How to prepare for an Excel test in a week

Before day 1: find out what kind of test it is

Ask the recruiter what to expect. The format changes how you practice, and it is a normal question to ask.

• Multiple choice, or hands-on tasks in a real or simulated spreadsheet?
• Timed? How many questions or tasks?
• Which level: basic, intermediate or advanced? Is it Excel for Microsoft 365, or an older version without XLOOKUP and FILTER?
• Are sorting, filtering, charts or PivotTables part of it?

Days 1 to 3: the core formulas

1. Day 1, baseline and references. Take the basic Excel practice test cold and note the skills you missed. Then do the Absolute references lesson and read absolute vs relative references. Copying a formula with and without $ comes up again and again.
2. Day 2, totals, rounding and percentages. Do the Counting lesson, MEDIAN and ROUND and Percent change. Read COUNT vs COUNTA and percent change, and download its practice file to try in real Excel.
3. Day 3, logic. Do IF basics, AND and OR and Nested decisions. Read IF with AND and OR and IFS vs nested IF. Watch for > versus >= in every question.

Days 4 and 5: conditional totals and lookups

4. Day 4, COUNTIF and SUMIF. Do COUNTIF, Multiple conditions and Criteria from cells. Read SUMIFS with multiple criteria and practice with its workbook. Then take the intermediate practice test.
5. Day 5, lookups. Do the VLOOKUP lesson, then read VLOOKUP vs XLOOKUP, INDEX MATCH and why VLOOKUP is not working. Practice with the VLOOKUP vs XLOOKUP workbook. Always use FALSE for an exact match.

Days 6 and 7: text, dates, errors and a full run

6. Day 6, text, dates and errors. Do Cleaning text, Slicing text, Date basics and Reading errors. Skim removing spaces, days between dates, workdays between dates and fixing #N/A.
7. Day 7, data tools and a timed run. Read how to create a PivotTable and sorting by multiple columns, and try both in real Excel. Then take the practice test with the timer on, at the level the job asks for, and finish with the hands-on skills assessment in the Cellwise app.

The day before and on the day

• Retake one practice test with new questions. Do not cram new functions now; review the explanations of your misses.
• Learn the four keys that save the most time: F4 to add $ (Cmd+T on a Mac), Ctrl+Shift+L to turn filters on, Ctrl+T for a Table, and Ctrl+Z to undo.
• During the test, read the whole sheet first: blank cells, zeros, a header inside the range, or text in a number column.
• If a question is timed, answer, flag it if you can, and move on. One hard question is worth the same as one easy one.
• In hands-on tasks, check each answer with a quick total in the status bar before moving on.

Only have a day or two?

Take the basic practice test, then spend your time on the skills it shows you missed, in this order: cell references and $, SUMIF and COUNTIF, IF, and VLOOKUP with FALSE. Almost everything else builds on them. Finish with one timed run of the practice test.

Use the explanations, not just the score. Each wrong option on the practice test is a specific slip, and knowing which slip you made is what stops you making it again.