Excel Crash Course - Interview Ready
1. Excel Interface & Navigation
- Workbook: Excel file
- Worksheet: Individual sheet (Sheet1, Sheet2...)
- Cell: Small box where you enter data
- Ribbon: Toolbar with commands
- Formula Bar: Shows formula in selected cell
2. Basic Formulas
- SUM: =SUM(A1:A5)
- AVERAGE: =AVERAGE(A1:A5)
- MAX/MIN: =MAX(A1:A5), =MIN(A1:A5)
- IF: =IF(A1>50, "Pass", "Fail")
3. Sorting & Filtering
- Sort: Arrange data A-Z or Z-A
- Filter: Show only specific data (e.g. > 1000)
- Shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + L
4. Conditional Formatting
- Highlight cells based on value
Steps:
1. Select cells
2. Home > Conditional Formatting
3. Choose rule (e.g., >80 Green)
4. Use formula: =A1>80
5. Data Validation (Dropdowns)
Steps:
1. Select cell
2. Data > Data Validation
3. Choose List, enter options: Yes,No
6. Freeze Panes
- Lock top row/header
Steps:
1. Click below header
2. View > Freeze Panes > Freeze Panes
7. Pivot Table
- Create data summary table
Steps:
1. Select data
2. Insert > Pivot Table
3. Drag fields (e.g., City in Rows, Sales in Values)
8. Data Cleaning
- Remove Duplicates: Data > Remove Duplicates
- Text to Columns: Data > Text to Columns
- Trim extra spaces: =TRIM(A1)
9. Useful Shortcuts
- Ctrl + C/V: Copy/Paste
- Ctrl + Z/Y: Undo/Redo
- Ctrl + Arrow: Jump to last cell
- Ctrl + E: Flash Fill
- Alt + =: AutoSum
10. Practice Questions
Q1: Add total of marks in A1 to A5
Q2: Highlight values > 100
Q3: Create a dropdown with 'Male', 'Female'
Q4: Use IF to return Pass/Fail based on 40
Q5: Make a Pivot Table showing total sales per city