MS Excel Questions and Answers

Answer: D

The highest value in a range is found with MAX.

=MAX(A1:A20) returns the largest number in cells A1 to A20, ignoring text and empty cells.

MIN returns the smallest value, COUNT counts the cells that contain numbers, and AVERAGE returns the arithmetic mean. None of them gives the highest value.

Answer: C

VLOOKUP searches the first column of the range.

VLOOKUP(lookup_value, table_array, col_index_num, [range_lookup]) looks for the value down the leftmost column of table_array and then returns the value from the same row in the column given by col_index_num. That is why the column to search must be placed first in the range.

It cannot search the last, middle or any other column; that limitation is why INDEX with MATCH, or the newer XLOOKUP, is used when the key is not in the first column.

Answer: D

The size not offered is A2.

Excel's Page Layout, Size list comes from the printer driver, and the standard list on an ordinary office printer includes Letter, Legal and the A-series sizes A3, A4 and A5 that such printers can handle.

A2 (420 × 594 mm) is a large-format size used for posters and plans on plotters, and is not in the default paper size list.

Answer: D

The margin not available is Large.

In Excel, Page Layout, Margins offers three predefined settings, Normal, Wide and Narrow, along with the last custom setting and a Custom Margins dialog.

There is no preset called Large in Excel. (Word has more presets, such as Moderate and Mirrored, but not Large either.)

Answer: B

COUNTA counts the number of records that aren't blank.

COUNTA counts every cell in a range that is not empty, whatever it holds: numbers, text, dates, logical values or error values. For example, =COUNTA(A1:A10) gives the number of filled cells in that range.

Counting only cells that contain numbers is the job of COUNT, and counting those that meet a condition is COUNTIF. Option D, 'records in a table', would include blanks, which COUNTA leaves out.

Answer: B

The concatenation operator is &.

In an Excel formula the ampersand joins text: ="Tri"&"pura" gives Tripura, and =A1&" "&B1 joins two cells with a space. The CONCAT and TEXTJOIN functions do the same job.

+ is arithmetic addition, % turns a number into a percentage, and && is not an Excel operator at all, although it means 'and' in languages such as C and JavaScript.

Answer: D

The default is 2 decimal places.

When a cell is given the Number format in Excel (Home, Number Format, or Format Cells, Number), it shows two decimal places by default, so 1234.5 appears as 1234.50. The Increase and Decrease Decimal buttons change it.

3, 4 and 5 are not the default; they can be set by hand in the Decimal places box.

Answer: B

Columns are designated A, B, C, ....

Excel labels its columns with letters, A to Z, then AA, AB and so on up to XFD, the 16,384th column, while its rows are numbered 1, 2, 3 and so on.

So 1, 2, 3 are the row numbers, A1, B1, C1 are cell references that combine a column and a row, and Roman numerals are not used in Excel's grid.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Double clicking the cell to edit it in-place

Double-clicking puts the cell into edit mode with the cursor where it was clicked. Pressing F2 or clicking in the formula bar does the same thing.

Answer: B

Correct answer: Insert, New slide

A slide is added to an open presentation from the Insert menu, choosing New Slide (Ctrl + M). File → New starts a whole new presentation and File → Open loads an existing one; the File menu has no add a new slide command.