Summary
Since Microsoft Excel is used in a lot of organizations, employers would like to make sure that candidates posses required excel skills. They typically hire external providers to test candidates knowledge of the tool to determine that they are sufficient to be successful on the job. In this tutorial we are going to look at how companies conduct excel skills test and review sample questions asked as part of Excel Assessment Test and look at the resources to get prepared for each test the fastest way possible..
Why Companies Test Job Candidates?
Microsoft Excel is a complex business application which allows companies to record, track, and analyze data and perform very complex modelling and calculations, essential for measuring company performance, maximizing return on investment, and defining goals. A new employee who can comfortably navigate is prepared to immediately contribute by producing meaningful, data-driven spreadsheets, reports, and graphs to best serve company needs.
Assessing a job candidate’s Microsoft Excel proficiency is an important step in making the right hire. The intermediate Microsoft Excel skills test is helpful in learning if a job candidate understands how to manipulate the many functions, tools, and formulas of Excel to present extensive information, identify key trends, or calculate financial and numerical data.
How Employers Test for Excel Skills
There are multiple providers that conduct the tests and each one of the tests is a little different. Most of the time employers use below providers to conduct the tests
- Indeed.com
- IKM
- SkillCheck
- TotalTesting
Because Microsoft Excel is so popular and useful, companies are trying to evaluate candidates by conducting pre-employment assessment test. An Excel Interview Test is a screening process employers use as part of the candidate employment interview to test a potential candidate on their knowledge and proficiency of Microsoft Excel.
The Basic Microsoft Excel skills test assesses candidate’s ability to use user interface quickly and efficiently to access the right features and perform simple tasks in the application. It validates fundamental knowledge from determining the best way to open a recently closed Excel Workbook to using the correct formula to perform automatic calculations. Candidates are required to answer true/false, multiple-choice questions and multiple answer questions based on Excel spreadsheets, charts and tables filled with sample data.
Each employer might use a slightly different variation of the Excel test. The Excel Assessment Test typically broken down into a multiple-choice section and an interactive portion. Some tests are timed but some of them do not have a limit on how long applicant can take to answer the questions, but there might be exceptions. There are different types of questions typically being presented during the Excel Test : Multiple Choice Questions, Multiple Answer Questions, True/False Questions and Interactive Questions. It is rare that only one type of question is used during the test – most of the time questions are part of the large pool and testing software randomly selects certain number of questions from the pool and presents them to the candidate.
In this article we will review different assessment tests being offered, the types of questions asked, review sample questions and look at the resources to get prepared for each test the fastest way possible.
Complexity Levels of Excel Employee Assessment Tests
Microsoft Excel harbor very basic calculations to very advanced data processing and analysis that requires in-depth knowledge of every tools of Excel. Depending on the position candidate is  applying for you are likely to face a pre-employment Excel test with varying level of difficulty. Microsoft Excel Employment Assessment tests can be categorized into at least three levels of difficulty:
- Microsoft Excel Basics Test: The basic test will evaluate your skills performing basic Excel functions. This can include anything from printing, formatting cells, inserting tables, and so on. If you have used Excel in the past or familiar with other similar applications you should be able to refresh your skills with the quick tutorial, practice sample excel interview questions to pass assessment test. Basic Excel Test for Interview Candidates is a screening process for entry-level or experienced candidates, including administrative assistants, retail store managers, Sales Representatives, Marketing Representatives, Accountants, Entry level Analysts, or any other position that requires using Microsoft Excel.
- Intermediate Microsoft Excel test: This test requires more than basic knowledge but is not as complex as the advanced level test. The intermediate Microsoft Excel skills test presents candidates with a series of timed questions designed to assess their knowledge of Microsoft Excel. For passing this test, you will need to study and practice in advance using different tools and resources and ideally have practical experience of solving problems with Microsoft Excel. The Intermediate Excel Test is typically offered to evaluate skills of Business Analysts, Project Managers, Architects and other professionals, that may be responsible for complex decision making.
- Advanced Microsoft Excel test: This test is designed for job that require to use Excel in a more complex manner. The test will evaluate your skills with pivot tables, creating macros, filtering, and functions such as IF, IFS, VLOOKUP, SUMIFS, VBA and other advanced concepts used in Microsoft Excel. An advanced Excel user would need to have advanced formula skills. He would have a skill and confidence to make his own formula to adapt to any situation. Typically, this test is offered to Senior Professionals, Executives, Financial Analysts, Scientists and other professionals that may need to use advanced features of Microsoft Excel.
Indeed.com Assessment Test
Indeed.com Assessment Tests
Indeed.com Employment Assessment test helps employers to quickly evaluate candidate's skills and abilities. With it, employers can send skills tests to candidates and then see how candidates perform in relation to others that have taken the same assessment to decide if they would like to move forward in the interview process. Indeed also offers candidates option to create and maintain profiles in their system , allowing candidates to take various assessments for Indeed Profile, offering them a way to showcase your skills to potential employers.
Some employers have opted into including Indeed Assessments in their jobs requirements. In this case, an employer will invite the candidate to take an assessment directly, as part of the interview process. The candidate will receive an email invitation with instructions on how to complete the assessment test. People looking for jobs can also proactively take assessments on their Indeed Profile. This is currently only available for the Customer Service industry, but Indeed.com is planning to make it available for all industries soon.
Most Indeed Assessments can be completed on a mobile device. Those that require the use of a laptop or desktop computer – such as Typing – include notices to switch devices.
While the length of Indeed assessment test can vary, most test modules take an average of 10 min or less. Based on guidelines Indeed provides in their FAQ, if an employer has opted to combine two 10-minute test modules, your assessment could take you a total of 20 minutes to complete.
Basic Indeed.com Excel Assessment Test
As part of Basic Indeed Microsoft Excel Skills test candidates are being tested for their ability to navigate the Excel user interface quickly and efficiently in order to access the right features and perform simple tasks – from determining the best way to open a recently closed Workbook to using the correct formula to perform automatic calculations. Candidates will be required to answer multiple-choice questions based on Excel spreadsheets, charts and tables filled with sample data, as well as images of Excel buttons and tools, testing their ability to:
- Apply simple fill patterns, formatting, and styles to cells.
- Identify the proper keyboard shortcuts to accomplish tasks more quickly.
- Follow the correct steps to make one spreadsheet look like another.
- Choose the right formula and cell references to automatically calculate values.
- Perform basic tasks like hiding rows, preventing cell overflow, and pasting data.
- Since each question comes with a strict time limit (one minute or less), the test will also measure a candidate’s ability to quickly format, isolate and manipulate data under a significant amount of pressure without any outside help.
Excel Skills that are being evaluated
As part of Basic Indeed Microsoft Excel Skills test employers are looking to ensure that candidates have the following skills
- Ability to navigate and modify an Excel workbook by identifying common tools, applying basic keyboard shortcuts, and manipulating columns and rows
- Ability to apply basic sorting and filtering options as well as statistical functions to explore and summarize values
- Ability to customize the look and feel of a workbook using cell formatting tools
Test could be used to test candidates for following jobs
- Business Supervisor or Business Manager
- Operations Supervisor or Operations Manager
- Instructor, Teacher
- Financial Analyst
- Accountant
- Scientist, Researcher
- Information Technology professional
Intermediate Indeed.com Excel Assessment Test
The Intermediate Indeed.com Excel Test presents candidates with a series of timed questions designed to assess their knowledge of Microsoft Excel. Since questions are timed, candidate has a time limit to answer each question. Excel Assessment Test Questions contain images that represent spreadsheets, charts, and graphs, and require candidates to analyze values, formulas, and buttons in order to determine what actions will produce a specific outcome. Typically Intermediate Excel Assessment Test is used to ensure that candidates can do below listed use cases in Microsoft Excel:
- Filter and sort data to quickly locate information in a spreadsheet.
- Understand what type of information will be returned based on a specific formula.
- Know what function will automatically return the values found in a certain Excel cell.
- Identify how particular tools will rearrange and illustrate data in a Excel graph or chart.
- Apply conditional formatting to a chosen cell, row, or column.
Excel Skills that are being evaluated
- Ability to visualize trends and patterns using conditional formats and standard charts
- Ability to write cell formulas to evaluate conditional statements, combine data from multiple worksheets, and manipulate fields formatted as dates, values, or text
- Ability to manipulate cell reference types to apply formulas across multiple cells
What candidates are expected to know?
To pass Intermediate Excel Test candidates must posses all skill required to pass Beginners Excel Assessment plus:
- How to enter sales figures and properly apply formulas to generate sales totals by date, representative, product or region.
- How to conditionally format Excel cells with the goal of highlighting specific dates, values, or ranges.
- How to create bar graphs and pie charts from large datasets to illustrate critical company data, performance metrics, and outlook.
Test could be used to test candidates for following jobs
- Help Desk Agent and/or Customer Support Specialist
- Business Administrator
- Business Supervisor or Business Manager
- Operations Supervisor or Operations Manager
- Instructor, Teacher
- Financial Analyst
- Accountant
- Scientist, Researcher
- Information Technology professional
Advanced Indeed.com Excel Assessment Test
The Advanced Indeed.com Excel Skills Test which is also called Advanced Spreadsheet Proficiency Test used questions to ensure that candidates know how to choose formulas, functions, or charts to execute specific tasks or format data in Microsoft Excel. Advanced Excel Test questions include images of sample data in an Excel spreadsheet and require a candidate to answer which function was used to make the data look a certain way, or which functions should be used in a formula to perform an action.
The test enables you to evaluate a candidate’s proficiency with Excel formulas, conditional formatting, and data visualization by testing whether a candidate can:
- Use functions, such as VLOOKUP, SUMIF, COUNTIF, IFERROR, INDEX, MATCH, AND, OR, and ISTRUE separately or in conjunction.
- Create and understand when and why to create a PivotTable.
- Create or identify formulas for conditional formatting.
- Create a formula to retrieve information from other rows or columns.
- Create a formula to display a value based on data from other rows or columns.
Excel Skills that are being evaluated
- Ability to analyze data and create reports using PivotTables and PivotCharts
- Ability to nest multiple functions together to create dynamic formulas
- Ability to create custom visualizations using combo charts, form controls, and formula-driven ranges and formatting rules
What candidates are expected to know?
- How to work with conditional formatting in Microsoft Excel.
- How to use Advanced Excel functions and Excel formulas alone or in combination with each other.
- How to create formulas to retrieve data or display certain values.
- How to create and utilize a PivotTable.
Test could be used to test candidates for following jobs
- Data Analyst
- Project Manager
- Financial Analyst
- Business Supervisor or Business Manager
- Operations Supervisor or Operations Manager
- Dean, Associate Dean, Instructor, Teacher
- Accountant
- Scientist, Researcher
- Information Technology professional
IKM Assessment Test
IKM Excel Assessment Test
IKM Excel Assessment Tests are typically un-timed; you should be able to take take as much time as you need to read, analyze and answer each question. However, time spent on each question is being measured and will be compared to the time spent by all other test takers. Below is the the typical format and requirements for IKM Excel Employment Assessment Test and some advice on how to best pass it:
- Each question may have up to three correct answers.
- You may select up to three answers for each question.
- You can skip a question if you have no idea of the correct answer.
- If you are able to narrow down the answers to two reasonable choices, you will always get some credit if you select them both and at least one is correct.
- You may not go back to a question once it is answered or skipped.
- Answering correctly to the question is much more important than answering quickly.
IKM Adaptive Excel Assessment Test
For some tests, IKM Excel Assessment Test might use adaptive testing methodology in which question difficulty is determined by your previous answers. IKM Adaptive Tests measure knowledge in fewer questions than standard tests by eliminating questions that are too hard or too easy for the test taker based upon their previous answers. Answering correctly will result in more difficult follow-up questions. Answering incorrectly will result in easier follow-up questions. Below are typical guidelines for IKM Adaptive Excel Assessment Test:
1. Each question has only one correct answer.
2. You may not go back to a question once it is answered.
3. You will get only 3 questions and no score.
Take Free Excel Skill Assessment Test
Question: Why $ sign is used with Column or Row in a cell reference? (as mention in the below picture $F$3)
- Cell lock
- Column lock
- Row lock
- None of the above
Answer: Correct answer is a, Cell lock. Which means while dragging the Formula Cell reference with $ sign in a Formula will not change its location while the cell without $ sign will move relatively. (Column and row both are lock)
Please Note: Some Time we have to press Function key with F4 to apply absolute reference.
Question: Why you might consider pressing F4 key three times after selecting a cell reference.
- Absolute reference for Column only
- Absolute reference for row only
- Absolute reference for a cell
- None of the above
Answer: Correct answer is b, Absolute Reference for Column only. Which means while dragging the Formula Column will remain the same but row will change its number relatively in a cell reference.
Please note: Some Time we have to press Function key with F4 to apply absolute reference.
Question: Why you might consider pressing F4 Fey two time after selecting a cell reference?
- Cell lock
- Column Lock
- Row lock
- None of the above
Answer: Correct answer is c, Row lock. Which means When we drag a Formula having absolute reference with a row, then the Row will remain same but Columns will change its location relatively.
Please Note: Some Time we have to press Function key with F4 to apply absolute reference.
Question: How to add custom list in excel, so then we can use it repeatedly?
- File > Options > General > Default Program > Edit Custom List
- File > Options > Formulas > Calculation option > Edit Custom List
- File > Options > Advanced > General > Edit custom List
- File > Option > Add-In > Edit Custom List.
Answer: Correct answer is c, File > Option > Advanced. This option will help you to add any custom list in excel so then you can use it in future.
Tip: File > Option > Advanced > then drag down and click on edit custom list.
Question: How to apply Header or footer on the page which will be used in printing?
- Page Break
- Print Area
- Margin
- Page Setups
Answer: Correct answer is d, page setups. Page setup allow us to adjust print page setting. When you click on page setup option it will show you a page header and footer option to edit. For Page setup please click on page layout and then click on the arrow on left bottom corner of page setup option.
Question: Through which tab we can insert a background image?
- Home Tab
- Page layout Tab
- View Tab
- Formula Tab
Answer: Correct answer is b, Page Layout Tab. First Go to Page layout then in page setup option click on background and then select an image which you want to add.
Question: How to navigate of a cells which are used in a Formula for Calculation and highlight them with an arrows?
- Trace Precedent
- Trace Dependent
- Show Formulas
- Error Checking
Answer: Correct answer is a. Trace Precedent. To find navigation a Formula first click on a Formula tab and then click on Trace Precedent in Formula auditing option.
Trace Precedent will show you the result in current selected cell was generated by using which cells.
How to navigate a dependency of the any cell and highlight it with an arrows?
- Trace Precedent
- Trace Dependent
- Show Formulas
- Error Checking
Answer: Correct answer is b, Trace Dependent. To navigate the dependency on any cell, First select that cell and then click on Formula Tab and then click on trace dependent in Formula auditing option.
Trace Dependent result will show you that in which Formula or calculation this current selected cell is used.
Question: How can we apply grouping and calculate the sum of the groups at the same time?
- With the help of Subtotal in Data Tab
- With the help of What if analysis in Data Tab
- With the help of Advance Flter in Data Tab
- With the help of Trace Precedent in Formula Tab
Answer: Correct answer is a, With the help of Subtotal in Data Tab. Subtotal will be used to calculate sum, max, min and count Functions and to make groupping of the Data at the same time. To apply subtotal first Sort the Datatable and then select the subtotal from the Data Tab, in subtotal choose the heading first of which you want to calulate the sum and want to make a group in at each change in option,then choose a sum Function in use Function, After that select the heading of which you want to calculate the sum in Add sub total to.
Please Note: First we Sort the heading of the table on which we want to apply subtotal.
Question: Can we find a maximum or minimum Value of sales order with the help of subtotal?
- Yes
- No
Answer: Correct answer is a, Yes. we can find maximum or minimum Values with the help of subtotal by changing use Function in subtotal.
Question: Which option will be used to split first name and last name in separate Columns?
- Text to Columns
- Substitute Function
- Find Function
- Lookup Function
Answer: Correct answer is a, Text to Columns Function. This Function is used to split words from space, Comma, or any unique letter or symbol.
Tip: First select the Data which you want to split. Then click on Data tab > then press delimited > then press ok.
Tips and Tricks to Get Prepared
- If you can navigate between questions go through the entire test and do the easiest, shortest questions first. Save the more difficult questions to come back to later; perhaps another part of the test will help you out with that question or trigger knowledge that you didn’t think you had and you already answered the questions you know the answers for.
- Keep a positive attitude throughout the test and stay relaxed. People who are positive and relaxed do better on tests than those who are negative and stressed out.
- Consider using flashcards to help you study. You can purchase blank flashcards or create them yourself from paper and put your questions and answers. Create flashcards for the questions you have missed in the past, so you can refresh the knowledge.
- Understand how much time you have to complete the test by dividing number of question in the test to the allotted time to determine time per question average you should use. Use this calculated average as a baseline and try to limit the time you spend on each question.
- Always watch for time remaining and be prepared to submit test results, before time expires.
- Even if you have no idea about the answer you still should try to guess and answer the question, since your guess might be correct
To learn more tips and tricks to prepare for Excel Assessment Test checkout this ebook.
Next Steps
Below is the list of resources you could use to get prepared for the Excel Interview:
All the best on your interview!!!