MS Excel Questions and Answers

Answer: C

Correct answer: COUNT

COUNT counts numeric entries only, ignoring text, logical values and empty cells. Dates are counted, since Excel stores them as numbers. The family is worth learning together, because the differences are exactly what is examined. COUNTA counts every non-empty cell whatever it holds, including text and error values - and including a cell containing an empty string returned by a formula, which looks blank but is not. COUNTBLANK counts genuinely empty cells. COUNTIF and COUNTIFS count those meeting one or more conditions. A practical use of the distinction: comparing COUNTA with COUNT on the same column reveals how many entries are text rather than numbers - the usual explanation for a SUM that comes out lower than expected, since SUM ignores numbers stored as text. Text to Columns, or multiplying by 1, converts them.

Answer: C

Correct answer: Opens a shortcut menu listing everything you can do to the object

The right button opens a context menu whose contents depend on what was clicked - cell, sheet tab, toolbar, chart element. It is the quickest route to most commands.

Answer: D

Correct answer: title slide

The title slide is the opening layout, carrying the presentation title and a subtitle. It names the topic and sets the tone before any content appears. A bullet slide carries the body points, while table and graph slides present data later in the deck.

Answer: D

Correct answer: 3.14

=ROUND(3.14159,2) rounds to two decimal places, giving 3.14. The second argument is the number of decimal places. That argument may be zero, which rounds to a whole number, or negative, which rounds to the left of the decimal point: =ROUND(1234,-2) gives 1200. That is a detail worth knowing, since it is the neat way to round to the nearest hundred or thousand. The related functions differ in direction. ROUNDUP and ROUNDDOWN always go the same way regardless of the digit; MROUND rounds to the nearest multiple; INT truncates towards negative infinity; and TRUNC simply cuts the decimals off. The important practical point is that ROUND changes the stored value, whereas decreasing the decimal places displayed only changes the appearance. A column that appears to total wrongly is almost always displaying rounded figures while summing the full ones.

Answer: C

Correct answer: A recorded or written sequence of actions that can be replayed

A macro is a stored sequence of actions that can be replayed on demand. It is recorded with the Macro Recorder, which watches what you do and writes the corresponding code, or written directly in VBA - Visual Basic for Applications - in the editor opened with Alt + F11. Its purpose is to automate anything repetitive: formatting a report the same way each month, cleaning an import, or producing a set of sheets from a template. A workbook containing macros must be saved as .xlsm; the ordinary .xlsx format silently discards them, which is a common cause of lost work. That separation exists for security, since macros can do anything the user can, and have historically been a route for malware. Excel therefore disables them by default and shows a warning bar. Recorded macros are literal and brittle - they repeat exact cell addresses - so recording is often used as a starting point and then edited.

Answer: C

Correct answer: The chart updates automatically

A chart is linked to its source range, so changing a value redraws the chart immediately. That link is the reason charts are built from ranges rather than from typed figures. The limit worth knowing is that the link is to a fixed range, so data added beyond it is not picked up. A chart built on A1:B12 ignores a thirteenth row. Building it on an Excel Table instead solves this, since the table expands as rows are added and the chart follows - the standard remedy for a chart that stops reflecting the data. The source can be adjusted afterwards from Select Data, or by dragging the coloured outline that appears around the range when the chart is selected. Two related details: hidden rows are excluded from a chart by default, which can be changed in Select Data; and pasting a chart into Word offers either a link to the workbook or a static copy, and the choice matters when the report is sent on.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Recognises a pattern from your examples and completes the rest of a column

Flash Fill watches the pattern in what you type and fills the rest of the column to match. Typing the first name from a column of full names, then beginning the second, prompts it to complete every remaining row. It is triggered with Ctrl + E or accepted from the suggestion that appears. It handles splitting, joining, reformatting and case changes without a formula - extracting a domain from an email address, reformatting a phone number, or building initials from names. Its limits are worth knowing. It produces static values, not formulas, so the result does not update when the source changes. It infers the rule from very few examples and can guess wrongly on irregular data, which needs checking. And it works down a column adjacent to the source, not across arbitrary ranges. Where a live result is needed, Text to Columns or text functions such as LEFT, MID and FIND are the alternatives.

Answer: A

Correct answer: You can type text directly into a PowerPoint slide but typing in text box is convenient

Text cannot be typed straight onto a slide: it always goes into a placeholder or a text box, even when the box is created automatically by the layout. The other three statements are all true.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Insert a new text box and select Insert >> slide Number

The slide number is a field, and a field must sit in a text box or placeholder. So a box is created first and the number inserted into it; the number then updates as slides are added or reordered.

Answer: D

Correct answer: None of above

The true order is: negation, then percent, then exponentiation, then multiplication and division, then addition and subtraction, then comparison. Each of the three orders offered puts at least one of these in the wrong place.