How to Prepare for and Pass an Excel Test.

How to Prepare for and Pass your Excel Test.

With Microsoft Excel skills vital for most jobs now , many employers are testing prospective employees on their Excel skills with interview questions or even doing sitting an Excel tests . So what should a student know and how should they prepare for an Excel test.

We will look in detail at the following factors.

Can I bluff an excel test ?
This one test question reveals your excel skills instantly.
Create an instant report on your current Excel skills.
How to show your Excel skills on a resume
Interview questions to ascertain your excel skills and how to answer them.
What is meant by jobs seeking ‘ basic’ Excel skills.
What is meant by jobs seeking ‘ intermediate’ Excel skills.
What is meant by Jobs seeking ‘advanced Excel skills with data analysis.
How long does it really take to master Microsoft Excel?

But first, is their a real difference between somebody who has a basic knowledge of Excel and one who has studied and mastered it. Well just take a look at this video.

In it , we can see a ‘ trained Excel user ‘ and ‘un-trained‘ Excel user tackling five common real-life Excel tasks.
Notice the huge difference in time and effort. Imagine that time wasted multiplied by 300 days a year. What one would you employ ?

Despite the rapid advances in technology, Excel skills are still one of the most valued skills in the workplace as employers want people who can use it quickly, safely and to it’s potential.

You can’t Bluff your Excel Skills.

First of all, an experienced Excel examiner can gauge very quickly the depth of your Excel skills. Even the simple example below is enough to tell them any awful lot about your Excel Skills . Lets see how.

Note:
Many times now, the examiner will be watching as you complete the spreadsheet.

You are required to create simple formulas in cell C5 to C9 which will work out the commission due to each salesperson. The commission is 5% of their Sales revenue. Try it out yourself now and then we will analyse the various answers to this question.

Interviewee one writes this formula as the answer : =c5*100/20 copied down.

It took him/her 5 minutes to complete.

Mark awarded: 45%

Analysis:

Why such a low mark ?
Well on the positive side, this answer shows that this interviewee can build a basic formula and knows the basic Excel formula operators. But this interviewee has hard-coded the formula with the commission amount but also the interviewer noted that this interviewee typed the formula for each salesperson instead of copying it down.

Interviewee two writes this formula as the answer : =C5* 5%

Take taken: 1 minute.

Mark awarded: 55%

Analysis:

This answer is similar to the first answer but in addition shows knowledge of percentage formatting and this interviewee copied the formula down by double clicking on the fill handle.

Interviewee three writes this formula as the answer : =C5* $C$1

Mark: 95%

Time taken: 40 seconds

Analysis:

As above but this interviewee shows he/she understands and uses the three essential Excel concepts, namely

Cell references
Relative references
Absolute references.

Interviewee four writes this formula as the answer : =C3*C$1

Time : 40 seconds

Mark: 100%

Analysis:

As above but this interviewee also shows that they know about Partial references. If the above question was set to find a user with intermediate Excel skills, answers 1 and 2 would have failed them straight away. If set for a basic Excel skills, answer 1 would have failed and answer 2 would face more questions.

This question would have come with other questions, like format the values to currency format, add another column, total and average sales figures , put a border around the values and print out the spreadsheet etc but the questions would have been weighted differently with over 50%+ of the marks going for the formula question above.

How to prepare?

You cannot bluff an Exam test, so be honest.

If Excel skills are vital for the job you are going for and you don’t have these Excel skills, then book into an Online Excel training or public Excel course beforehand and tell them. This shows initiative, honesty and ambition.

Before we look at how to prepare to pass your Excel Test, let’s test your current Skills levels.

Test your current Excel Skills:

We have created a free ‘ Testing Workbook’. It requires you to complete seven Excel tasks. It will time and Auto-Correct your work and produce a personalized report of your performance in terms of efficiency and Excel knowledge.

There are seven special Tasks to complete. (Max time 20 Minutes)

You can download a free copy from here.

Armed with your Test results, how can I prepare?

If you’re Excel skills are rusty, then generally for an Excel test I’d recommend the following as areas to revise by creating a sample spreadsheet like a personal budget or membership list.

Job seeking just Basic Excel skills:

You will need to know the basic Excel Functions like – SUM, AVERAGE, MIN and Max. Also you will need to be competent in Formatting , such as Borders & shading, Word wrap, alignment and number formatting, especially currency formatting. Also know how to delete formats properly. Knowing how to access cell references in different worksheets and workbook is a vital basic skill.

Finally to give yourself the edge over other candidates, learn about Relative and Absolute references ($ sign). These are two of the most important concepts in Excel .

Jobs seeking Intermediate Excel Skills:

You will need to have and show a real understanding of Relative and Absolute References and using cell references. In terms of Excel Functions and Formulas, knowledge of the following will be important to have.

IF Function
VlOOKUP Function
SUMIF & COUNTIF
Text Functions like LEFT,RIGHT, MID

You must also show that you can use these Functions to their optimum by using cell references, relative and absolute references.

Also you will need to be comfortable with – Conditional formatting, page and print layout. Intermediate users would be expected to be familiar with times and date calculations, creating custom charts, data validation especially creating drop-down boxes.

Data Analysis Skills.

Intermediate Users need to be able to filter, advance filter, subtotal and be able to create basic Pivot Tables.

Jobs needing Advanced Excel Skills:

Functions & Formulas.

An advanced user of Excel must have the ability to flawlessly write & combine formulas with …

VLOOKUPS
IF
NESTED IF’S
INDEX &MATCH
SUMIFS
COUNTIFS
SUMPRODUCT Functions
Array Formulas.

Keep in mind that an advanced Excel user should know which function or combination of functions to use on which occasion, as well as the ability to debug and audit formulas.

Conditional Formatting:

While even basic users should know how to do basic conditional formatting, an expert Excel user needs to be able to combine formulas with conditional formatting, so you can highlight data that meets almost any condition.

Reports : Formatting and Tables

Advanced Excel users need to be able to structure and present their reports in an effective professional manner .This will require excellent knowledge of Excel techniques like Tables, cell styles and formatting options and of course advanced Pivot Tables skills.

Advanced Charting:

Charts are vital for communicating data effectively and clearly. The main skills required for advanced charting are,

Having the ability to choose the right chart for any given situation.
Use features like in-cell charts & conditional formatting charts
Have the skill to create dynamic & interactive charts
Know how to combine various charts in to one.

Pivot Tables:

Expert Excel users need to be able to analyze massive amounts of data quickly so you be required to be very well acquainted with all features of Pivot tables, such as – grouping, show values as, slicers and calculations fields & items.