Beginner Level Excel Interview Questions

We will start with a set of Excel interview questions aimed at the beginners.

1. What is a cell address in Excel?

A cell address is used to identify a particular cell on a worksheet. It is denoted by a
combination of the respective column letter and a row number.
As shown above, the highlighted cell belongs to the column ‘D’ and row 5, so the cell address
is read as D5.

2. What do you mean by Relative cell referencing and Absolute cell

referencing in MS Excel?

Relative cell referencing Absolute cell referencing

Meanwhile, there is no change in

In Relative referencing, there is a change when
Absolute cell referencing when a
copying a formula from one cell to another cell with
formula is copied, irrespective of the
respect to the destination. cells’ address
cell’s destination.

This type of referencing is there by default. Relative

cell referencing doesn’t require a dollar sign in the
formula.
If you don’t want a change in the
 formula when it’s copied across cells,
then absolute referencing requires you
to add a dollar sign before and after the
column and row address.

3. How do you freeze panes in Excel?

Freeze panes keep the rows and columns visible while scrolling through a worksheet. To
freeze panes, select the View tab and go to Freeze Panes.

If you are looking to freeze the first two columns of a dataset, select the 3rd column, and
click ‘Freeze Panes’. A thick grey border indicates this.

4. How can you restrict someone from copying a cell from your worksheet?
1. First, choose the data you want to protect.
2. Hit Ctrl + Shift + F. The Format Cells tab appears. Go to the Protection tab. Check Locked
and click OK.

3. Next, go to the Review tab and select Protect Sheet. Enter the password to protect the
sheet.
Let’s now move onto our next question on our list of Excel interview questions.
5. How is a Formula different from a Function in Excel?

Formula Function

Whereas, a function in Excel is a

predefined calculation which is in-
The formula is like an equation in Excel, the user types built in Excel.
in that. It can be any type of calculation depending on
the user’s choice.

Manually typing out a formula every time you need to

perform a calculation, consumes more time.
 However, performing calculations
becomes more comfortable and
faster while working with functions.
Ex: = A1+A2+A3
Ex: = SUM(A1:A3)

Now, let’s head to our next question in our list of Excel interview questions.
6. Mention the order of operations used in Excel while evaluating formulas.
The order of operations in Excel is referred to as PEDMAS. Shown below is the order of
precedence while performing an Excel operation.
 Parentheses
 Exponentiation
 Division/Multiplication
 Addition
 Subtraction
As seen above, first, the data in the parentheses is operated, followed by the exponentiation
operation. After that, it can be either the division or multiplication operations. The result is
then added and finally subtracted to give the final result.
Let’s look at an example of the PEMDAS precedence in the next question on our Excel
interview questions list.
7. How will you write the formula for the following? - Multiply the value in cell A1 by
10, add the result by 5, and divide it by 2.
To write a formula for the above-stated question, we have to follow the PEDMAS
Precedence. The correct answer is ((A1*10)+5)/2.
Answers such as =A1*10+5/2 and =(A1*10)+5/2 are not correct. We must put parentheses
brackets after a particular operation.
The output will look like this:

8. What is the difference between count, counta, and countblank?

The count function is very often used in Excel. Here, let’s look at the difference between
count, and it’s variants - counta and countblank.
1. COUNT
It counts the number of cells that contain numeric values only. Cells that have string values,
special characters, and blank cells will not be counted. Shown below is an example of the
count function.

2. COUNTA
It counts the number of cells that contain any form of content. Cells that have string values,
special characters, and numeric values will be counted. However, a blank cell will not be
counted. Shown below is an example of the counta function.

3. COUNTBLANK
As the name suggests, it counts the number of blank cells only. Cells that have content will
not be taken into consideration. Shown below is an example of the countblank function.
9. What is the shortcut to add a filter to a table?
The filter mechanism is used when you want to display only specific data from the entire
dataset. By doing so, there is no change being made to the data. The shortcut to add a filter to
a table is Ctrl+Shift+L.

10. How do you create a hyperlink in Excel?

Hyperlinks are used to navigate between worksheets and files/websites. To create a hyperlink,
the shortcut used is Ctrl+K.
The ‘Insert Hyperlink’ box appears. Enter the address and the text to display. Here, we are
directed to the Amazon Website.
11. How can we merge multiple cells text strings in a cell?
To merge text strings present in multiple cells into one cell, you can use
the CONCATENATE(). Shown below is an example of the concatenate function.

Another way of combining cell values is by using the “&” operator, as shown below:

Let’s now move onto the next question on our Excel interview questions list.
12. How can you split a column into 2 or more columns?
You can split a column into 2 or more columns by following the below steps:
1. Select the cell that you want to split. Then, navigate to the Data tab, after that, select Text
to Columns.
2. Select the delimiter.

3. Choose the column data format and select the destination you want to display the split.

4. The final output will look like below where the text is split into multiple columns.

13. What is the use of VLOOKUP and how do we use it?

The function VLOOKUP in Excel is used to look up information in a table and extract the
corresponding data.
Syntax: VLOOKUP (value, table, col_index, [range_lookup])
value - Indicates the data that you are looking for in the first column of a
table.
table - Refers to the set of data (table) from which you have to retrieve the
above value.
col_index - Refers to the column in the table from where you are to
retrieve the value.
range_lookup - FALSE = exact match [optional] TRUE = approximate
match (default).
Shown below is an example of the VLOOKUP function. We are to find the Product related to
the Customer Name – “Richard”.

14. How is VLOOKUP different from the LOOKUP function?

VLOOKUP LOOKUP

Meanwhile, the LOOKUP function

VLOOKUP lets the user look for a value in the left-most
enables the user to look for data in a
column of a table. It then returns the value in a left-to-
row/column. It returns the value in
right way.
another row/column.
It is not very easy to use as compared to the LOOKUP
It is easier and can also be used to
function.
replace the VLOOKUP function.
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15. How many report formats are available in Excel?

There are three report formats available in Excel; they are:
1. Compact Form
2. Outline Form
3. Tabular Form
16. How does the IF() function in Excel work?
In Excel, the IF() function performs a logical test. It returns a value if the test evaluates to
true and another value if the test result is false. It returns the value depending on whether the
condition is valid for the entire selected range.
Let’s look at the below example:

As seen above, the IF function returns “Record is Valid” if age is greater than 20, and the
salary should be greater than $40000. Else, it will return “Record is Invalid”. Here the final
answer will be “Record is Valid” as the entire selected range qualifies both the conditions.
17. How do we use the SUMIF() function in Excel?
The SUMIF() function adds the cell values specified by a given condition or criteria. Given
below is an example of the sumif function.
As seen above, the costs corresponding to the years 2010 are added as per the given criteria.
18. Using the COVID data, find the number of days in which the number of deaths in
Italy has been greater than 200.
To perform this operation, we can use the COUNTIFS() function. The dataset we will be
using is shown below:

The COUNTIFS() function we use is - =COUNTIFS(G2:G35777,"Italy",E2:E35777,">200")

19. What is a Pivot Table?
A pivot table is like a summary table of the dataset that enables you to create reports and
analyze trends. They are useful when you have long rows or columns that hold values you
need to track.
To create a pivot table, first, go to the Insert tab and select the ‘PivotTable’ option.

Select the table or the range and choose where you want to place the pivot table.
Drag the fields you wish to show in the pivot table. Here we have created a pivot table using
the Coronavirus data.

20. Create a drop-down list in Excel.

This can be done by using the ‘Data Validation’ option present in the Data tab.

In the example below, we have created a list based on the city column of the dataset.

21. How do we apply advanced filters in Excel?

To apply advanced filters, use the Advanced Filter option present in the Data tab. Select
where you want to filter the table. Choose the ‘list range’ and the ‘criteria range’ that has the
conditions based on which you would like to filter the table.
The below example shows how to apply advanced filters.

22. Using the below-given sales data, highlight those cells where total sales > $5000.
Here, conditional formatting is used to highlight cells based on the criteria.

1. Select ‘Conditional Formatting’ from the home tab and under Highlight Cells Rules,
choose ‘Greater Than option’.
2. Provide the condition and choose the color for the cells to be highlighted.

23. Using the given table, explain how the index-match function works in Excel.
Here, we will write an index-match function to find the city to which Andrew belongs to from
the below table.
Here is how you can use the Index-Match function to get the result.

24. How do you find duplicate values in a column?

To find duplicate values in a column, you can either use Conditional Formatting or the
COUNTIF() function.
1. Conditional Formatting
First, go to the Home tab, then under Conditional Formatting, select ‘Highlight Cells Rules’.
Then choose ‘Duplicate Values’.

Below, we have highlighted the cells in the ‘Name’ column that have been repeated.
2. COUNTIF()
You can write a COUNTIF() function to check if the values in a particular column are
repeated.
In the below example, we are fetching the duplicate names using the COUNTIF() function.
25. How can you remove duplicate values in a range of cells?
1. To delete duplicate values in a column, select the highlighted cells, and press the delete
button. After deleting the values, go to the ‘Conditional Formatting’ option present in the
Home tab. Choose ‘Clear Rules’ to remove the rules from the sheet.

2. You can also delete duplicate values by selecting the ‘Remove Duplicates’ option under
Data Tools present in the Data tab.