Q 01/05

Which bank's 2012 London Whale loss was partly blamed on Excel?

A) Goldman Sachs

B) JPMorgan Chase

C) Morgan Stanley

D) Citigroup

Answer · why

B) JPMorgan Chase

JPMorgan Chase's risk model ran on Excel sheets completed by copying and pasting, and one formula divided by a sum instead of an average, lowering the...

Q 02/05

In an Excel formula, what do the dollar signs in $A$1 do?

A) Keep it fixed when copied

B) Mark it as a total

C) Hide it from view

D) Link it to another sheet

Answer · why

A) Keep it fixed when copied

Keep it fixed when copied: copy =B4*C4 down one row and it becomes =B5*C5, but =$B$4*$C$4 stays exactly the same.

Q 03/05

Behind the scenes, how does Excel store a date such as 1 July 2025?

A) As plain text

B) As a formula

C) As a number

D) As three separate cells

Answer · why

C) As a number

As a number: Excel counts days from a fixed starting date, so adding 10 to a date moves it ten days later.

Q 04/05

Microsoft's first spreadsheet, launched in 1982 for CP/M, was called what?

A) Multiplan

B) SuperCalc

C) Chart

D) Plan-It

Answer · why

A) Multiplan

Multiplan lost the DOS market to a rival, so Bill Gates chose to leave text-based DOS software behind and bet on graphical programs for the Mac and Wi...

Q 05/05

Which Excel tool works backward, adjusting one input until a formula returns the result you want?

A) Scenario Manager

B) Goal Seek

C) Data Table

D) Text to Columns

Answer · why

B) Goal Seek

Goal Seek runs the sum in reverse: tell it the monthly loan payment you can afford, and it finds the interest rate that produces it.