Revision

Please note that this revision list is not an exhaustive document and is only to be used to support your
revision in addition to the lesson resources and exercises.

This document will…

• Provide information and language required in order to access the questions in the exam

• Give you an idea to the structure to some of the questions

• Provide a starting point to your revision.

If you require support, please post a message on Microsoft Teams with your teacher tagged. (@James
Morgan or @Teresa Loader)

1a - (Spreadsheet Skills)- I can demonstrate my spreadsheet skills in being able to write basic
formulae and functions
What type of questions might I see?

Questions relating to this topic might ask you to build a formulae or function. In order to answer these
questions confidently you will need to know the difference between a formulae and a function and
should be able write a solution to a simple mathematical problem when shown data.

What skills and knowledge do I need?

To identify a cell in Excel you must look at the letters at the top and the numbers to the left of the cell.
Add these together and you will end up with the cell reference. Notice text below is in cell C3.

It is possible to reference a range of cells (many cells in a set space). To do this we use a colon and state
the first and last cell within that range. The range of the cells selected below would be A2:E2
There are two types of calculations that you can use within Excel.

A formulae is a mathematical equation that is made up of…

• Numbers
• Arithmetic operators (+, /, *, -)
• Cell references

A formulae will always start with an ‘=’

The picture below shows how to add together the two numbers using a formulae

Notice the formulae ‘=B1+D1’

A function is a mathematical operation which has been pre-built for you and can be used by pressing the
function button (See below).

(Note the Fx is the function button)

You should know both how to use and the purpose of the following functions…

• Sum() - Used to add together a range of cells

• Average() - Used to find the mean of a range of cells
• Min() - used to find the lowest value within a range of cells
• Max() used to find the highest value within a range of cells

1b - (Spreadsheet Skills) - I can demonstrate my spreadsheet skills in being able to format a cell
(border and colour)
What type of questions might I see?

Questions relating to this topic will either ask you;

• to suggest what formatting should be applied to a set of data to make it appropriate for a
specific audience or make the data easier to read.
• to choose the correct tools to apply formatting to a cell. This may include borders or colour.
What skills and knowledge do I need?

There are two ways to modify the format of a cell. The first of these is to add a border to the cell. The
window for setting theses options are shown below.

From this you should be able to identify and suggest appropriate line styles and should also be able to
choose the correct options to be able to select a border around the most appropriate area of the cell
range.

1c - (Spreadsheet Skills) - I can demonstrate my spreadsheet skills in being able to format a cell
(data types)
What type of questions might I see?

Questions relating to this topic will require you to understand the primitive datatypes; General, Number,
Currency, Date, Text.

What skills and knowledge do I need?

Firstly, you will need to know what each of the data types is used for. These are listed below.

Data type Used for

General This is not actually a data type. It is set by default and has not distinguishing
features.
Number This data type is used for any type of number. Note: This data type will
always remove the leading zero of any number
Currency Storing any data relating to money. It can be set to any currency and has two
decimal places
Date Storing any date or time. It can be configured to hold more information
relating to the date if you need it. For example, it can store the date as 14-
05-2019 or 14/May/2019 or many other variations
Text Store data as text.

Care should be taken when selecting data types for numbers when shown phone numbers or credit card
numbers. These should be selected as Text as the leading zero will be removed if set to Number. (i.e.
0556875899 would become 556875899 if stored as a number).
1d - (Spreadsheet Skills) - I can demonstrate my spreadsheet skills in being able to use autofill
What type of questions might I see?

Questions relating to this topic will ask you either for a description of why autofill is useful, or it will ask
you to predict what a formulae might be in an another cell after autofill has been applied.

What skills and knowledge do I need?

Autofill is used to help save you time when you need to write many formulae that follow a pattern. Look
at the example below to help understand where you would need to use autofill.

You may be tempted to add a formulae to each cell in turn. This would work but it would take you a long
time. If you used autofill you would be able to save a lot of time!

1. Type in the formulae in the cell

2. Click on the cell and look for the small square box located in the bottom right hand side of the
box

3. Click and drag this box down to automatically add the formulae to the other cells.
2e - I am able to enhance this model with a graph to make it easier to form conclusions that will
allow me to identify which product is better
What type of questions might I see?

Questions relating to this topic will not ask you to create a graph within Excel. It will however ask you to
identify the most appropriate graph for a particular purpose and may ask you to study data presented
within a graph to choose the most suitable mortgage product for a user.

What skills and knowledge do I need?

What type of graph should I use?

A Line graph.

Line graphs are used to track changes over short and long periods of time. When smaller changes exist,
line graphs are better to use than bar graphs. Line graphs can also be used to compare changes over the
same period of time for more than one group.

A Pie Chart.

Pie charts are best to use when you are trying to compare parts of a whole. They do not show changes
over time.

A Bar Graph.

Bar graphs are used to compare things between different groups or to track changes over time.
However, when trying to measure change over time, bar graphs are best when the changes are larger.
An Area Graph.

Area graphs are very similar to line graphs. They can be used to track changes over time for one or more
groups. Area graphs are good to use when you are tracking the changes in two or more related groups
that make up one whole category (for example public and private groups).

An X-Y Plot.

X-Y plots are used to determine relationships between the two different things. The x-axis is used to
measure one event (or variable) and the y-axis is used to measure the other. If both variables increase at
the same time, they have a positive relationship. If one variable decrease while the other increases, they
have a negative relationship. Sometimes the variables don't follow any pattern and have no relationship.
 Spreadsheet Modelling

At the end of this Unit all pupils should be able to:

• Give examples of how computer models are used in the real world
• Format a simple spreadsheet model
• Use simple formulae and functions
• Name cells in a spreadsheet model
• Use a simple spreadsheet model to explore different “what if” scenarios
• Create a basic pie chart to display results
Most pupils will be able to:
• Explain what is meant by a financial model
• Explain the advantages of naming cells in a spreadsheet model
• Format, construct and manipulate a simple spreadsheet model using formulae
• Use conditional functions in calculations
• Use conditional formatting
• Use a spreadsheet model to predict and test the outcomes for different scenarios
Some pupils will be able to:
• Justify the formatting they have used in a spreadsheet model
• Present information from a spreadsheet model in a variety of formats
• Create a macro and assign it to a button on the spreadsheet
• Customise a chart to present information effectively
• Evaluate the effectiveness of a computer model

L1: Computer Models

Computer models enable us to simulate real world scenarios and test them without incurring danger,
cost etc. Think of a bridge. Computer models are used to test whether a bridge is stable without using
trial and error and the associated cost, time implication, danger etc.
Who uses computer models?

• Engineers use models to predict the effects of extreme weather and earthquakes on designs for
new buildings and bridges

• Aircraft manufacturers use models to test the aerodynamics of new designs

• Weather forecasters use models of the atmosphere to predict the weather

• Businesses use financial models to investigate ways of making more profit

Spreadsheets are often used to model real-life situations. They can help predict the likely outcome of
certain decisions. E.g.

• “What if” I reduce the price of my product?

• “What if” I increase the amount I spend on advertising?

Spreadsheet Skills Recap

Feature Explanation Example

Formulae and You can put text, a formula or a function in a = C12*0.55
functions spreadsheet cell
Start a formula or function with an = sign = SUM(D12:D21)

Absolute The $ signs tells Excel to ‘lock’ the cell. Even $B$4 is known as an Absolute
referencing when we copy a formula which references (unchanging) cell reference.
this cell to another area, it will always
reference B4. (It has nothing to do with US
dollars in this context)

Formatting tools You can format the spreadsheet in different

ways
Change the font properties

Change the number format of cells

Change the alignment of the cell

Merge and centre cells

L2: Creating a financial model

In this lesson we created a financial model to predict the profit on the sale of merchandise. We
researched appropriate pricing for merchandise sold in the UK and based the numbers sold on previous
sales of a similar TV series which ran in the USA.

However, this was not a fair comparison for many reasons. In class we estimated the population of the
USA to be five times the size of the population of the UK, therefore we had to adjust our sales
expectations accordingly. Also, some students believed certain items such as baseball hats to be more
popular in the states than in the UK.
In order to calculate the forecast profit figure above, we entered a formula manually.

(Selling Price-Cost Price) * Target Sales

In the exam you will be given examples such as this and told to enter the correct formula using cell
references. In this case the formula was:

=(C7-B7)*D7
We did not need to use absolute cell references when we copied the formula down as we wanted the
cell references to change each time.

We then used the SUM function to work out the Total Forecast Profit.

=SUM(E7:E20)
Using an inbuilt excel function such as this is more efficient than writing a massive formula:

(=E7+E8+E9…)

The target profit figure of 1,500,000 has been entered into the cell for convenience. Comparing our
total forecast figure of 1,116,625 we can see that we are falling short of our target profit. It is now easy
for us to increase our selling prices to see the effect on our forecast profit. We can easily increase the
prices and watch our spreadsheet model update as we get closer to our target profit.

L3: What if scenarios

One of the great advantages of using a spreadsheet is that you can try out different options

‘What if’ we charge more for T-shirts?

‘What if’ we lower the price on hoodies and sell twice

as many?

What other scenarios can we try?

In this lesson we were introduced to some new excel functions and some new concepts that would help
us analyse our potential sales figures:

Function / Explanation Example

Concept
MAX Function The max function returns the =MAX(A1:A20)
cell with the highest value in
a range.

Named Cells Sometimes spreadsheets are

easier to understand cells are
referred to by a name rather
than its usual coordinates.
This makes it easier for users
to interpret formulas when
reading spreadsheets.

To name a cell, place the

cursor in it and write a name
in the name box in the top
left then press enter. Note
that the name chosen cannot
contain spaces.
IF Function The result of an ‘IF’ function
depends on a condition
which you specify

If a condition is true, then

show some value, if it is not
true show a different value.

=IF(Condition,value if
true,value if false)

In this example, if the student score is greater

than 80, ‘Good’ is returned. If the score is not
greater than 80 the result is ‘Bad’.
Sort To sort data by column into
ascending or descending
order, the button across can
be found under the data tab.
L4: Seat Booking

In this lesson, we used a model of a simple seating plan to develop a seat booking system
which allows for different categories of seat and different discounts for students and children.
As part of the lesson we explored formatting, conditional formatting, data validation and the
countif formula.

Skill Explanation Example

Formatting Formatting is simply about presentation
and making sure the data presented is
clear to the user. We covered topics such
as fill colours, cell borders, font styles,
font size etc in Year 7. In this lesson we
also made use of alignment buttons and
the ‘merge and centre’ button.

Conditional Conditional formatting is changing the

Formatting appearance of a cell if a certain condition
is true.

In this lesson, we wanted cells that had

been sold to appear grey. We set the
condition as ‘if cell is not blank, then
format to grey colour.’

To do this, from the Home tab select

Conditional formatting, New Rule,
Format only cells that contain No Blanks.
Click the Format button and choose a
grey colour.
Data
Data validation is ensuring the data
validation
entered to the spreadsheet is valid. In
order to analyse information effectively,
it is important to ensure consistency so it
helps to limit the values a user can enter
into a cell. In this lesson, we added a
drop down menu so the user could only
enter A, C or S when a ticket was sold to
an adult, child or student. If the user
tried to type ‘adult’ or miskeyed an entry,
a dialogue box would open to advise the
user how to enter the information
correctly.
There are many other types of data
validation such as those described below.

Range check – ensures numbers are

between a defined range e.g. 0-100 in a
field to enter a percentage
Type check – ensures data is of a certain
type; either a number, letters or a date e.g.
entering an numeric age in a field
Length check – ensures data is of a
certain number of charaters e.g. a
telephone number is usually 11 charaters
Format check – ensures data is of a
certain format e.g. a postcode is always
the same format of letters and numbers
(although some are optional)
Presence check – ensures a value has
been entered. This could be anything, but
is frequently made obvious by the
presence of a * beside a mandatory field
on a web form.

COUNTIF The format of this function is

function COUNTIF (range, criterion)

The function counts the number of cells

within a range that meet a single
criterion that you specify. So to count the
number of premium seats sold to adults,
(cell Y13), you need to enter the formula
=COUNTIF(E9:P10, “A”).
L5: Macros & Charts

Many of you are familiar with macros from gaming. A macro is a small program that you can use to
automate a series of tasks. When you create a macro, you record the keystrokes and mouse clicks and
save them. In gaming, you might record a series of movements (running, shooting, jumping) then play
them with the push of one button. Excel also has macros. Often with spreadsheets, users must perform
a series of repetitive tasks. It helps to record these so they can be performed repeatedly. You can then
create a button to run the macro.

Reset all seats

In this lesson, we created a macro to clear all the seat bookings so that the spreadsheet could be reset
at the push of a button.

Steps:

1) Make sure the Developer tab is visible.

Click the File tab, click Options and click Customize Ribbon in the left column of the window. In
the Main Tabs list, click Developer, then click OK.

2) Record the macro.

In the Code group on the Developer tab, click Record Macro. Enter a name in the Macro Name
box, a shortcut key in the Shortcut key box, a description in the Description box. Click OK to
start recording.

Now clear all the seats in your seat plan. Remember, all your keystrokes are being recorded.
Click Stop Recording when you have cleared the seats.

3) Insert a button.

Insert a Form Control Button from the Insert Controls menu and select your macro to assign to
it. Rename the text on the button.
CHARTS

Charts are a useful way of displaying data in an easy-to-grasp, visual way.

A bar chart can be used when you have one or

more series of data to display – say, maximum
and minimum monthly temperatures

A pie chart is useful to display parts of a whole –

say, the number or percentage of pupils in a year
group getting A, B, C or D grades

Pie charts are only suitable when showing parts

of a whole. They cannot be used, for example, to
show average monthly temperatures. Nor can
they be used when there are more than about 6
data items to be shown – they lose their clarity!

Why are these unsuitable choices of chart to display this data?