• Protection for sheet creation, editing, hiding, and unhiding.

Is it possible to shorten Excel functions?

Indeed, without a doubt. The “Quick Access Toolbar” above the home button can be configured to display the shortcuts that are most frequently used.

What is a formula in Excel?

Just like with an Excel equation, the user enters the formula. Depending on the user’s selection, any kind of calculation may be used.

It takes longer to manually type out a formula each time you need to do a computation.

For example, = A1+A2+A3.

Define a function in Excel

A predetermined computation that Excel has built-in is called a function.

Working with functions, however, makes calculations easier and quicker to complete.

For example: = SUM(A1:A3)

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Describe the sequence of steps Excel uses to evaluate formulas.

PEDMAS is the acronym for the Excel order of operations. The priority order while executing an Excel action is displayed below. 

• Parentheses
• Exponentiation
• Division/Multiplication 
• Addition
• Subtraction

As can be seen above, the exponentiation operation is performed after the data included in parenthesis has been processed. Following that, the operations of division and multiplication may be used. The result is then added to and subtracted from to get the final result.

Define the COUNT function in Excel

The number of cells with simple numeric values is counted. Blank cells, special characters, and string values in a cell will not be tallied. 

What is the COUNTA function in Excel?

It keeps track of how many cells have any kind of material in them. Numerical values, special characters, and string values in cells will all be counted. A blank cell won’t be counted, though.

Explain COUNTBLANK in Excel

As the name suggests, it counts only the number of blank cells. Content-containing cells won’t be taken into account. 

What is the shortcut to make a filter appear in a table?

When you wish to present only particular data from the complete dataset, you utilize the filter technique. The data is not altered in any way by doing this. Ctrl+Shift+L is the shortcut for adding a filter to a table.

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In Excel, how do you make a hyperlink?

Worksheets and files or websites can be navigated using hyperlinks. Ctrl+K is the shortcut used to create a hyperlink. The “Insert Hyperlink” dialogue box shows up. Put in the text to be displayed and the address. This takes us to the mentioned website.

How many text strings from different cells can be combined into one?

The CONCATENATE() function can be used to combine text strings from different cells into a single cell. An illustration of the concatenate function is provided below. The “&” operator can also be used to combine cell values, as demonstrated below:

How many different report formats does Excel offer?

In Excel, there are three different report formats available:

• Compact Form
• Outline Form
• Tabular Form

How does Excel’s IF() function operate?

The IF() function in Excel carries out a logical test. If the test results are true, it returns one value; if the test results are false, it returns a different value. Depending on whether the condition is true for the whole selected range, it returns a value. 

How is the Excel SUMIF() function used?

Using the SUMIF() function, the cell values indicated for a particular condition or set of criteria are added. 

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Advanced Excel Interview Questions and Answers

What is a pivot table?

A pivot table allows you to build reports and analyze patterns by acting as a summary table for the dataset. When you have extensive rows or columns of information that you need to keep track of, they come in handy. 

• First, choose the ‘PivotTable’ option from the Insert tab to start creating a pivot table.
• Decide whether to set the pivot table in the middle of the table or the range.
• To make a field visible in the pivot table, drag it. Here, we have used the coronavirus data to create a pivot table.

How can we use Excel’s advanced filters?

Use the Advanced Filter option found on the Data tab to apply advanced filters. Decide which areas of the table to filter. Select the “list range” and the “criteria range” that contain the parameters you want to use to filter the table. 

How can duplicate values in a column be found?

You can use the COUNTIF() function or conditional formatting to discover duplicate values in a column.

1. Conditional Formatting: First, click “Highlight Cell Rules” under Conditional Formatting after selecting the Home tab. Next, select “Duplicate Values.”
2. COUNTIF: If you want to determine whether the values in a certain column are repeated, you can create a COUNTIF() method.

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In a range of cells, how can duplicate values be eliminated?

1. Select the cells that have been highlighted and click the delete button to get rid of duplicate values in that column. Select the ‘Conditional Formatting’ option from the Home tab after erasing the data. To delete the rules from the sheet, select “Clear Rules.”
2. By choosing the “Remove Duplicates” option from the Data Tools section of the Data tab, you may also eliminate duplicate values.

What Excel wildcards are available?

Wildcards are limited to text data. The three wildcards in Excel.

1. * (* indicates asterisk): This can apply to any number of characters. “*a” is what we use for it.
2. ? (Question Mark): It stands for a solitary character.
3. ~ (Tilde): Its purpose is to locate a wildcard character (~, *,?) inside the given text.

In Excel, how are nested IF statements used?

When several conditions need to be met, the IF() method can be nested. To conduct a second test, the false value in the first IF function is swapped out for another IF function.

How can the “data source” of a pivot table with dynamic range be provided?

Your pivot table can be made dynamic so that it can automatically react to new data when it is updated by using the Dynamic Range feature in the data source.

• To offer a dynamic range, create a named table. Select Table from the Insert tab.
• Under Table Design, give the table a name.

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Is it feasible to combine data from several sources to build a pivot table?

It is possible to make a pivot table from several worksheets. There needs to be a shared row in both tables for this to happen. This will function as the first table’s primary key and the second table’s foreign key. Before building the pivot table, establish a relationship between the tables.

In a pivot table, how is a column made?

You must use the “Fields, Items, and Sets” option under the PivotTable Analyze tab to accomplish this. To add a new column, select “Calculate Field” under it.

The box labeled Insert Calculated Field opens. After giving the column a name, choose the pre-existing columns from the pivot table and insert the formula.

To create the column, click Add → OK.

How Does an Excel Slicer Operate?

Slicers can be used in a pivot table to filter data. 

1. Go to the Insert tab and choose Slicer under Filter to construct a slicer. 
2. Next, choose the list of fields that you wish slicers to be created for.

What do Excel macros do? To automate a task, create a macro.

A macro is a program that runs on an Excel spreadsheet. It is used to automate repetitive Excel operations that you would like to complete. You can record a macro by accessing it from the View tab or by going to the Developer tab and clicking on Record Macro.

Go to the Insert tab and choose Slicer under Filter to construct a slicer. 

Next, choose the list of fields that you wish slicers to be created for.

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What Does Excel’s What-If Analysis Entail?

Excel’s What-If Analysis is a potent tool for carrying out intricate mathematical computations, experimenting with data, and testing out various situations. 

Take a look at this instance:

How much profit can you anticipate if you make $10,000 in sales during the next three months?

A what-if analysis can be used to solve such issues.

Navigating to the Data tab, choose the What-If Analysis option located under Forecast.

To compare several scenarios, use Scenario Manager.

The ‘GOAL SEEK’ does calculations in reverse.

Sensitivity analysis is performed using the ‘DATA TABLE’.

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Bottom Line

You can study by consulting the provided answers for each of these Excel interview questions now that you are aware of the many types of questions that can be asked during an interview. Here, we looked at a wide range of Excel interview questions with varying degrees of difficulty. You can stay ready for every question that comes up by consistently practicing Excel and reviewing these Excel interview questions. Join SLA Institute for the best Advanced Excel training in Chennai with comprehensive hands-on exposure.