First Excel technical for a consulting new-grad role — how should I prep?

Hey everyone,

I’m a recent grad interviewing for an entry-level consulting/compensation role, and I have a 30-minute Excel technical coming up next week.

I come from a finance background, so I’m comfortable with things like:

• VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP
• INDEX-MATCH
• SUMIFS/COUNTIFS
• Pivot tables (basic use)
• Cleaning simple datasets

But I’ve never done a formal Excel “technical” interview before, so I’m not really sure what to expect in a timed setting.

The recruiter said it tests “formulas and advanced functions,” but didn’t give much detail.

For those who’ve done these before:

• What kinds of tasks usually show up?
• Is it more about speed, logic, or obscure functions?
• Any common “gotchas” I should watch out for?
• Best ways to practice in a week?

If you’ve done consulting/analyst-style Excel tests, I’d really appreciate any advice or sample problems.

Thanks in advance 🙏