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Excel Crash Course by Wall Street Prep 2025 |
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Private Equity, and Finance Careers
Master Excel for finance with the Wall Street Prep Excel Crash Course (2025 Edition). Learn
essential skills for financial modeling, investment banking, and valuation. Includes hands-on
keyboard shortcuts, formulas, data analysis, and case-based exercises designed by Wall Street
professionals.
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• Excel for Finance course 2025
• Investment banking Excel training
•
If I want to add the title "Company Financials" in cell A1 ensure that all columns are the same width
across all the worksheets in my workbook, how would I do that? - ANSWER-1. Group the wroksheets by
hitting Ctrl Shift and use the PageUp/Down keys to select the worksheets. 2. In the active sheet type in
"Company Financials" in A1 and apply the desired width to all columns 3. Remember to hit Ctrl Pageup
or Pagedown to make sure that future edits only apply to active sheet.
XIRR(values, dates, guess) - ANSWER-returns the IRR for a series of values which may not be periodic
=LEN - ANSWER-tells you the length of characters in cell
=SEARCH(Find Text, Within Text, [Start Number]) - ANSWER-Returns position of character or word within
a block of text
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=FIND(find_text, within_text, start_num) - ANSWER-Search for text within text, case sensitive
=SUBSTITUTE(Text, Old Text, New Text, [Instance Number]) - ANSWER-substitutes a portion of a string
with another string
Flash Fill - ANSWER-CTRL E
=VALUE - ANSWER-recognizes the value as a number
=DATEVALUE - ANSWER-recognizes the value as a date
ALT D S - ANSWER-data tab --> sort
ALT A B - ANSWER-subtotal
ALT A T - ANSWER-auto-filter; filter by a wider range of criteria
ALT N V - ANSWER-creates a pivot table
Keyboard Versus the Mouse - ANSWER-Almost everything that can be done in Excel using a mouse can
also be done using the keyboard shortcuts
Best way to learn is to disconnect the mouse and work through Excel using only the keyboard
Name Box - ANSWER-Tells you what cell you are in (top left below the ribbon)
Formula Bar - ANSWER-When you insert a formula into a cell and hit return, the cell will show you the
output
The formula bar, however, will show you the formula
Next to "fx" right below the ribbon
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Worksheets - ANSWER-An Excel file is called a workbook;
You start with 1 worksheet but you can add/delete more
The active worksheet is highlighted in Excel
Moving Between Worksheets - ANSWER-Ctrl + PageDown/PageUp
(Option + RightArrow/LeftArrow)
Adding Worksheets - ANSWER-(Fn Shift F11)
Columns - ANSWER-Alphabetically labeled (A, B, C, etc.)
What is the keyboard sequence to
1) Group highlighted columns (but not to hide group)
2) Hide the group (will show a + sign above the column)
3) Show the group (will show a + sign above the column) - ANSWER-1. Shift Alt Right Arrow 2. Alt a h 3.
Alt a j
What is the keyboard shortcut to open the paste special dialog box? - ANSWER-Alt e s or Alt h v s
Which of the following keys IS NOT a way to trace precedent cells? - ANSWER-Ctrl Alt [
What is the keyboard shortcut to freeze panes within a worksheet? - ANSWER-Alt W F F
Please select the answer that best describes the shortcut to
Split (not freeze) an excel sheet into just two panes (top and bottom)
To navigate from pane to pane - ANSWER-1. With the active cell on any row but in column A, hit Alt W S
to split the panes to a top and bottom. 2. Hit F6 to jump from pane to pane (in some versions of Excel
you will need to hit F6 several times to get from one pane to the other).
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You are in cell A1 and start a formula by typing = in a worksheet with split top and bottom panes. In
order to jump to the bottom pane while working on the formula: - ANSWER-Hit F6
& - ANSWER-concatenate words and data
EOMONTH(start_date,months) - ANSWER-create monthly date headers by outputting the last day of a
specified month
EDATE(start_date,months) - ANSWER-returns the exact date, x months from the start date
Identify a function in cell D6 that will return the fraction of the year elapsed assuming a 360 day count
basis. - ANSWER-=YEARFRAC(D4,D5,2)
Identify the formula that will always output a date that is the end-of-month date 3 months after the date
inputted in D5. - ANSWER-=EOMONTH(D5,3)
Identify the formula that, based in user inputs in cells B1 and B2, outputs the text "animal lover" for
users who have at least 1 dog and at least one cat, and outputs "lonely person" when those conditions
are not met. - ANSWER-=IF(AND(B1>0,B2>0),"animal lover","lonely person")
All of the following are keyboard shortcut that allow the user input to add more sheets to a workbook
EXCEPT: - ANSWER-Alt h i w
=HLOOKUP(look up value, table range, row number) - ANSWER-searches for a value in the top row of a
table or an array of values and then returns a value in the same column from a row you specify in the
table or array
=VLOOKUP(look up value, table range, column number) - ANSWER-searches for a value in the leftmost
column of a table or an array of values and then returns a value in the same row from a column you
specify in the table or array
=MATCH(lookup_value, lookup_array, match_type) - ANSWER-returns the relative position of an item in
an array that matches a specified lookup value
Excel Crash Course by Wall Street Prep 2025 |
Financial Modeling & Excel for Investment Banking,
Private Equity, and Finance Careers
Master Excel for finance with the Wall Street Prep Excel Crash Course (2025 Edition). Learn
essential skills for financial modeling, investment banking, and valuation. Includes hands-on
keyboard shortcuts, formulas, data analysis, and case-based exercises designed by Wall Street
professionals.
• Wall Street Prep Excel Crash Course
• Excel for Finance course 2025
• Investment banking Excel training
•
If I want to add the title "Company Financials" in cell A1 ensure that all columns are the same width
across all the worksheets in my workbook, how would I do that? - ANSWER-1. Group the wroksheets by
hitting Ctrl Shift and use the PageUp/Down keys to select the worksheets. 2. In the active sheet type in
"Company Financials" in A1 and apply the desired width to all columns 3. Remember to hit Ctrl Pageup
or Pagedown to make sure that future edits only apply to active sheet.
XIRR(values, dates, guess) - ANSWER-returns the IRR for a series of values which may not be periodic
=LEN - ANSWER-tells you the length of characters in cell
=SEARCH(Find Text, Within Text, [Start Number]) - ANSWER-Returns position of character or word within
a block of text
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=FIND(find_text, within_text, start_num) - ANSWER-Search for text within text, case sensitive
=SUBSTITUTE(Text, Old Text, New Text, [Instance Number]) - ANSWER-substitutes a portion of a string
with another string
Flash Fill - ANSWER-CTRL E
=VALUE - ANSWER-recognizes the value as a number
=DATEVALUE - ANSWER-recognizes the value as a date
ALT D S - ANSWER-data tab --> sort
ALT A B - ANSWER-subtotal
ALT A T - ANSWER-auto-filter; filter by a wider range of criteria
ALT N V - ANSWER-creates a pivot table
Keyboard Versus the Mouse - ANSWER-Almost everything that can be done in Excel using a mouse can
also be done using the keyboard shortcuts
Best way to learn is to disconnect the mouse and work through Excel using only the keyboard
Name Box - ANSWER-Tells you what cell you are in (top left below the ribbon)
Formula Bar - ANSWER-When you insert a formula into a cell and hit return, the cell will show you the
output
The formula bar, however, will show you the formula
Next to "fx" right below the ribbon
,3|Page
Worksheets - ANSWER-An Excel file is called a workbook;
You start with 1 worksheet but you can add/delete more
The active worksheet is highlighted in Excel
Moving Between Worksheets - ANSWER-Ctrl + PageDown/PageUp
(Option + RightArrow/LeftArrow)
Adding Worksheets - ANSWER-(Fn Shift F11)
Columns - ANSWER-Alphabetically labeled (A, B, C, etc.)
What is the keyboard sequence to
1) Group highlighted columns (but not to hide group)
2) Hide the group (will show a + sign above the column)
3) Show the group (will show a + sign above the column) - ANSWER-1. Shift Alt Right Arrow 2. Alt a h 3.
Alt a j
What is the keyboard shortcut to open the paste special dialog box? - ANSWER-Alt e s or Alt h v s
Which of the following keys IS NOT a way to trace precedent cells? - ANSWER-Ctrl Alt [
What is the keyboard shortcut to freeze panes within a worksheet? - ANSWER-Alt W F F
Please select the answer that best describes the shortcut to
Split (not freeze) an excel sheet into just two panes (top and bottom)
To navigate from pane to pane - ANSWER-1. With the active cell on any row but in column A, hit Alt W S
to split the panes to a top and bottom. 2. Hit F6 to jump from pane to pane (in some versions of Excel
you will need to hit F6 several times to get from one pane to the other).
, 4|Page
You are in cell A1 and start a formula by typing = in a worksheet with split top and bottom panes. In
order to jump to the bottom pane while working on the formula: - ANSWER-Hit F6
& - ANSWER-concatenate words and data
EOMONTH(start_date,months) - ANSWER-create monthly date headers by outputting the last day of a
specified month
EDATE(start_date,months) - ANSWER-returns the exact date, x months from the start date
Identify a function in cell D6 that will return the fraction of the year elapsed assuming a 360 day count
basis. - ANSWER-=YEARFRAC(D4,D5,2)
Identify the formula that will always output a date that is the end-of-month date 3 months after the date
inputted in D5. - ANSWER-=EOMONTH(D5,3)
Identify the formula that, based in user inputs in cells B1 and B2, outputs the text "animal lover" for
users who have at least 1 dog and at least one cat, and outputs "lonely person" when those conditions
are not met. - ANSWER-=IF(AND(B1>0,B2>0),"animal lover","lonely person")
All of the following are keyboard shortcut that allow the user input to add more sheets to a workbook
EXCEPT: - ANSWER-Alt h i w
=HLOOKUP(look up value, table range, row number) - ANSWER-searches for a value in the top row of a
table or an array of values and then returns a value in the same column from a row you specify in the
table or array
=VLOOKUP(look up value, table range, column number) - ANSWER-searches for a value in the leftmost
column of a table or an array of values and then returns a value in the same row from a column you
specify in the table or array
=MATCH(lookup_value, lookup_array, match_type) - ANSWER-returns the relative position of an item in
an array that matches a specified lookup value