MIS Interview Handbook: SQL & Google

Sheets (Easy, Medium, Hard)

SQL - Easy
 1. Q: What is SQL and what is its primary purpose?

A: SQL is a language used to communicate with databases to perform tasks like

retrieving, updating, and manipulating data.
 2. Q: How do you select all records from a table named `customers`?

A: SELECT * FROM customers;

 3. Q: Write a query to display only the `name` and `email` columns from a table named
`users`.

A: SELECT name, email FROM users;

 4. Q: What does the WHERE clause do in SQL?

A: It filters records that meet specific conditions.

 5. Q: How can you sort results by a column called `created_at` in descending order?

A: SELECT * FROM table_name ORDER BY created_at DESC;

 6. Q: What is a primary key?

A: A column or set of columns that uniquely identify a row in a table.

 7. Q: What does the `COUNT(*)` function do?

A: It returns the total number of rows in a table or query.

 8. Q: How do you retrieve only unique values from a column `department`?

A: SELECT DISTINCT department FROM employees;

 9. Q: What is the purpose of the `LIMIT` clause?

A: It restricts the number of rows returned by a query.

 10. Q: Write a query to find users who live in 'New York'.

A: SELECT * FROM users WHERE city = 'New York';

 11. Q: How do you check for NULL values in SQL?

A: Use `IS NULL` or `IS NOT NULL`.

 12. Q: What is a foreign key?

A: A key used to link two tables together.

 13. Q: Write a query to count how many employees are in the 'HR' department.

A: SELECT COUNT(*) FROM employees WHERE department = 'HR';

 14. Q: What is the difference between `=` and `LIKE` in SQL?

A: `=` matches exact value; `LIKE` matches patterns.

 15. Q: How do you rename a column in the result set?

A: Use an alias: SELECT name AS employee_name FROM employees;

 16. Q: How do you combine first and last name into one column?

A: SELECT CONCAT(first_name, ' ', last_name) AS full_name FROM employees;

 17. Q: How do you calculate the average salary from a table `employees`?

A: SELECT AVG(salary) FROM employees;

 18. Q: What function would you use to find the maximum value in a column?

A: MAX() function.
 19. Q: What does the `GROUP BY` clause do?

A: Groups rows that have the same values into summary rows.
 20. Q: How do you get the current date in SQL?

A: SELECT CURRENT_DATE;

SQL - Medium
 1. Q: Write a query to get the number of employees in each department.

A: SELECT department, COUNT(*) FROM employees GROUP BY department;

 2. Q: How do you find all customers who haven't placed an order?

A: Use LEFT JOIN on customers and orders, filter where order_id IS NULL.
 3. Q: Write a query to get the average salary per department.

A: SELECT department, AVG(salary) FROM employees GROUP BY department;

 4. Q: Explain the difference between `INNER JOIN` and `LEFT JOIN`.

A: `INNER JOIN` returns matched records; `LEFT JOIN` returns all records from the left
table and matched ones from the right.
 5. Q: How do you find the second highest salary?

A: SELECT MAX(salary) FROM employees WHERE salary < (SELECT MAX(salary) FROM
employees);
 6. Q: Write a query to find employees hired after 2022.

A: SELECT * FROM employees WHERE hire_date > '2022-12-31';

 7. Q: How do you get the number of employees hired each year?

A: SELECT YEAR(hire_date), COUNT(*) FROM employees GROUP BY YEAR(hire_date);

 8. Q: What does the `HAVING` clause do?

A: Filters groups after aggregation, like WHERE does for rows.

 9. Q: How do you find the total sales for each region where sales exceeded 10000?

A: SELECT region, SUM(sales) FROM data GROUP BY region HAVING SUM(sales) >
10000;
 10. Q: Write a query to update a user’s email by their ID.

A: UPDATE users SET email = '[email protected]' WHERE id = 1;

 11. Q: How do you delete all records from a table without deleting the table?

A: DELETE FROM table_name;

 12. Q: How do you create an index on a column?

A: CREATE INDEX index_name ON table_name(column_name);

 13. Q: What is normalization in databases?

A: The process of organizing data to reduce redundancy and improve integrity.

 14. Q: How can you join three tables in a single query?

A: Use multiple JOIN clauses.

 15. Q: What is a subquery?

A: A query nested inside another query.

 16. Q: Write a query using a subquery to find employees with above average salary.

A: SELECT * FROM employees WHERE salary > (SELECT AVG(salary) FROM employees);
 17. Q: Explain the difference between `UNION` and `UNION ALL`.

A: `UNION` removes duplicates, `UNION ALL` includes all records.

 18. Q: How do you fetch the top 5 highest paid employees?
 A: SELECT * FROM employees ORDER BY salary DESC LIMIT 5;
 19. Q: What are indexes and why are they used?

A: Indexes speed up data retrieval from tables.

 20. Q: How would you change a column's data type?

A: ALTER TABLE table_name MODIFY column_name NEW_DATATYPE;

SQL - Hard
 1. Q: How do you handle duplicate records in SQL?

A: Use GROUP BY, DISTINCT, or DELETE with ROW_NUMBER().

 2. Q: Write a query to remove duplicate emails from a `users` table, keeping the first
entry.

A: Use CTE with ROW_NUMBER and DELETE where row > 1.

 3. Q: What are window functions in SQL?

A: Functions that perform calculations across a set of rows related to the current row.
 4. Q: Write a query using ROW_NUMBER to get top employee in each department.

A: Use PARTITION BY department ORDER BY salary DESC.

 5. Q: How do you pivot a table in SQL?

A: Use CASE statements with aggregation functions.

 6. Q: Explain transaction control commands in SQL.

A: COMMIT, ROLLBACK, and SAVEPOINT manage transactions.

 7. Q: What is a stored procedure?

A: A saved SQL query that can be reused with parameters.

 8. Q: How do you create a temporary table?

A: CREATE TEMPORARY TABLE temp_table (...);

 9. Q: Write a query to get cumulative sales per region.

A: Use SUM(sales) OVER (PARTITION BY region ORDER BY date).

 10. Q: What is the use of the COALESCE function?

A: Returns the first non-null value in a list.

 11. Q: Explain the difference between DELETE, TRUNCATE, and DROP.
 A: DELETE = remove rows, TRUNCATE = reset table, DROP = delete structure.
 12. Q: Write a query to list employees hired in the last 6 months.

A: Use CURRENT_DATE and DATE_SUB for comparison.

 13. Q: How do you extract only the domain from an email field?

A: Use SUBSTRING or SPLIT functions depending on DBMS.

 14. Q: What’s the difference between correlated and non-correlated subqueries?

A: Correlated subqueries refer to outer query values; non-correlated do not.

 15. Q: How do you find duplicate rows based on multiple columns?

A: GROUP BY multiple columns HAVING COUNT(*) > 1.

 16. Q: What are the types of joins available in SQL?

A: INNER, LEFT, RIGHT, FULL OUTER, CROSS JOIN.

 17. Q: Write a query that joins employees with their managers.

A: SELF JOIN on employees table using manager_id.

 18. Q: How do you handle NULL values in aggregation?

A: Functions like COUNT, SUM, AVG ignore NULLs by default.

 19. Q: What is the use of EXISTS clause?

A: Checks if a subquery returns any result.

 20. Q: Write a query that ranks employees by salary within their department.

A: Use RANK() OVER (PARTITION BY department ORDER BY salary DESC);

Google Sheets - Easy

 1. Q: What does the SUM function do in Google Sheets?

A: Explains the SUM function.

 2. Q: What does the AVERAGE function do in Google Sheets?

A: Explains the AVERAGE function.

 3. Q: What does the COUNT function do in Google Sheets?

A: Explains the COUNT function.

 4. Q: What does the IF function do in Google Sheets?

A: Explains the IF function.

 5. Q: What does the VLOOKUP function do in Google Sheets?

A: Explains the VLOOKUP function.

 6. Q: What does the HLOOKUP function do in Google Sheets?

A: Explains the HLOOKUP function.

 7. Q: What does the LEN function do in Google Sheets?

A: Explains the LEN function.

 8. Q: What does the CONCATENATE function do in Google Sheets?

A: Explains the CONCATENATE function.

 9. Q: What does the NOW function do in Google Sheets?

A: Explains the NOW function.

 10. Q: What does the TODAY function do in Google Sheets?

A: Explains the TODAY function.

 11. Q: What does the TRIM function do in Google Sheets?

A: Explains the TRIM function.

 12. Q: What does the LOWER function do in Google Sheets?

A: Explains the LOWER function.

 13. Q: What does the UPPER function do in Google Sheets?

A: Explains the UPPER function.

 14. Q: What does the LEFT function do in Google Sheets?

A: Explains the LEFT function.

 15. Q: What does the RIGHT function do in Google Sheets?

A: Explains the RIGHT function.

 16. Q: What does the MID function do in Google Sheets?

A: Explains the MID function.

 17. Q: What does the ROUND function do in Google Sheets?

A: Explains the ROUND function.

 18. Q: What does the ISBLANK function do in Google Sheets?

A: Explains the ISBLANK function.

 19. Q: What does the SORT function do in Google Sheets?

A: Explains the SORT function.

 20. Q: What does the FILTER function do in Google Sheets?

A: Explains the FILTER function.

Google Sheets - Medium

 1. Q: How would you use the QUERY function in a practical reporting scenario?

A: Explanation and usage example for QUERY.

 2. Q: How would you use the ARRAYFORMULA function in a practical reporting
scenario?

A: Explanation and usage example for ARRAYFORMULA.

 3. Q: How would you use the IMPORTRANGE function in a practical reporting scenario?

A: Explanation and usage example for IMPORTRANGE.

 4. Q: How would you use the INDEX function in a practical reporting scenario?

A: Explanation and usage example for INDEX.

 5. Q: How would you use the MATCH function in a practical reporting scenario?

A: Explanation and usage example for MATCH.

 6. Q: How would you use the UNIQUE function in a practical reporting scenario?

A: Explanation and usage example for UNIQUE.

 7. Q: How would you use the SPLIT function in a practical reporting scenario?

A: Explanation and usage example for SPLIT.

 8. Q: How would you use the JOIN function in a practical reporting scenario?

A: Explanation and usage example for JOIN.

 9. Q: How would you use the TEXT function in a practical reporting scenario?

A: Explanation and usage example for TEXT.

 10. Q: How would you use the INDIRECT function in a practical reporting scenario?

A: Explanation and usage example for INDIRECT.

 11. Q: How would you use the OFFSET function in a practical reporting scenario?

A: Explanation and usage example for OFFSET.

 12. Q: How would you use the XLOOKUP function in a practical reporting scenario?

A: Explanation and usage example for XLOOKUP.

 13. Q: How would you use the IFERROR function in a practical reporting scenario?

A: Explanation and usage example for IFERROR.

 14. Q: How would you use the SUBTOTAL function in a practical reporting scenario?

A: Explanation and usage example for SUBTOTAL.

 15. Q: How would you use the NETWORKDAYS function in a practical reporting
scenario?

A: Explanation and usage example for NETWORKDAYS.

 16. Q: How would you use the DAYS function in a practical reporting scenario?

A: Explanation and usage example for DAYS.

 17. Q: How would you use the EOMONTH function in a practical reporting scenario?

A: Explanation and usage example for EOMONTH.

 18. Q: How would you use the WEEKDAY function in a practical reporting scenario?

A: Explanation and usage example for WEEKDAY.

 19. Q: How would you use the CHOOSE function in a practical reporting scenario?

A: Explanation and usage example for CHOOSE.

 20. Q: How would you use the RANDBETWEEN function in a practical reporting
scenario?

A: Explanation and usage example for RANDBETWEEN.

Google Sheets - Hard

 1. Q: Describe a scenario where you would use QUERY with WHERE and LABEL in a
Google Sheets dashboard.

A: Advanced usage of QUERY with WHERE and LABEL.

 2. Q: Describe a scenario where you would use ARRAYFORMULA for entire column
calculations in a Google Sheets dashboard.

A: Advanced usage of ARRAYFORMULA for entire column calculations.

 3. Q: Describe a scenario where you would use IMPORTRANGE for combining data in a
Google Sheets dashboard.
 A: Advanced usage of IMPORTRANGE for combining data.
 4. Q: Describe a scenario where you would use SPARKLINE in a Google Sheets
dashboard.

A: Advanced usage of SPARKLINE.

 5. Q: Describe a scenario where you would use GOOGLEFINANCE in a Google Sheets
dashboard.

A: Advanced usage of GOOGLEFINANCE.

 6. Q: Describe a scenario where you would use SCRIPT editor for automation in a Google
Sheets dashboard.

A: Advanced usage of SCRIPT editor for automation.

 7. Q: Describe a scenario where you would use Custom Data Validation in a Google
Sheets dashboard.

A: Advanced usage of Custom Data Validation.

 8. Q: Describe a scenario where you would use Pivot Table in a Google Sheets
dashboard.

A: Advanced usage of Pivot Table.

 9. Q: Describe a scenario where you would use Data Slicer in a Google Sheets dashboard.

A: Advanced usage of Data Slicer.

 10. Q: Describe a scenario where you would use Conditional Formatting with Formula in
a Google Sheets dashboard.

A: Advanced usage of Conditional Formatting with Formula.

 11. Q: Describe a scenario where you would use Dynamic Named Ranges in a Google
Sheets dashboard.

A: Advanced usage of Dynamic Named Ranges.

 12. Q: Describe a scenario where you would use Dashboard Interactivity in a Google
Sheets dashboard.

A: Advanced usage of Dashboard Interactivity.

 13. Q: Describe a scenario where you would use Trigger-based scripts in a Google Sheets
dashboard.

A: Advanced usage of Trigger-based scripts.

 14. Q: Describe a scenario where you would use Auto-email reports in a Google Sheets
dashboard.
 A: Advanced usage of Auto-email reports.
 15. Q: Describe a scenario where you would use Combining INDEX/MATCH in a Google
Sheets dashboard.

A: Advanced usage of Combining INDEX/MATCH.

 16. Q: Describe a scenario where you would use Cross-Sheet referencing in a Google
Sheets dashboard.

A: Advanced usage of Cross-Sheet referencing.

 17. Q: Describe a scenario where you would use Heatmaps using conditional formatting
in a Google Sheets dashboard.

A: Advanced usage of Heatmaps using conditional formatting.

 18. Q: Describe a scenario where you would use Data protection and permissioning in a
Google Sheets dashboard.

A: Advanced usage of Data protection and permissioning.

 19. Q: Describe a scenario where you would use Multi-condition QUERY in a Google
Sheets dashboard.

A: Advanced usage of Multi-condition QUERY.

 20. Q: Describe a scenario where you would use Nested IF statements in a Google Sheets
dashboard.

A: Advanced usage of Nested IF statements.