Practical Tasks For

Spreadsheets

Using

Microsoft Excel

Candidate’s Name

___________________________________________________
 Contents

PRACTICAL TASK 1 ........................................................................................................................... 3

STUDENT CHECKLIST 1 ................................................................................................................... 5

PRACTICAL TASK 2 ........................................................................................................................... 6

STUDENT CHECKLIST 2 ................................................................................................................... 8

PRACTICAL TASK 3 ........................................................................................................................... 9

STUDENT CHECKLIST 3 ................................................................................................................. 12

PRACTICAL TASK 4 ......................................................................................................................... 13

STUDENT CHECKLIST 4 ................................................................................................................. 15

PRACTICAL TASK 5 ......................................................................................................................... 16

STUDENT CHECKLIST 5 ................................................................................................................. 19

PRACTICAL TASK 6 ......................................................................................................................... 20

STUDENT CHECKLIST 6 ................................................................................................................. 22

 Spreadsheet Unit

Practical Task 1

You are going to construct a spreadsheet that calculates the cost of the petrol bill for a
motorist for the year.

Note: ➢ = something you should do.

➢ Load Excel

➢ Begin by entering the title Annual Petrol Bill in

cell A1. Set underline and bold.

➢ On row 3, column A, enter Name and underline it

➢ On row 3, column B, enter a name.

➢ On row 5, column A, enter Month and underline

it. Centre it.

➢ On row 6, column A, enter the month Jan.

Replicate it to give 12 months ( see right ) or type
the entries.

➢ On row 5, column B, enter £’s and underline it.

Centre it.

➢ Enter the rest of the data so that your spreadsheet

looks like the one to the right.

➢ Place your cursor in cell B19 and enter a formula using an =SUM( function
that adds all of the monthly bills. The total should be 469

➢ Save the spreadsheet as PetrolBills1.xls

(remember to use the correct drive and folder)

Oops, I made a mistake for the September sales.

➢ Change the Sep figure to 37

Check that the correct figure for the total is 467
➢ Move to cell A20 and enter the word Average

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 ➢ Move to cell B20 and write a formula that uses
the total in cell B19 and divides it by 12.
➢ The average should be 38.916667
➢ In cell A22, enter your name
➢ Save the file as PetrolBills2.xls
➢ Do a Print Preview
➢ If satisfactory, print the file.
➢ Close the spreadsheet

Your spreadsheet should look something like the one

opposite.

Now, go to the next page and complete the Student Checklist for this activity.

Note: Some performance criteria may be difficult to prove as the process cannot be printed. In
these cases:

• Whilst the process or data is on screen, press the <Print Screen> key once.

• Use a blank word document and press <CTRL> + V

• Print the image that appears.

4
 Spreadsheet Unit

Student Checklist 1
Student Name: ____________________
Task 1 Evidence to Support
Load Excel

Move the cursor around the screen

Place text and numeric data on the sheet

Edit entries to text and data

Delete entries on the sheet

Use simple addition formulae

Use the SUM function

Save the sheet to disk / hard drive

Close the sheet

Exit the application

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 Spreadsheet Unit

Practical Task 2

You are going to construct a spreadsheet that calculates the cost of duvets that are
given a £5.00 discount each if 2 or more are bought.

Note: ➢ = something you should do.

➢ Load Excel

➢ Select a new spreadsheet

➢ In cell A1, enter the title All Season Goosedown Duvets. Set underline and
bold.

➢ On row 1, column D, enter 13.5 TOG and set bold.

➢ On row 3, column A, enter Code and set bold.

➢ On row 3, column B, enter Item and set bold.

➢ On row 3, column C, enter Buy 1 and set bold. Centre it.

➢ On row 3, column D, enter Buy 2+ and set bold. Centre it.

➢ Enter the following data into your sheet:

Code Item Buy 1

W174 Single Duvet £99.95
W175 Double Duvet £120.95
W176 King Duvet £179.95
W177 SuperKing Duvet £194.95
W178 Goosedown Pillow £39.95

Note: you will need to adjust the width of column B, and perhaps others, to
complete this task.

➢ Place your cursor in cell D4 and enter a formula using the =SUM() function
that takes the cost of the duvet on row 4 (99.95) and subtracts 5 from this
figure. The total should be 94.95

➢ Replicate the formula in cell D4 down to cell D7

➢ Oops, I made a mistake for the Double Duvet. The cost should be 137.95.
Please correct this error.

➢ In cell A12, enter your name

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 ➢ Save the file as duvets.xls
➢ Do a Print Preview
➢ If satisfactory, print the file
➢ Close the spreadsheet

Your spreadsheet should look something like the one below.

Now, go to the next page and complete the Student Checklist for this activity.

Note: Some performance criteria may be difficult to prove as the process cannot be printed. In
these cases:

• Whilst the process or data is on screen, press the <Print Screen> key once.

• Use a blank word document and press <CTRL> + V

• Print the image that appears.

7
 Spreadsheet Unit

Student Checklist 2
Student Name: ____________________

In addition to the skills in Task 1, the following skills were used:

Task 2 Evidence to Support
Apply Bold and Underline

Centred data within a column

Adjust column width

Edit entries on the sheet

Use the SUM function

Replicate (copy) formulas

Save the sheet to disk / hard drive

Close the sheet

Exit the application

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 Spreadsheet Unit

Practical Task 3

You are going to construct a spreadsheet that calculates the sales of newspapers from
the newsagents for a month.

Note: ➢ = something you should do.

➢ Load Excel

➢ Select a new spreadsheet

➢ In cell A1, enter the title High Flats Newsagents. Set underline and bold.

➢ On row 3, column A, enter Newspaper and set bold.

Note: you will need to adjust column widths to make things fit.

➢ On row 3, column B, enter Week 1 and set bold. Centre it. Enter weeks 2, 3
and 4 for columns C, D and E.

➢ On row 3, column F, enter Price and set bold. Centre it.

➢ On row 3, column G, enter Total Value and set bold.

➢ Enter the following data into your sheet:

Newspaper Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 Price

Daily Mail 223 219 231 216 0.45
Sun 332 349 327 341 0.38
Daily Telegraph 125 131 120 128 0.55
Times 98 87 88 93 0.68
Daily Express 265 276 266 284 0.40
The Guardian 112 114 112 111 0.55

Note: you will need to set the decimal places to 2 for the prices.

➢ Go to cell A10. Enter Total Sales and set bold.

➢ Go to cell B10. Enter a formula to add all the sales of newspapers for the
week. The total should be 1155.

➢ Replicate this formula across to column E.

➢ Insert a new column B. Move the Prices data to this new column.

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 Your spreadsheet should look like the one below:

Note: you may need to adjust the width of column B to complete this task.

➢ Select Column G. Delete this column.

➢ Place your cursor in cell G4 and enter a formula using the =SUM() function
that takes the sales for the month and multiplies the answer by the price of the
newspaper to calculate the value of he sales for each newspaper. The total in
cell G4 should be 400.05.
The formula will look something like this: =SUM(B1:D1)*A1

Note: you will need to set the decimal places to 2 in this column.

➢ Replicate the formula in cell G4 down to cell G9.

Your spreadsheet should look like the one below:

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 ➢ In cell A12, enter your name
➢ Save the file as newsagent1
➢ Close the spreadsheet

Now, go to the next page and complete the Student Checklist for this activity.

Note: Some performance criteria may be difficult to prove as the process cannot be printed. In
these cases:

• Whilst the process or data is on screen, press the <Print Screen> key once.

• Use a blank word document and press <CTRL> + V

• Print the image that appears.

11
 Spreadsheet Unit

Student Checklist 3
Student Name: ____________________

In addition to the skills in Tasks 1 & 2, the following skills were used:
Task 3 Evidence to Support
Move blocks of data

Insert a column

Adjust column width

Delete a column

Use the SUM function

Replicate (copy) formulas

Set decimal places

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 Spreadsheet Unit

Practical Task 4

You are going to modify the newsagent1 spreadsheet.

Note: ➢ = something you should do.

➢ Load Excel

➢ Locate and open the newsagent1 spreadsheet

➢ In cell A1, set the font size to 14

➢ On row 10, insert a new row.

Note: the existing contents of row 10 will move to row 11

➢ On row 3, column H, enter Average and set bold. Centre it.

➢ On row 4, column H, enter a formula to take the total sales of each newspaper
and divide the answer by 4 (the number of weeks) to get the average sales per
week. Your answer should be 100.01

➢ Replicate the formula in cell H4 down to cell H9.

Note: you may need to set decimal places to 2 in this column.

➢ Go to cell A12. Enter Average and set bold.

➢ Go to cell C12. Enter a formula that calculates the average sales for week 1.
The answer should be 193 when set to 0 decimal places.

➢ Replicate the formula in cell C12 across to F12.

Your spreadsheet should look like the one below:

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 ➢ Select the range A4:F9 and sort the data into ascending order by Newspaper.
Use Method 2 – page 23 or the data will not sort correctly. Make sure you
select No Header Row before sorting.

➢ Delete the row 10 as we will not need it after all.

➢ Open Header and Footer and put your name in the header – centre box.

➢ Delete your name entry from the sheet if present.

➢ Save the spreadsheet as newsagent2

➢ Do a Print Preview

➢ If satisfactory, print the file

➢ Close the spreadsheet

Now, go to the next page and complete the Student Checklist for this activity.

Note: Some performance criteria may be difficult to prove as the process cannot be printed. In
these cases:

• Whilst the process or data is on screen, press the <Print Screen> key once.

• Use a blank word document and press <CTRL> + V

• Print the image that appears.

14
 Spreadsheet Unit

Student Checklist 4
Student Name: ____________________

In addition to the skills in Tasks 1, 2 & 3, the following skills were used:
Task 4 Evidence to Support
Select a file from amongst others

Open an existing spreadsheet

Sorted data in ascending order

Delete a row

Delete entries

Set a header entry

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 Spreadsheet Unit

Practical Task 5

You are going to modify the newsagent1 spreadsheet.

Note: ➢ = something you should do.

➢ Load Excel

➢ Locate and open the newsagent2 spreadsheet

➢ Select the range A3:F9 and apply a heavy border to this area

➢ Select the range A10:F11 and apply a heavy border to this area

➢ Select the range G3:H9 and apply a heavy border to this area

Your spreadsheet should look like the one below:

➢ Save the spreadsheet as newsagent3

➢ Do a Print Preview

➢ If satisfactory, print the file

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 ➢ Select the correct command to display formulas.

➢ Select the correct command to change to Landscape view.

➢ Correct any column widths making sure that no data are hidden.

➢ Do a Print Preview

➢ If satisfactory, print the file

➢ Remove the Display Formulas command and readjust column widths if

required.

➢ Set the page to Portrait view again

➢ Select rows 3 to 9

➢ Set the row height to 17

➢ Save the spreadsheet with the same name

➢ Do a Print Preview

➢ If satisfactory, print the file

➢ Close the spreadsheet

➢ Exit Excel

Your spreadsheet should look like the example below:

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Now, go to the next page and complete the Student Checklist for this activity.

Note: Some performance criteria may be difficult to prove as the process cannot be printed. In
these cases:

• Whilst the process or data is on screen, press the <Print Screen> key once.

• Use a blank word document and press <CTRL> + V

• Print the image that appears.

18
 Spreadsheet Unit

Student Checklist 5
Student Name: ____________________

In addition to the skills in Tasks 1, 2, 3 & 4 the following skills were used:
Task 5 Evidence to Support
Open an existing spreadsheet

Select and apply borders

Set row height

Display formulas

Set page to Landscape view

Save without re-naming file

Reverse the effects of a previous

command

Set a header entry

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 Spreadsheet Unit

Practical Task 6

You are going to modify the duvets spreadsheet.

Note: ➢ = something you should do.

➢ Load Excel

➢ Locate and open the duvets spreadsheet

➢ Select the range A1:D8 and copy this data

➢ Go to cell A10 and paste the data

➢ Select the range A13:C17 and delete this data

➢ Enter the new data below to the range A13:C16

Code Item Buy 1

W1719 Single Duvet 67.95
W1720 Double Duvet 92.95
W1721 King Duvet 107.95
W1722 SuperKing Duvet 134.95

➢ Go to cell D10 and change the entry to 10.5 TOG and set bold

Your spreadsheet should look like the example below:

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 ➢ Save the spreadsheet as duvets2

➢ Do a Print Preview

➢ If satisfactory, print the file

➢ Close the spreadsheet

➢ Exit Excel

Now, go to the next page and complete the Student Checklist for this activity.

Note: Some performance criteria may be difficult to prove as the process cannot be printed. In
these cases:

• Whilst the process or data is on screen, press the <Print Screen> key once.

• Use a blank word document and press <CTRL> + V

• Print the image that appears.

21
 Spreadsheet Unit

Student Checklist 6
Student Name: ____________________

In addition to the skills in Tasks 1, 2, 3 & 4 the following skills were used:
Task 6 Evidence to Support
Open an existing spreadsheet

Select and delete a range of cells

Look at files on your disk

Copy and Paste data and formulas

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