Spreadsheets — AS & A Level Information Technology (9626) questions by topic
Building formulae under real constraints is the core demand of Spreadsheets: calculate concrete quantities, from concrete-mix volumes to tile counts, find and extract values from inconsistent data strings, draw formatted layouts, and state or identify anomalies the formulae themselves reveal.
Marks span an unusually wide 1 to 36, reflecting single-cell formula steps through full multi-stage practical tasks. This page draws on 30 real questions from 2023 and 2024 papers. Practise each stage in sequence and submit for instant marking, since a single wrong function early on, like ROUND instead of ROUNDUP, cascades through every dependent formula that follows.
What examiners look for
- Examiners repeatedly note candidates struggling with the problem-solving element of building formulae, particularly augmenting a working formula at each new stage rather than starting over.
- A common error was omitting ROUNDUP when a cut tile needed rounding up to a whole number, with ROUNDDOWN or plain ROUND seen far more often.
- Reports flag candidates adding a percentage allowance inefficiently, for example multiplying by 0.05 and adding the results instead of multiplying by 1.05 directly.
- A recurring criticism is failing to notice that size strings were not all the same length, which complicated extracting the two dimensions correctly.
- Strong answers used XLOOKUP, or found the position of the 'x' and applied LEFT, RIGHT or MID with string length to isolate each dimension before finding the maximum and minimum.
May–June 2024, Paper 04
Task 1(a) — Spreadsheet: Open CakeSalesData.xls for Llfan Bakery's April 2024 sales. Create a single replicable formula to calculate the cost including tax (items with a TaxCode…
Answer this question and get it marked →February–March 2023, Paper 02
Create a new spreadsheet that looks like this: Row A B C --- --- --- --- 1 Tile Calculator (merged A1:C1) 2 3 Length of wall 3 metres 4 Height of wall 2 metres 5 Is there a…
Answer this question and get it marked →Open a separate worksheet in your workbook using an appropriate worksheet name and import the data from the file m23sizes.csv Examine this data. Enter formulae in column C to…
Answer this question and get it marked →In the worksheet created in step 1, make sure that cell B5 can only contain a blank cell or the letters Y or N in upper or lower case. Add appropriate text for the user. Do not…
Answer this question and get it marked →In cell B7 make sure that a user can select from a drop down list containing the Size of the tiles from step 2.
Answer this question and get it marked →In cell B8 make sure that a user can select from a drop down list containing only Landscape and Portrait. This cell must not be blank.
Answer this question and get it marked →Enter a formula in cell B13 that uses the orientation of the tile and the tile size to display the horizontal tile size. For example, if the tile is 60 x 30 and is in portrait…
Answer this question and get it marked →Enter a formula in cell B16 to calculate the number of tiles required for a wall with no window. To calculate the number of tiles on a wall, the tiler calculates the number of…
Answer this question and get it marked →Enter a formula in cell B17 to calculate the number of tiles required for a wall with a window. The tiler: - calculates the number of tiles for the whole wall. If a tile has to be…
Answer this question and get it marked →Place formulae in your spreadsheet so that if the tile is square the contents of the cells in A8 and B8 are not visible. Place formulae in your spreadsheet so that when the letter…
Answer this question and get it marked →Test this spreadsheet with the following test data and save each test as a spreadsheet with the given file name followed by your centre numbercandidate number (e.g.…
Answer this question and get it marked →February–March 2023, Paper 04
Task 3 - Spreadsheet Challenge. Open Sales.ods in a spreadsheet application. The data has days Mon to Fri in columns C:G, times 8 AM to 5 PM in rows 5 to 14 (column B), with…
Answer this question and get it marked →May–June 2023, Paper 04
Task 3 - A spreadsheet challenge. Open BranchData.ods in a spreadsheet application. The workbook contains data on sales by staff at company branches in different countries. The…
Answer this question and get it marked →October–November 2023, Paper 02
Task 1 You will create a spreadsheet for a quantity surveyor to calculate the amount of concrete required for the foundations for a wall or building. You have been supplied with…
Answer this question and get it marked →Task 2 Examine the data in the files n23climate.csv and n23soil.csv. Import these files into your workbook, using appropriate worksheet names. The data in these worksheets will be…
Answer this question and get it marked →Task 3 In the worksheet created in step 1 make sure that cells B3 and B4 can only contain a blank cell or the letter Y in upper or lower case. Add appropriate text for the user.…
Answer this question and get it marked →Task 4 In cells B6 and B7 make sure that users can select from drop down lists the soil type and climate type. Use the worksheets imported in step 2.
Answer this question and get it marked →Task 5 Enter a function in cell B14 to look up the width of the footing in metres. Use the soil data imported in step 2.
Answer this question and get it marked →Task 6 Enter a function in cell B15 to look up the depth of the footing in metres. Use the soil data imported in step 2.
Answer this question and get it marked →Task 7 Edit the formula placed in step 6 to increase the depth of the footing by the Frost factor percentage. Use the climate data imported in step 2. Depth of footing = Value…
Answer this question and get it marked →Task 8 Enter a formula in cell B16 to calculate the length of the footing in metres. Length of footing = Length of the wall + Width of the footing – 0.1
Answer this question and get it marked →Task 9 Enter a formula in cell B17 to calculate the volume of the footing rounded up to the nearest 0.1 m³. Volume = Width × Depth × Length
Answer this question and get it marked →Task 10 Place formulae in cells F14 and F15 to copy the values from cells B14 and B15.
Answer this question and get it marked →Task 11 Enter a formula in cell F16 to calculate the length of the rectangular footing in metres. Length of footing = 2 × (Length of the building + Width of the building) – 0.4
Answer this question and get it marked →Task 12 Enter a formula in cell F17 to calculate the volume of the footing rounded up to the nearest 0.1 m³. Volume = Width × Depth × Length
Answer this question and get it marked →Task 13 Enter formulae in cells B18 and F18 to calculate the cost of the concrete, rounded to and displayed to the nearest dollar. Concrete costs $124.3654 per cubic metre.
Answer this question and get it marked →Task 14 Edit the formulae placed in steps 5 to 13 so that if the soil is not suitable for strip foundations appropriate messages are displayed in these cells.
Answer this question and get it marked →Task 15 Place formulae in your spreadsheet so that when the letter Y is placed in cell: - B3, the contents of cells in the range E8:G18 are not visible - B4, the contents of cells…
Answer this question and get it marked →Task 16 Test your spreadsheet with the following test data. Save each test as a spreadsheet with the given file name followed by your centre numbercandidate number. QSA2: A…
Answer this question and get it marked →Task 17 There is a problem in the design of this spreadsheet. Identify this problem. Enter in cell A20 of QSA5 what the problem is and how you would resolve this problem. Note you…
Answer this question and get it marked →Other AS & A Level Information Technology topics
- Software (22)
- Security (21)
- The impact of IT (21)
- Multimedia (20)
- Data and information (17)
- Databases (16)
- Systems development life cycle (13)
- Networks (10)
- Web authoring (8)
- Programming (8)
- Hardware (7)
- Monitoring and control (7)
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