How to prepare for a skills test (Excel, SQL, programming)

For analyst, data, and engineering roles, a short skills test — Excel formulas, SQL queries, or programming basics — is now a common early filter. These reward fluency with the everyday fundamentals far more than obscure tricks. The good news: the high-frequency basics are a short, learnable list.

Drill the everyday fundamentals

Most tests stay close to what you use daily. For Excel: SUM/AVERAGE/COUNT, IF, VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP, absolute vs relative references, and a PivotTable. For SQL: SELECT/WHERE, JOINs, GROUP BY with aggregates, and HAVING. For programming: variables, loops, conditionals, arrays, and functions. Being quick and correct on these covers most questions.

Say what you are doing

If the test is reviewed by a human, a one-line note on your approach ("filtered first, then aggregated") shows reasoning even when the final answer is imperfect. Clear thinking is part of what they score.

Check edge cases before you submit

Empty inputs, nulls, duplicates, and off-by-one boundaries are where quick answers break. A ten-second review of the obvious edge cases catches the mistakes that cost the most.

Practise under light time pressure

Knowing a concept and applying it quickly are different skills. A few short, timed reps the week before turns "I know this" into "I can do this fast."

You can take scored Excel, SQL, and programming-basics tests in the ReayonAI Assessment Center, see exactly which areas to shore up, and track your progress before the real thing.