Wall Street Prep Excel Crash Course Practice
Exam Questions And Answers With Rationales
2026
1. Which shortcut is used to insert a new worksheet in Excel?
A) Shift + F11
B) Ctrl + N
C) Alt + F1
D) Ctrl + Shift + N
Inserting a new worksheet is done with Shift + F11.
2. What function would you use to calculate the present value of
future cash flows?
A) FV
B) PV
C) NPV
D) IRR
The PV function calculates the present value of future cash flows
given a discount rate.
3. Which Excel function returns the number of rows in a range?
A) COLUMNS
B) ROWS
C) COUNT
D) COUNTA
ROWS(range) returns the number of rows in the specified range.
,4. To make a chart dynamic and update automatically when data
changes, which feature should you use?
A) Pivot Table
B) Conditional Formatting
C) Excel Table
D) Named Range
Converting data to an Excel Table allows charts to automatically
expand as new data is added.
5. What does the Excel formula =IF(A1>100, "High", "Low") do?
A) Returns "High" if A1 > 100; otherwise, returns "Low"
B) Returns "Low" if A1 > 100; otherwise, returns "High"
C) Always returns "High"
D) Always returns "Low"
IF statements evaluate a condition and return one value if TRUE and
another if FALSE.
6. Which shortcut allows you to quickly sum a column or row?
A) Alt + S
B) Ctrl + S
C) Alt + =
D) Shift + =
Alt + = automatically inserts the SUM formula for adjacent cells.
7. Which formula would correctly calculate the internal rate of
return (IRR) for a series of cash flows in cells B2:B10?
A) =NPV(B2:B10)
B) =IRR(B2:B10)
C) =PV(B2:B10)
, D) =RATE(B2:B10)
IRR calculates the rate at which the net present value of cash flows
equals zero.
8. How do you lock a cell reference when copying a formula across
cells?
A) Using parentheses ()
B) Using brackets []
C) Using $ signs
D) Using quotation marks ""
Absolute references with $ lock the row, column, or both when
copying formulas.
9. What is the difference between COUNT and COUNTA functions?
A) COUNT counts text only
B) COUNTA counts numbers only
C) COUNT counts numbers; COUNTA counts numbers and text
D) They are identical
COUNT ignores text and blank cells, while COUNTA counts all non-
empty cells.
10. Which Excel function allows you to look up a value in the first
column of a range and return a value from a specified column?
A) VLOOKUP
B) HLOOKUP
C) INDEX
D) MATCH
VLOOKUP searches vertically in the first column of a range and
returns a value from a specified column.
Exam Questions And Answers With Rationales
2026
1. Which shortcut is used to insert a new worksheet in Excel?
A) Shift + F11
B) Ctrl + N
C) Alt + F1
D) Ctrl + Shift + N
Inserting a new worksheet is done with Shift + F11.
2. What function would you use to calculate the present value of
future cash flows?
A) FV
B) PV
C) NPV
D) IRR
The PV function calculates the present value of future cash flows
given a discount rate.
3. Which Excel function returns the number of rows in a range?
A) COLUMNS
B) ROWS
C) COUNT
D) COUNTA
ROWS(range) returns the number of rows in the specified range.
,4. To make a chart dynamic and update automatically when data
changes, which feature should you use?
A) Pivot Table
B) Conditional Formatting
C) Excel Table
D) Named Range
Converting data to an Excel Table allows charts to automatically
expand as new data is added.
5. What does the Excel formula =IF(A1>100, "High", "Low") do?
A) Returns "High" if A1 > 100; otherwise, returns "Low"
B) Returns "Low" if A1 > 100; otherwise, returns "High"
C) Always returns "High"
D) Always returns "Low"
IF statements evaluate a condition and return one value if TRUE and
another if FALSE.
6. Which shortcut allows you to quickly sum a column or row?
A) Alt + S
B) Ctrl + S
C) Alt + =
D) Shift + =
Alt + = automatically inserts the SUM formula for adjacent cells.
7. Which formula would correctly calculate the internal rate of
return (IRR) for a series of cash flows in cells B2:B10?
A) =NPV(B2:B10)
B) =IRR(B2:B10)
C) =PV(B2:B10)
, D) =RATE(B2:B10)
IRR calculates the rate at which the net present value of cash flows
equals zero.
8. How do you lock a cell reference when copying a formula across
cells?
A) Using parentheses ()
B) Using brackets []
C) Using $ signs
D) Using quotation marks ""
Absolute references with $ lock the row, column, or both when
copying formulas.
9. What is the difference between COUNT and COUNTA functions?
A) COUNT counts text only
B) COUNTA counts numbers only
C) COUNT counts numbers; COUNTA counts numbers and text
D) They are identical
COUNT ignores text and blank cells, while COUNTA counts all non-
empty cells.
10. Which Excel function allows you to look up a value in the first
column of a range and return a value from a specified column?
A) VLOOKUP
B) HLOOKUP
C) INDEX
D) MATCH
VLOOKUP searches vertically in the first column of a range and
returns a value from a specified column.
