?? Career Chronicle Insight: Business Analyst Interview Insights - Day 2

Hello,

Welcome to Day 2 of our 30-Day Interview Insights Series! Today’s newsletter features a Business Analyst Interview Experience. If you're preparing for this role, this detailed breakdown of the interview questions from a recent experience will help you ace your interview.

Business Analyst Interview Highlights

Role: Business Analyst Experience Level: 0-3 Years Interview Duration: 60-90 Minutes

Round 1: Statistics and Growth Questions

1. Statistics:

A. Explain Mean, Mode, and Median.

Mean: The average of a set of numbers.

Mode: The value that appears most frequently in a data set.Median: The middle value when the data is arranged in ascending or descending order.

B. If a university wants to show its placement records, should it use the median or mean packages? Why?

The median is better in this case, as it prevents skewing by outliers (such as exceptionally high salaries) and better represents the "typical" salary.

2. Growth Calculation:

A. If the sales in 2020 were 100 and in 2022 were 160, how would you calculate the average annual growth rate (AAGR)?

Round 2: Technical Questions

SQL Questions:

1. What is the difference between RANK and DENSE_RANK when ranking students by marks?

• RANK: Leaves gaps between ranks when there are ties.
• DENSE_RANK: Does not leave gaps between ranks, even in the case of ties.

2. What is the SQL query execution order?

The correct order is:

• FROM → WHERE → GROUP BY → HAVING → SELECT → ORDER BY → LIMIT.

3. Explain the different types of joins and provide an example of a self-join.

• INNER JOIN: Returns rows with matching values in both tables.
• LEFT JOIN: Returns all rows from the left table and matching rows from the right table.
• RIGHT JOIN: Returns all rows from the right table and matching rows from the left table.
• FULL OUTER JOIN: Returns rows when a match occurs in one of the tables.
• SELF JOIN: A join where a table is joined with itself. Example:

SELECT a.EmployeeID, b.ManagerID 
FROM Employees a, Employees b 
WHERE a.ManagerID = b.EmployeeID;
        

4. Difference between WHERE and HAVING clauses.

• WHERE: Filters rows before aggregation.
• HAVING: Filters rows after aggregation.

Power BI Questions:

1. What steps would you follow to create a dashboard in Power BI?

• Import data, clean and transform it in Power Query, create relationships, build visualizations, and arrange them into a report view to create the dashboard.

2. What is the difference between Data View and Model View?

• Data View: Displays the data in a table format.
• Model View: Allows users to view and manage relationships between tables.

3. What are calculated measures?

• Calculated measures are dynamic calculations created using DAX expressions, and they can be used in reports and visualizations.

4.What are the different types of filters in Power BI?

• Visual Level Filter: Applies only to a specific visualization.
• Page Level Filter: Applies to all visualizations on a single page.
• Report Level Filter: Applies to all visualizations in the entire report.

Excel Questions:

1. Which functions have you used in Excel?

• Functions like SUM, AVERAGE, VLOOKUP, IF, INDEX MATCH, and COUNTIF.

2.Explain the usage of VLOOKUP and XLOOKUP.

• VLOOKUP: Searches for a value in the first column of a range and returns a value in the same row from another column.
• XLOOKUP: A more flexible lookup function that allows searching in any column and can return values from both left and right.

3.How do you use INDEX MATCH in Excel?

• INDEX(MATCH()) is used to retrieve a value from a range based on a specific condition. Example:

INDEX(A2:A10, MATCH("John", B2:B10, 0))        

Guesstimate:

1. Estimate the number of petrol pumps in your state.

Start by estimating the population, then calculate the number of vehicles. From there, estimate the number of petrol pumps required based on average usage.

Prior Rounds:

1.Aptitude Test:

• Focused on logical reasoning and basic mathematics.

2.Data Interpretation Test:

• Focused on analyzing and interpreting data sets.

Reflections:

This interview was a great experience that tested a blend of technical knowledge, problem-solving abilities, and real-world business applications. If you’re preparing for a Business Analyst role, this is the perfect opportunity to brush up on your SQL, Power BI, Excel, and statistical skills.

Good luck to anyone preparing for a similar role!

Coming Up Tomorrow!

Stay tuned for Day 3’s interview insights, featuring another great company!

Don’t Forget to Follow Me:

• LinkedIn: Pratiek Nagda
• Instagram: @pratieknagda_careerupdates
• WhatsApp Channel: Daily Career Insights

Thanks for reading, Pratiek Nagda Founder, Jobnintern | Empowering Students & Freshers with Career Growth