Why you should use Excel & SQL Test?

The Excel & SQL Test makes use of scenario-based questions to test for on-the-job skills as opposed to theoretical knowledge, ensuring that candidates who do well on this screening test have the relavant skills. The questions are designed to covered following on-the-job aspects: Basic Excel formulas for data manipulation Excel lookup formulas for retrieving specific information Analyzing data using Pivots and Filters in Excel Executing SQL CRUD operations for data management Performing SQL Joins and subqueries for data extraction Utilizing SQL indexes and views for optimization Creating and modifying Excel spreadsheets effectively Implementing complex Excel formulas for advanced calculations Applying Excel conditional formatting and data validation Using SQL functions for data manipulation

Excel & SQL Test

Q: What topics are covered in the Excel & SQL Test?

Basic Excel formulas Excel lookup formulas Analyzing data using Pivots and Filters SQL CRUD operations SQL Joins and subqueries SQL indexes and views

About the test:

The Excel SQL Test uses scenario-based MCQs to evaluate candidates on their proficiency in using Microsoft Excel and SQL for data analysis and reporting. The test assesses candidates' ability to query and analyze data using SQL, import and export data between Excel and SQL databases, and create and manage Excel reports and dashboards. The test focuses on data modeling, database design, data validation and normalization, SQL functions and procedures, data visualization, and data manipulation.

Covered skills:

Basic Excel formulas
Analyzing data using Pivots and Filters
SQL Joins and subqueries

Excel lookup formulas
SQL CRUD operations
SQL indexes and views

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9 reasons why

Adaface Excel & SQL Assessment Test is the most accurate way to shortlist SQL Data Analysts

Reason #1

Tests for on-the-job skills

The Excel & SQL Test helps recruiters and hiring managers identify qualified candidates from a pool of resumes, and helps in taking objective hiring decisions. It reduces the administrative overhead of interviewing too many candidates and saves time by filtering out unqualified candidates at the first step of the hiring process.

The test screens for the following skills that hiring managers look for in candidates:

Able to use basic Excel formulas to perform calculations
Proficient in Excel lookup formulas to retrieve data from multiple sheets
Skilled in analyzing data using Pivots and Filters in Excel
Able to perform CRUD operations in SQL
Knowledgeable in SQL Joins and subqueries for data retrieval
Familiar with SQL indexes and views for performance optimization

Reason #2

No trick questions

Traditional assessment tools use trick questions and puzzles for the screening, which creates a lot of frustration among candidates about having to go through irrelevant screening assessments.

View sample questions

The main reason we started Adaface is that traditional pre-employment assessment platforms are not a fair way for companies to evaluate candidates. At Adaface, our mission is to help companies find great candidates by assessing on-the-job skills required for a role.

Why we started Adaface

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Reason #3

Non-googleable questions

We have a very high focus on the quality of questions that test for on-the-job skills. Every question is non-googleable and we have a very high bar for the level of subject matter experts we onboard to create these questions. We have crawlers to check if any of the questions are leaked online. If/ when a question gets leaked, we get an alert. We change the question for you & let you know.

How we design questions

These are just a small sample from our library of 10,000+ questions. The actual questions on this Excel & SQL Test will be non-googleable.

🧐 Question
Medium MATCH INDEX LOOKUP	Try practice test
Some friends live in adjacent apartments in a building in Central Perk, New York. We want to write a function to search the apartment number by name. Which of the following functions should we use?
Medium Organization data Data transformation	Try practice test
We have two Excel files with organization data. One file has Organization ID and Organization Name fields, whereas the second file has Organization ID, Organization Name and Country fields. We wrote a query to retrieve the data from both files. Here’s a sample of the data retrieved: We want to ensure Organization ID field is unique. Which of the following is the ideal solution that ensures Organization ID field is unique while retaining Country data? A: Select the Organization ID and Country columns, and then click Keep Duplicates. B: Select the Organization ID and Country columns, and then click Remove Duplicates. C: Use Group BY function to group the rows by Organization ID. Specify output columns for Organization Name and Country using MAX operation. D: Select Organization ID column and then click Remove Duplicates. Then specify output columns for Country using MAX operation.
Medium Student scores Data formatting	Try practice test
Here’s a sample Excel data source: Here’s the expected data format: Which of the following is the correct way to transform the data from the query editor to achieve the result? A: Columns to Select: Student Only B: Columns to Select: Student and Student ID C: Columns to Select: Primary and Secondary D: Command to Use: Pivot Column E: Command to Use: Reverse Rows F: Command to Use: Unpivot Columns
Medium VLOOKUP blood donor	Try practice test
We are looking to find the contact number of the only blood donor with blood group O-. Which function should we use to look up the correct contact number? Here's the documentation for VLOOKUP: =VLOOKUP(lookup value, range containing the lookup value, the column number in the range containing the return value, Approximate match (TRUE) or Exact match (FALSE)). A: =VLOOKUP("O-", A1:E10, 3, TRUE) B: =VLOOKUP("O-", A1:E10, 3, FALSE) C: =VLOOKUP("O-", D1:D10, 4) D: =VLOOKUP("O-", D1:D10, 3) E: =VLOOKUP("O-", A1:E10, 4, TRUE) F: =VLOOKUP("O-", A1:E10, 4, FALSE) G: =VLOOKUP("Kane", A1:E10, 4)
Medium Multi Select JOIN GROUP BY	Try practice test
Consider the following SQL table: How many rows does the following SQL query return?
Medium nth highest sales Nested queries User Defined Functions	Try practice test
Consider the following SQL table: Which of the following SQL commands will find the ‘nth highest Sales’ if it exists (returns null otherwise)?
Medium Select & IN Nested queries	Try practice test
Consider the following SQL table: Which of the following SQL queries would return the year when neither a football or cricket winner was chosen?
Medium Sorting Ubers Nested queries Join Comparison operators	Try practice test
Consider the following SQL table: What will be the first two tuples resulting from the following SQL command?
Hard With, AVG & SUM MAX() MIN() Aggregate functions	Try practice test
Consider the following SQL table: How many tuples does the following query return?

	🧐 Question	🔧 Skill
	Medium MATCH INDEX LOOKUP	2 mins Excel	Try practice test
Some friends live in adjacent apartments in a building in Central Perk, New York. We want to write a function to search the apartment number by name. Which of the following functions should we use?
	Medium Organization data Data transformation	3 mins Excel	Try practice test
We have two Excel files with organization data. One file has Organization ID and Organization Name fields, whereas the second file has Organization ID, Organization Name and Country fields. We wrote a query to retrieve the data from both files. Here’s a sample of the data retrieved: We want to ensure Organization ID field is unique. Which of the following is the ideal solution that ensures Organization ID field is unique while retaining Country data? A: Select the Organization ID and Country columns, and then click Keep Duplicates. B: Select the Organization ID and Country columns, and then click Remove Duplicates. C: Use Group BY function to group the rows by Organization ID. Specify output columns for Organization Name and Country using MAX operation. D: Select Organization ID column and then click Remove Duplicates. Then specify output columns for Country using MAX operation.
	Medium Student scores Data formatting	2 mins Excel	Try practice test
Here’s a sample Excel data source: Here’s the expected data format: Which of the following is the correct way to transform the data from the query editor to achieve the result? A: Columns to Select: Student Only B: Columns to Select: Student and Student ID C: Columns to Select: Primary and Secondary D: Command to Use: Pivot Column E: Command to Use: Reverse Rows F: Command to Use: Unpivot Columns
	Medium VLOOKUP blood donor	2 mins Excel	Try practice test
We are looking to find the contact number of the only blood donor with blood group O-. Which function should we use to look up the correct contact number? Here's the documentation for VLOOKUP: =VLOOKUP(lookup value, range containing the lookup value, the column number in the range containing the return value, Approximate match (TRUE) or Exact match (FALSE)). A: =VLOOKUP("O-", A1:E10, 3, TRUE) B: =VLOOKUP("O-", A1:E10, 3, FALSE) C: =VLOOKUP("O-", D1:D10, 4) D: =VLOOKUP("O-", D1:D10, 3) E: =VLOOKUP("O-", A1:E10, 4, TRUE) F: =VLOOKUP("O-", A1:E10, 4, FALSE) G: =VLOOKUP("Kane", A1:E10, 4)
	Medium Multi Select JOIN GROUP BY	2 mins SQL	Try practice test
Consider the following SQL table: How many rows does the following SQL query return?
	Medium nth highest sales Nested queries User Defined Functions	3 mins SQL	Try practice test
Consider the following SQL table: Which of the following SQL commands will find the ‘nth highest Sales’ if it exists (returns null otherwise)?
	Medium Select & IN Nested queries	3 mins SQL	Try practice test
Consider the following SQL table: Which of the following SQL queries would return the year when neither a football or cricket winner was chosen?
	Medium Sorting Ubers Nested queries Join Comparison operators	3 mins SQL	Try practice test
Consider the following SQL table: What will be the first two tuples resulting from the following SQL command?
	Hard With, AVG & SUM MAX() MIN() Aggregate functions	2 mins SQL	Try practice test
Consider the following SQL table: How many tuples does the following query return?

	🧐 Question	🔧 Skill	💪 Difficulty	⌛ Time
	MATCH INDEX LOOKUP	Excel	Medium	2 mins	Try practice test
Some friends live in adjacent apartments in a building in Central Perk, New York. We want to write a function to search the apartment number by name. Which of the following functions should we use?
	Organization data Data transformation	Excel	Medium	3 mins	Try practice test
We have two Excel files with organization data. One file has Organization ID and Organization Name fields, whereas the second file has Organization ID, Organization Name and Country fields. We wrote a query to retrieve the data from both files. Here’s a sample of the data retrieved: We want to ensure Organization ID field is unique. Which of the following is the ideal solution that ensures Organization ID field is unique while retaining Country data? A: Select the Organization ID and Country columns, and then click Keep Duplicates. B: Select the Organization ID and Country columns, and then click Remove Duplicates. C: Use Group BY function to group the rows by Organization ID. Specify output columns for Organization Name and Country using MAX operation. D: Select Organization ID column and then click Remove Duplicates. Then specify output columns for Country using MAX operation.
	Student scores Data formatting	Excel	Medium	2 mins	Try practice test
Here’s a sample Excel data source: Here’s the expected data format: Which of the following is the correct way to transform the data from the query editor to achieve the result? A: Columns to Select: Student Only B: Columns to Select: Student and Student ID C: Columns to Select: Primary and Secondary D: Command to Use: Pivot Column E: Command to Use: Reverse Rows F: Command to Use: Unpivot Columns
	VLOOKUP blood donor	Excel	Medium	2 mins	Try practice test
We are looking to find the contact number of the only blood donor with blood group O-. Which function should we use to look up the correct contact number? Here's the documentation for VLOOKUP: =VLOOKUP(lookup value, range containing the lookup value, the column number in the range containing the return value, Approximate match (TRUE) or Exact match (FALSE)). A: =VLOOKUP("O-", A1:E10, 3, TRUE) B: =VLOOKUP("O-", A1:E10, 3, FALSE) C: =VLOOKUP("O-", D1:D10, 4) D: =VLOOKUP("O-", D1:D10, 3) E: =VLOOKUP("O-", A1:E10, 4, TRUE) F: =VLOOKUP("O-", A1:E10, 4, FALSE) G: =VLOOKUP("Kane", A1:E10, 4)
	Multi Select JOIN GROUP BY	SQL	Medium	2 mins	Try practice test
Consider the following SQL table: How many rows does the following SQL query return?
	nth highest sales Nested queries User Defined Functions	SQL	Medium	3 mins	Try practice test
Consider the following SQL table: Which of the following SQL commands will find the ‘nth highest Sales’ if it exists (returns null otherwise)?
	Select & IN Nested queries	SQL	Medium	3 mins	Try practice test
Consider the following SQL table: Which of the following SQL queries would return the year when neither a football or cricket winner was chosen?
	Sorting Ubers Nested queries Join Comparison operators	SQL	Medium	3 mins	Try practice test
Consider the following SQL table: What will be the first two tuples resulting from the following SQL command?
	With, AVG & SUM MAX() MIN() Aggregate functions	SQL	Hard	2 mins	Try practice test
Consider the following SQL table: How many tuples does the following query return?

Reason #4

1200+ customers in 75 countries

With Adaface, we were able to optimise our initial screening process by upwards of 75%, freeing up precious time for both hiring managers and our talent acquisition team alike!

Brandon Lee, Head of People, Love, Bonito

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Reason #5

Designed for elimination, not selection

The most important thing while implementing the pre-employment Excel & SQL Test in your hiring process is that it is an elimination tool, not a selection tool. In other words: you want to use the test to eliminate the candidates who do poorly on the test, not to select the candidates who come out at the top. While they are super valuable, pre-employment tests do not paint the entire picture of a candidate’s abilities, knowledge, and motivations. Multiple easy questions are more predictive of a candidate's ability than fewer hard questions. Harder questions are often "trick" based questions, which do not provide any meaningful signal about the candidate's skillset.

Science behind Adaface tests

Reason #6

1 click candidate invites

Email invites: You can send candidates an email invite to the Excel & SQL Test from your dashboard by entering their email address.

Public link: You can create a public link for each test that you can share with candidates.

API or integrations: You can invite candidates directly from your ATS by using our pre-built integrations with popular ATS systems or building a custom integration with your in-house ATS.

Reason #7

Detailed scorecards & benchmarks

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Reason #8

High completion rate

Adaface tests are conversational, low-stress, and take just 25-40 mins to complete.

This is why Adaface has the highest test-completion rate (86%), which is more than 2x better than traditional assessments.

Reason #9

Advanced Proctoring

Learn more

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About the Excel & SQL Online Test

Why you should use Pre-employment Excel & SQL Test?

The Excel & SQL Test makes use of scenario-based questions to test for on-the-job skills as opposed to theoretical knowledge, ensuring that candidates who do well on this screening test have the relavant skills. The questions are designed to covered following on-the-job aspects:

Basic Excel formulas for data manipulation
Excel lookup formulas for retrieving specific information
Analyzing data using Pivots and Filters in Excel
Executing SQL CRUD operations for data management
Performing SQL Joins and subqueries for data extraction
Utilizing SQL indexes and views for optimization
Creating and modifying Excel spreadsheets effectively
Implementing complex Excel formulas for advanced calculations
Applying Excel conditional formatting and data validation
Using SQL functions for data manipulation

Once the test is sent to a candidate, the candidate receives a link in email to take the test. For each candidate, you will receive a detailed report with skills breakdown and benchmarks to shortlist the top candidates from your pool.

What topics are covered in the Excel & SQL Test?

Basic Excel formulas
This skill covers the fundamental formulas in Excel that allow users to perform calculations and manipulate data. It is important to measure this skill in the test as it forms the building blocks for more advanced Excel functions and data analysis.
Excel lookup formulas
This skill involves using formulas in Excel to search for specific values in a data set and retrieve corresponding information. Measuring this skill in the test helps assess the candidate's ability to efficiently access and retrieve data from Excel spreadsheets.
Analyzing data using Pivots and Filters
This skill focuses on the use of Excel's pivot tables and filtering capabilities to analyze and summarize large data sets. It is crucial to measure this skill in the test as it demonstrates the candidate's proficiency in performing data analysis tasks using Excel's powerful features.
SQL CRUD operations
This skill involves creating, reading, updating, and deleting data in a relational database using SQL. It is essential to measure this skill in the test as it assesses the candidate's ability to interact with a database and perform basic data manipulation tasks.
SQL Joins and subqueries
This skill encompasses the ability to combine data from multiple tables using SQL joins and utilize subqueries to retrieve specific information. Measuring this skill in the test is important as it evaluates the candidate's understanding of database relationships and their capability to write complex queries.
SQL indexes and views
This skill involves creating indexes to optimize query performance and creating views for presenting data in a predefined format. Measuring this skill in the test is crucial as it assesses the candidate's knowledge of database optimization techniques and their ability to create efficient data presentation structures.
Full list of covered topics
The actual topics of the questions in the final test will depend on your job description and requirements. However, here's a list of topics you can expect the questions for Excel & SQL Test to be based on.
Basic formulas
Lookup formulas
Pivot tables
Filters
SQL CRUD operations
SQL Joins
SQL subqueries
SQL indexes
SQL views
SUM function
AVERAGE function
COUNT function
IF function
VLOOKUP function
HLOOKUP function
INDEX function
MATCH function
OFFSET function
Conditional formatting
Sorting data
Filtering data
Slicers
Consolidating data
Grouping data
Aggregating data
Adding and deleting rows/columns
Inserting and manipulating data with SQL
Updating and deleting data with SQL
Selecting specific columns with SQL
Querying multiple tables with SQL
Using subqueries in SQL
Working with indexes in SQL
Creating and managing views in SQL

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What roles can I use the Excel & SQL Test for?

SQL Data Analyst
Business Intelligence Analyst
Database Administrator
Financial Analyst
Operations Analyst
Business Analyst

How is the Excel & SQL Test customized for senior candidates?

For intermediate/ experienced candidates, we customize the assessment questions to include advanced topics and increase the difficulty level of the questions. This might include adding questions on topics like

Advanced Excel formulas for complex data analysis
Optimizing Pivots and Filters in Excel for better performance
Designing and implementing efficient SQL database schema
Implementing SQL security measures for data protection
Writing SQL queries with multiple table joins for complex data retrieval
Utilizing SQL subqueries to solve advanced data problems
Evaluating and optimizing SQL query performance using indexes
Designing and creating SQL views for simplified data access
Applying advanced Excel formulas for forecasting and modeling
Utilizing Excel data analysis tools for insights and trends
Analyzing large datasets using SQL aggregation functions

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The hiring managers felt that through the technical questions that they asked during the panel interviews, they were able to tell which candidates had better scores, and differentiated with those who did not score as well. They are highly satisfied with the quality of candidates shortlisted with the Adaface screening.

85%

reduction in screening time

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Excel & SQL Hiring Test FAQs

Can I combine multiple skills into one custom assessment?

Yes, absolutely. Custom assessments are set up based on your job description, and will include questions on all must-have skills you specify. Here's a quick guide on how you can request a custom test.

Do you have any anti-cheating or proctoring features in place?

We have the following anti-cheating features in place:

Non-googleable questions
IP proctoring
Screen proctoring
Web proctoring
Webcam proctoring
Plagiarism detection
Secure browser
Copy paste protection

Read more about the proctoring features.

How do I interpret test scores?

The primary thing to keep in mind is that an assessment is an elimination tool, not a selection tool. A skills assessment is optimized to help you eliminate candidates who are not technically qualified for the role, it is not optimized to help you find the best candidate for the role. So the ideal way to use an assessment is to decide a threshold score (typically 55%, we help you benchmark) and invite all candidates who score above the threshold for the next rounds of interview.

What experience level can I use this test for?

Each Adaface assessment is customized to your job description/ ideal candidate persona (our subject matter experts will pick the right questions for your assessment from our library of 10000+ questions). This assessment can be customized for any experience level.

Does every candidate get the same questions?

Yes, it makes it much easier for you to compare candidates. Options for MCQ questions and the order of questions are randomized. We have anti-cheating/ proctoring features in place. In our enterprise plan, we also have the option to create multiple versions of the same assessment with questions of similar difficulty levels.