MS Excel Questions and Answers

Answer: C

Correct answer: The text box and text both are deleted

A text box is a single object, and its text is its content, so deleting the object removes both. Emptying the box without deleting it requires selecting the text instead.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Strikethrough

The Font dialog offers Underline, Shadow, Emboss, Superscript and Subscript. Strikethrough is not among them, which is what makes it the answer.

Answer: A

Correct answer: 1,048,576

A worksheet holds 1,048,576 rows and 16,384 columns, running from A to XFD. Both figures are powers of two: \( 2^{20} \) rows and \( 2^{14} \) columns. The limits were raised with the .xlsx format in Excel 2007. The older .xls format held 65,536 rows and 256 columns, which is why the second option is offered - and why opening a large modern file in an old version truncates it. The shortcut Ctrl + Down Arrow jumps to the last row of a contiguous block, and from an empty column to the very bottom of the sheet, which is how the limit is seen directly. Ctrl + End goes to the last used cell - a figure that often exceeds the real data, because Excel remembers cells that once held content. These are limits of the grid, not of the practical size of a workbook: performance falls well before a million rows, and genuinely large data belongs in a database or in Power Pivot.

Answer: C

Correct answer: A meaningful name assigned to a cell or range so it can be used in formulas

A named range gives a cell or range a meaningful name - TaxRate, SalesData - which can then be used in formulas in place of the address. =B2*TaxRate is far easier to read and to check than =B2*$H$1. Names are created from the Name Box to the left of the formula bar, or managed from the Name Manager on the Formulas tab. They carry a practical advantage beyond readability: a name is absolute by default, so a formula using one can be copied anywhere without the reference shifting. That removes the commonest cause of broken formulas. A name may be scoped to the whole workbook or to a single sheet, must begin with a letter or underscore, and may not contain spaces or look like a cell address. Names can also refer to a constant or to a formula rather than a range, and they are what makes a chart or a validation list expand automatically when built on a dynamic definition.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Excel will sort the whole table rather than the selected column alone

The warning appears when a single column is selected before sorting, and Excel detects data alongside it. Expand the selection sorts the entire table, keeping each row together. Continue with the current selection sorts that column alone, leaving every other column where it is. Choosing the second option is one of the most destructive mistakes possible in a spreadsheet: names become detached from their marks, and every row is silently wrong with nothing to show it. Because the damage is invisible, it is often discovered long afterwards. The safe habit is to click a single cell inside the table before sorting and let Excel select the whole region itself, rather than selecting a column first. Formatting the data as a proper Excel Table with Ctrl + T removes the risk entirely, since a table always sorts as a unit. Merged cells prevent sorting altogether and produce a different message.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Automatic filters, banded rows and a range that grows with new data

Formatting a range as a Table with Ctrl + T turns it into a named object with several behaviours the ordinary grid does not have. It gains filter arrows, banded row shading, and a header row that stays visible as you scroll. Most importantly it expands automatically: typing in the row beneath extends the table, and every formula, chart, pivot table and named range built on it picks up the new data without adjustment. That single property removes the commonest source of stale reports. Formulas inside a table use structured references such as =[@Quantity]*[@Price], which are far more readable than cell addresses, and a formula entered in one cell of a column fills the whole column at once. A Total Row can be switched on, using SUBTOTAL so that it respects filters. The table is renamed from the Table Design tab, and can be converted back to a plain range at any time.

Answer: D

Correct answer: Ctrl + 1

Ctrl + 1 opens the Format Cells dialogue, which holds every formatting option in one place: number format, alignment, font, border, fill and protection. The Number tab is the one that repays study, since Excel’s handling of numbers is entirely a matter of format. A date is a serial number displayed as a date; a percentage is a fraction displayed with a per cent sign; and a custom format code can display a number in almost any way without changing its value. The Protection tab is where cells are marked Locked or Unlocked - a setting that does nothing until the sheet itself is protected, which catches many users out. The neighbouring number shortcuts are worth knowing: Ctrl + 9 hides the selected rows, Ctrl + 0 hides columns, and Ctrl + Shift + 9 and 0 unhide them. Ctrl + F finds, and Ctrl + P prints.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Displays long text on several lines within the same cell

Wrap Text makes long content display on several lines inside its own cell, increasing the row height to fit. The cell’s value is unchanged; only its display is affected. Without it, text that overflows spills across neighbouring cells if they are empty, and is cut off at the boundary if they are not. That behaviour is often mistaken for data loss, when the content is in fact intact and merely hidden. Alt + Enter inserts a line break at a chosen point within a cell, which gives control over where the text divides rather than leaving it to the column width. The neighbouring option, Shrink to fit in the Format Cells dialogue, is the third answer here: it reduces the displayed font size instead of wrapping. Orientation, on the Home tab, rotates text and is the fourth. Merge and Centre sits beside Wrap Text and is best avoided in data ranges, since merged cells break sorting, filtering and many formulas.

Answer: A

Correct answer: Returns one value when a condition is true and another when it is false

IF tests a condition and returns one value if it is true and another if it is false: =IF(A1>=40,"Pass","Fail"). Its three arguments are the test, the value if true, and the value if false. Omitting the third returns FALSE rather than a blank, so it is usually supplied even when the answer is an empty string. IF functions can be nested to handle several cases - grades, slabs, bands - but nesting quickly becomes unreadable. IFS, in newer versions, takes a list of condition-and-result pairs and is clearer, and a VLOOKUP against a small band table is often better still. The logical functions that combine with it are worth knowing: AND requires every condition, OR requires any, and NOT reverses one. So =IF(AND(A1>=40,B1>=40),"Pass","Fail") requires both marks. IFERROR is the specialised form that catches errors.

Answer: C

Correct answer: the small square at the corner of a selection used to copy or extend a series

The Fill Handle is the small square at the bottom right corner of a selection. Dragging it copies the contents into adjacent cells, or extends a recognised series. It recognises a great many patterns. Dragging a single date advances it by a day; dragging Jan produces the months; dragging Monday produces the days. Entering two values first - 5 and 10 - establishes the step, so the fill continues 15, 20 and so on. Double-clicking the handle fills down as far as the adjacent column has data, which is much faster than dragging on a long list. Formulas filled this way have their relative references adjusted, which is exactly the behaviour absolute references with dollar signs exist to prevent. The Auto Fill Options button that appears afterwards offers to copy without formatting, fill formatting only, or fill as a series - useful when the default guess is wrong.