Just like the title says, I have an Excel test "max 30 minutes". HR said nothing crazy, no macros, no VBA, nothing "intense" like that. I'll be given a file, and I have 30 minutes to answer questions and return the file...
It's for a MF development shop. Company operates in multiple markets. I've been studying up on modeling, formulas, etc. What could possibly be expected?
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I recently took an Excel test for a development shop. I had 45 minutes for 4 questions. First 3 questions were insanely easy:
1) They gave several items: NOI, amortization period, interest rate. What is the maximum starting loan balance to achieve a 1.20:1 DSCR?
2) They gave me several items: 3 loans, their loan balances, and their interest rates. What is the blended interest rate?
3) They gave me a pretty f*cked up simple financial summary of an apartment building for "potential acquisition" and asked me to describe all the issues I saw with how the "analyst" put together the financial statement.
I completed the first 3 questions in about 12 minutes, leaving me with 33 minutes or so for the final question. No problem, right? Well, not so fast, my friend.
4) On two separate worksheets, they gave me a list of 600 counties across 8 states with various ID numbers attached to them and each county's median income. I was told to construct a table with min, max, and median income for each state. I tooootally blanked for the first 23 minutes. I was like, "What formula are they asking me to use to sort this damn data??" Then it struck me that I just had to use several layers of intelligently layered sorts to get everything into order and then I just put together the min, max, and median with standard formulas. After my 23-minute brain fart, I was able to put the final question together in 9 minutes, leaving me with 1 minute to spare.
So, my guess is that they'll have a few questions that ensure you have foundational knowledge of real estate finance and then a few questions to test your Excel skills, maybe in a funky way like my #4.
Question #4 could have been solved in less than a minute with a pivot table FYI
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