ABSTRACT

Deloitte Data Analyst

Interview Process, Skills, and
Questions with Answers:

Deepak Lodhi
https://topmate.io/deepaklodhi

DATA ANALYST
INTERVIEW
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Here’s a structured heading outline for your PDF on Deloitte Data Analyst Interview
Process, Skills, and Questions with Answers:

Title: Deloitte Data Analyst Interview Guide

1. Introduction

• Overview of Deloitte

• Role of a Data Analyst at Deloitte

• Importance of Preparation

2. Deloitte Data Analyst Hiring Process

• Application and Resume Screening

• Online Assessment

• Technical Interview

• Case Study Round

• HR/Behavioral Interview

3. Skills Required for an Entry-Level Data Analyst

• SQL & Database Management

• Excel & Data Manipulation

• Python/R for Data Analysis

• Data Visualization (Power BI/Tableau)

• Statistics & Business Intelligence

• ETL & Data Cleaning

• Problem-Solving & Critical Thinking

4. Deloitte Interview Questions with Answers

• SQL Questions (Joins, CTEs, Window Functions, Optimization)

• Excel Questions (Pivot Tables, VLOOKUP, Data Cleaning)

• Python Questions (Pandas, NumPy, Data Preprocessing)

• Data Visualization Questions (DAX, Power BI, Tableau)

• Statistics Questions (Hypothesis Testing, Regression)

• Case Study & Business Scenario Questions

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• Behavioral & HR Questions (STAR Method, Work Scenarios)

5. Tips for Cracking Deloitte’s Data Analyst Interview

• How to Approach Case Studies

• Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Best Resources for Preparation

6. Conclusion

• Final Advice

• Additional Resources

Would you like me to generate this as a PDF for you? Let me know if you want any
modifications!

ETL & Data Cleaning (SSIS, Power Query)

Statistics & Data Interpretation (Descriptive & Inferential Stats)
Big Data Basics (Hadoop, Spark - Preferred)

Soft Skills

Problem-Solving Approach
Business Communication
Analytical Thinking
Teamwork & Stakeholder Management

Additional Tips for Deloitte Interview

Prepare real-world case studies (Sales, Finance, Customer Analysis)

Learn SQL Performance Optimization techniques
Be comfortable with data visualization storytelling
Explain business impact of your analysis
Practice with mock datasets (Kaggle, SQLPad)

Would you like help with mock interview questions or a resume review for Deloitte?

list of 100 Deloitte Data Analyst interview questions categorized by skills:

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SQL (25 Questions)

1. What are the different types of joins in SQL?

2. Write a query to find the second highest salary from an employee table.

3. What is the difference between WHERE and HAVING?

4. Explain CTE (Common Table Expression) with an example.

5. How do you use the RANK() function in SQL?

6. What are window functions? Give an example.

7. How can you optimize SQL queries for performance?

8. Write a query to fetch the top 3 customers with the highest sales.

9. What is the difference between DELETE and TRUNCATE?

10. What is a clustered vs. non-clustered index?

11. How does the GROUP BY clause work?

12. What is the difference between UNION and UNION ALL?

13. Write a query to find duplicate records in a table.

14. How do you remove duplicates in SQL?

15. How do you find the nth highest salary using a subquery?

16. What are ACID properties in SQL?

17. Explain the concept of normalization.

18. What is a foreign key, and how does it work?

19. What is the difference between INNER JOIN and LEFT JOIN?

20. How do you fetch records from two tables without using JOIN?

21. What is the purpose of the COALESCE function?

22. How do you convert rows into columns (PIVOT)?

23. What is a self-join, and where is it used?

24. Explain the use of CASE statements in SQL.

25. What is the difference between VARCHAR and CHAR?

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Python (20 Questions)

26. What is the difference between a list and a tuple?

27. How do you handle missing values in Pandas?

28. What are the different data types in Python?

29. Explain the difference between append() and extend() in lists.

30. What is the difference between NumPy arrays and Python lists?

31. Write a Python script to read a CSV file using Pandas.

32. How do you filter rows in a Pandas DataFrame?

33. What is the use of the apply() function in Pandas?

34. Explain the difference between loc[] and iloc[].

35. How do you merge two DataFrames in Pandas?

36. What is the difference between Lambda functions and normal functions?

37. How do you handle outliers in Python?

38. What is the difference between map(), filter(), and reduce()?

39. Write a Python function to count the frequency of words in a list.

40. Explain the use of the groupby() function in Pandas.

41. What are list comprehensions, and why are they used?

42. How do you create a pivot table in Pandas?

43. What is the difference between deepcopy() and shallow copy()?

44. What are Python decorators, and how do they work?

45. Explain the difference between correlation and covariance.

Power BI / Tableau (15 Questions)

46. What is the difference between a dashboard and a report in Power BI?

47. How do you create relationships between tables in Power BI?

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

49. What is DAX, and why is it used?

50. Explain the difference between calculated columns and measures.

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51. What is the use of SUMX() in DAX?

52. How do you create a drill-through report in Power BI?

53. What is row-level security in Power BI?

54. What are the different types of joins in Power BI?

55. What is the difference between direct query and import mode?

56. How do you handle large datasets in Power BI?

57. How do you create a hierarchy in Power BI?

58. What is a slicer, and how is it different from a filter?

59. How can you optimize performance in Power BI?

60. What are the different types of visualizations available in Power BI?

Data Analysis & Business Case Questions (15 Questions)

61. How do you identify data quality issues?

62. What steps do you take when cleaning a dataset?

63. Explain the concept of exploratory data analysis (EDA).

64. How do you handle missing values in a dataset?

65. How would you analyze customer churn?

66. How do you interpret correlation between two variables?

67. What is the difference between correlation and causation?

68. Explain a real-world case where data helped solve a business problem.

69. How do you define and track key performance indicators (KPIs)?

70. What are outliers, and how do you handle them?

71. How do you choose between mean and median for analysis?

72. What statistical methods would you use for sales forecasting?

73. How do you conduct A/B testing, and why is it useful?

74. How do you analyze trends in time-series data?

75. What are some common data visualization mistakes?

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ETL, Data Warehousing & Big Data (15 Questions)

76. What is ETL, and why is it important?

77. What is the difference between OLAP and OLTP?

78. Explain star schema and snowflake schema.

79. What is fact table vs. dimension table?

80. What are slowly changing dimensions (SCDs)?

81. What are the different types of indexes in a database?

82. What is a data lake vs. a data warehouse?

83. What is a surrogate key?

84. What is data pipeline, and how does it work?

85. How do you handle incremental data loading?

86. What is a staging area in ETL?

87. Explain the concept of denormalization.

88. How do you perform data validation in ETL processes?

89. What are the key challenges in ETL processes?

90. How do you improve data pipeline performance?

Behavioral & HR Questions (10 Questions)

91. Tell me about yourself.

92. Why do you want to work at Deloitte?

93. Describe a time when you worked with a difficult stakeholder.

94. How do you handle tight deadlines?

95. What is your biggest strength as a data analyst?

96. How do you manage conflicting priorities?

97. Can you describe a project where you applied data analytics?

98. How do you stay updated with the latest data analytics trends?

99. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

100 Do you have any questions for us?

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Additional Tips for Deloitte Interview:

Practice SQL queries on LeetCode/HackerRank

Prepare business case studies using Power BI/Tableau
Be ready to explain projects and business impact
Use STAR Method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) for HR answers
Mock Interviews help boost confidence

100 Data Analyst Interview Questions & Answers

(For Deloitte & Similar Entry-Level Roles)

1. SQL Questions

Basic SQL Queries

1. What is SQL?

o SQL (Structured Query Language) is used to interact with relational databases

to retrieve, manipulate, and manage data.

2. What are the different types of SQL commands?

o DDL (Data Definition Language): CREATE, ALTER, DROP

o DML (Data Manipulation Language): INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE

o DQL (Data Query Language): SELECT

o TCL (Transaction Control Language): COMMIT, ROLLBACK, SAVEPOINT

o DCL (Data Control Language): GRANT, REVOKE

3. What is the difference between WHERE and HAVING?

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o WHERE filters rows before aggregation.

o HAVING filters groups after aggregation.

4. Explain INNER JOIN, LEFT JOIN, RIGHT JOIN, and FULL OUTER JOIN.

o INNER JOIN: Returns only matching records from both tables.

o LEFT JOIN: Returns all records from the left table + matching records from the
right.

o RIGHT JOIN: Returns all records from the right table + matching records from
the left.

o FULL OUTER JOIN: Returns all records from both tables, filling unmatched
rows with NULLs.

5. Write a query to find duplicate records in a table.

6. SELECT column_name, COUNT(*)

7. FROM table_name

8. GROUP BY column_name

9. HAVING COUNT(*) > 1;

10. What is the difference between RANK(), DENSE_RANK(), and ROW_NUMBER()?

o ROW_NUMBER(): Assigns a unique number without gaps.

o RANK(): Assigns ranks but leaves gaps if values are the same.

o DENSE_RANK(): Assigns ranks without gaps.

11. Find the 2nd highest salary from an Employee table.

12. SELECT DISTINCT Salary

13. FROM Employee

14. ORDER BY Salary DESC

15. LIMIT 1 OFFSET 1;

Advanced SQL Concepts

8. Explain CTE (Common Table Expression) and its use.

o A CTE is a temporary result set used within a SQL query.

9. WITH CTE AS (

10. SELECT EmployeeID, Salary, DENSE_RANK() OVER (ORDER BY Salary DESC) AS rnk
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11. FROM Employee

12. )

13. SELECT EmployeeID, Salary FROM CTE WHERE rnk = 2;

14. What are Window Functions?

o Functions like RANK(), DENSE_RANK(), LEAD(), LAG() that operate over a

partitioned dataset.

15. What is the difference between UNION and UNION ALL?

o UNION: Combines results but removes duplicates.

o UNION ALL: Combines results and keeps duplicates.

2. Python Questions

Basic Python for Data Analysis

11. What is Python, and why is it used in data analytics?

o Python is a high-level programming language with powerful libraries for data

manipulation (pandas), visualization (matplotlib), and ML (scikit-learn).

12. How do you read a CSV file in Python?

13. import pandas as pd

14. df = pd.read_csv('file.csv')

15. What is the difference between a list and a tuple?

o List: Mutable, uses [], dynamic size.

o Tuple: Immutable, uses (), faster than lists.

Data Manipulation using Pandas

14. How do you filter data in Pandas?

15. df[df['column_name'] > 100]

16. What does the groupby() function do?

o Aggregates data based on a column.

17. df.groupby('category_column')['value_column'].sum()

18. How do you handle missing values in Pandas?

19. df.fillna(0) # Replace NULLs with 0

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20. df.dropna() # Remove rows with NULLs

NumPy and Visualization

17. What is NumPy?

o A Python library for numerical computations using arrays.

18. What is Matplotlib used for?

o Data visualization through charts like line, bar, scatter plots.

19. How do you create a histogram using Matplotlib?

20. import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

21. plt.hist(df['column_name'])

22. plt.show()

3. Power BI Questions

Power BI Basics

20. What is Power BI?

o A business intelligence tool for data visualization, ETL, and reporting.

21. What are the different views in Power BI?

o Report View (visuals), Data View (tables), Model View (relationships).

22. What is a DAX function?

o A formula language in Power BI used for creating measures and calculated

columns.

DAX and Data Modeling

23. Write a DAX formula for total sales.

24. Total Sales = SUM(Sales[Amount])

25. What is the difference between SUM() and SUMX() in DAX?

o SUM(): Aggregates a column.

o SUMX(): Aggregates an expression over a table.

26. What is a star schema?

o A database structure with one fact table connected to multiple dimension

tables.
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Power BI Performance Optimization

26. How do you optimize a Power BI report?

o Reduce visuals, use aggregated data, enable query reduction, avoid

excessive calculated columns.

27. What are the different types of joins in Power BI?

o Inner, Left, Right, Full Outer, Cross.

28. What is row-level security (RLS)?

o A security feature that restricts data access based on user roles.

Deloitte Data Analyst Interview Questions & Answers

1. SQL Questions

1. What is the difference between INNER JOIN and OUTER JOIN?

Answer: INNER JOIN returns only matching records, whereas OUTER JOIN returns
matching and non-matching records (LEFT, RIGHT, FULL OUTER JOIN).

2. What are the different types of joins in SQL?

Answer: INNER JOIN, LEFT JOIN, RIGHT JOIN, FULL OUTER JOIN, CROSS JOIN, SELF
JOIN.

3. What is the difference between WHERE and HAVING?

Answer: WHERE filters rows before aggregation, HAVING filters after aggregation.

4. What are window functions in SQL?

Answer: Functions like ROW_NUMBER(), RANK(), DENSE_RANK(), and SUM() OVER()
that perform calculations across a specified range of rows.

5. How do you find duplicate records in a table?

Answer: Using GROUP BY and HAVING COUNT(*) > 1.

6. How do you get the second highest salary from an employee table?
Answer:

7. SELECT DISTINCT salary FROM employees ORDER BY salary DESC LIMIT 1 OFFSET 1;

8. What is a CTE (Common Table Expression)?

Answer: A temporary result set defined within a query using WITH.

9. What is the difference between DELETE and TRUNCATE?

Answer: DELETE removes specific rows and logs the operation; TRUNCATE removes
all rows and resets identity values without logging individual row deletions.
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10. What are indexes in SQL?

Answer: Indexes improve query performance by enabling fast lookups.

11. What is the difference between UNION and UNION ALL?

Answer: UNION removes duplicates; UNION ALL includes duplicates.

2. Excel Questions

11. What are pivot tables in Excel?

Answer: A tool used for summarizing, analyzing, and presenting data.

12. What is VLOOKUP and how does it work?

Answer: It searches for a value in a column and returns a corresponding value from
another column.

13. How does INDEX-MATCH work?

Answer: INDEX retrieves a value from a table, and MATCH finds the row or column
position.

14. What is conditional formatting in Excel?

Answer: A feature that applies formatting based on specified conditions.

15. How do you remove duplicates in Excel?

Answer: Using the ‘Remove Duplicates’ option in the ‘Data’ tab.

3. Power BI & Data Visualization

16. What is Power BI?

Answer: A business intelligence tool used for data visualization and reporting.

17. What are DAX functions?

Answer: Data Analysis Expressions, such as SUM(), CALCULATE(), and COUNT().

18. What is a star schema?

Answer: A data modeling structure with a central fact table and multiple dimension
tables.

19. How do you optimize a Power BI report?

Answer: Reduce data size, use aggregations, enable query folding, and optimize DAX
calculations.

20. What is a slicer in Power BI?

Answer: A visual filter that allows users to dynamically filter data.
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4. Python for Data Analysis

21. How do you handle missing data in Pandas?

Answer: Using .dropna() to remove missing values or .fillna() to replace them.

22. What is the difference between a list and a tuple?

Answer: Lists are mutable; tuples are immutable.

23. What are lambda functions in Python?

Answer: Anonymous functions defined using lambda keyword.

24. How do you merge two dataframes in Pandas?

Answer: Using pd.merge(df1, df2, on='column_name').

25. What is the difference between a dictionary and a set?

Answer: A dictionary stores key-value pairs, while a set stores unique elements.

5. Data Warehousing & ETL

26. What is ETL?

Answer: Extract, Transform, Load – the process of moving data from source to
destination.

27. What is OLAP?

Answer: Online Analytical Processing – used for multi-dimensional data analysis.

28. What is the difference between OLTP and OLAP?

Answer: OLTP is used for transactional processing; OLAP is used for analytical
queries.

29. What are fact and dimension tables?

Answer: Fact tables store transactional data, while dimension tables store descriptive
attributes.

30. What are slowly changing dimensions (SCD)?

Answer: A method to manage changing data in dimension tables (Type 1, Type 2,
Type 3).

6. Statistical & Analytical Questions

31. What is the difference between correlation and causation?

Answer: Correlation shows a relationship between two variables; causation indicates
one variable causes a change in another.
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32. What is a p-value in statistics?

Answer: A measure used to determine the significance of a hypothesis test.

33. What is the central limit theorem?

Answer: It states that the sampling distribution of the mean approaches normality as
sample size increases.

34. What is the difference between mean, median, and mode?

Answer: Mean is the average, median is the middle value, and mode is the most
frequent value.

35. What is linear regression?

Answer: A predictive modeling technique that estimates relationships between
variables.

7. Business & Case Study Questions

36. How do you approach a business problem as a data analyst?

Answer: Define the problem, gather data, analyze insights, visualize, and recommend
solutions.

37. How would you measure the success of a new product launch?
Answer: Analyze sales trends, customer feedback, market penetration, and ROI.

38. How would you handle a situation where data is incomplete?

Answer: Identify missing data patterns, use imputation techniques, and
communicate limitations.

39. Explain a time when you used data to drive a business decision.
Answer: (Provide a relevant example from past experience.)

40. How do you communicate insights to a non-technical audience?

Answer: Use clear storytelling, simple visuals, and focus on key takeaways.

30 Deloitte Data Analyst Python interview questions with answers:

Basic Python Questions

1. What are Python’s key features?

• Python is interpreted, dynamically typed, and garbage collected.

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• It supports object-oriented, functional, and procedural programming.

• It has an extensive standard library and strong community support.

2. What is the difference between a list and a tuple?

• List: Mutable, uses more memory, slower. Example: [1, 2, 3]

• Tuple: Immutable, uses less memory, faster. Example: (1, 2, 3)

3. What are Python data types?

• Numeric (int, float, complex)

• Sequence (list, tuple, range)

• Text (str)

• Mapping (dict)

• Set (set, frozenset)

• Boolean (bool)

4. What is the difference between is and ==?

• == compares values.

• is compares memory locations.

5. What are Python’s built-in data structures?

• List: [1, 2, 3] (ordered, mutable)

• Tuple: (1, 2, 3) (ordered, immutable)

• Set: {1, 2, 3} (unordered, unique elements)

• Dictionary: {"key": "value"} (key-value pairs)

Intermediate Python Questions

6. What is a lambda function?

• An anonymous function written as:

• add = lambda x, y: x + y

• print(add(2, 3)) # Output: 5

7. How do you remove duplicates from a list?

lst = [1, 2, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5]
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unique_lst = list(set(lst))

print(unique_lst) # Output: [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

8. How do you find the largest number in a list?

lst = [10, 20, 5, 40]

print(max(lst)) # Output: 40

9. What is the difference between deepcopy() and copy()?

• copy.copy(): Shallow copy, references nested objects.

• copy.deepcopy(): Deep copy, completely new nested objects.

10. What is list comprehension?

• Shorter syntax for loops:

• squares = [x**2 for x in range(5)]

• print(squares) # Output: [0, 1, 4, 9, 16]

Data Handling with Pandas

11. How do you handle missing values in Pandas?

import pandas as pd

df.fillna(value, inplace=True) # Replace missing values

df.dropna(inplace=True) # Remove missing rows

df['column'].fillna(df['column'].mean(), inplace=True) # Replace with mean

12. How do you filter rows in a DataFrame?

df_filtered = df[df['column'] > 50] # Filter where column > 50

13. How do you merge two DataFrames?

df_merged = pd.merge(df1, df2, on='common_column', how='inner')

14. How do you group data in Pandas?

df.groupby('column_name').sum()

15. How do you remove duplicate rows?

df.drop_duplicates(inplace=True)
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SQL with Python

16. How do you connect Python with SQL databases?

• Using sqlite3 or SQLAlchemy:

• import sqlite3

• conn = sqlite3.connect('database.db')

• df = pd.read_sql("SELECT * FROM table", conn)

17. How do you execute an SQL query in Python?

cursor.execute("SELECT * FROM employees WHERE age > 30")

result = cursor.fetchall()

18. How do you insert data into an SQL table using Python?

cursor.execute("INSERT INTO employees (name, age) VALUES ('John', 25)")

conn.commit()

19. How do you handle SQL query results in Pandas?

df = pd.read_sql("SELECT * FROM table_name", conn)

20. How do you update an SQL record using Python?

cursor.execute("UPDATE employees SET age = 28 WHERE name = 'John'")

conn.commit()

Machine Learning & Data Analysis

21. How do you normalize a dataset in Python?

from sklearn.preprocessing import MinMaxScaler

scaler = MinMaxScaler()

df_scaled = scaler.fit_transform(df)

22. How do you split data into training and testing sets?

from sklearn.model_selection import train_test_split

X_train, X_test, y_train, y_test = train_test_split(X, y, test_size=0.2, random_state=42)

23. What is the purpose of one-hot encoding?

• Converts categorical variables into numeric format using pd.get_dummies(df).

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24. How do you handle class imbalance in a dataset?

• Use oversampling (SMOTE) or undersampling.

• Use class weights in models.

25. How do you evaluate a model’s performance?

• Use metrics like accuracy, precision, recall, F1-score, and ROC-AUC.

• from sklearn.metrics import accuracy_score

• accuracy_score(y_test, y_pred)

Python Advanced Concepts

26. What is multithreading in Python?

• Running multiple threads concurrently using the threading module.

27. What is the difference between apply() and map() in Pandas?

• apply(): Used for applying a function on columns or rows.

• map(): Used for element-wise transformation.

28. How do you read a large dataset efficiently in Pandas?

• Use chunksize in read_csv().

• for chunk in pd.read_csv('data.csv', chunksize=10000):

• process(chunk)

29. What is the difference between any() and all() in Python?

• any(): Returns True if at least one condition is True.

• all(): Returns True only if all conditions are True.

30. How do you create a function in Python?

def add(a, b):

return a + b

print(add(2, 3)) # Output: 5

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These 30 questions and answers cover Python basics, data handling with Pandas, SQL
integration, machine learning concepts, and advanced Python features. Let me know if you
need more questions or specific Deloitte case studies!

Here are 30 Power BI interview questions with answers, covering Deloitte Data Analyst role
requirements:

Power BI Basic Questions

1. What is Power BI?

Power BI is a business intelligence tool by Microsoft for data visualization, reporting, and
analytics. It helps users connect to multiple data sources, transform data, and create
interactive dashboards.

2. What are the components of Power BI?

• Power BI Desktop – For report creation

• Power BI Service – Cloud-based report sharing

• Power BI Mobile – For viewing reports on mobile

• Power Query – For data transformation

• Power Pivot – Data modeling engine

• Power View & Power Map – Data visualization tools

3. What data sources does Power BI support?

• Databases: SQL Server, MySQL, PostgreSQL

• Cloud: Azure, Google BigQuery, Snowflake

• Files: Excel, CSV, XML, JSON

• Services: SharePoint, Salesforce, Google Analytics

4. How does Power BI connect to data sources?

Power BI connects via Direct Query, Import Mode, and Live Connection.

• Import Mode – Loads data into Power BI

• Direct Query – Queries data in real-time

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• Live Connection – Direct connection to SSAS

5. What is the difference between Direct Query and Import Mode?

Feature Direct Query Import Mode

Data Storage Data remains in source Data is loaded into Power BI

Performance Slower (depends on source) Faster (preloaded data)

Refresh Always real-time Needs refresh

Power BI Data Modeling & DAX

6. What is DAX in Power BI?

DAX (Data Analysis Expressions) is a formula language for calculations & aggregations in
Power BI.

7. What are some common DAX functions?

• SUM() – Adds values

• COUNT() – Counts rows

• AVERAGE() – Calculates mean

• IF() – Conditional logic

• CALCULATE() – Modifies context

8. What is the difference between a Calculated Column and a Measure?

• Calculated Column – Computed at row level, stored in the table

• Measure – Computed dynamically, optimized for performance

9. How do you calculate YoY Growth in Power BI?

YoY Growth = ( [This Year Sales] - [Last Year Sales] ) / [Last Year Sales]

10. How do you filter data using DAX?

Using the FILTER() function:

FilteredSales = CALCULATE(SUM(Sales[Amount]), Sales[Region] = "East")

Power BI Visualization & Reporting

11. What are the different types of visuals in Power BI?

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• Bar & Column Charts – Compare categories

• Line Chart – Show trends over time

• Pie Chart – Show proportions

• Table & Matrix – Display tabular data

• Cards & KPI – Show key metrics

• Map Visuals – Show geographic data

12. How do you create a KPI in Power BI?

Use KPI Visual with a goal and trend line.

13. What is Drill-through in Power BI?

Drill-through allows users to click on a data point and navigate to a detailed report page for
deeper insights.

14. What is Drill-down in Power BI?

Drill-down enables users to explore data from high-level to granular details, e.g., from Year
→ Quarter → Month → Day.

15. How do you add dynamic titles in Power BI?

Use DAX to create a title based on slicer selection:

Title = "Sales Report for " & SELECTEDVALUE(Sales[Region])

Power Query & Data Transformation

16. What is Power Query?

Power Query is a data transformation engine in Power BI used to clean, shape, and prepare
data before analysis.

17. How do you remove duplicates in Power Query?

• Go to Transform tab → Remove Duplicates

18. How do you merge two tables in Power Query?

Use Merge Queries with a common key:

• Left Join – Keep all from the first table

• Inner Join – Keep only matching rows

19. What are parameters in Power Query?

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Parameters allow users to create dynamic queries (e.g., filtering data based on a date
range).

20. What is the difference between Append and Merge in Power Query?

• Append – Stacks tables vertically

• Merge – Combines tables based on a common column

Power BI Performance Optimization

21. How do you improve Power BI report performance?

• Use Import Mode instead of Direct Query

• Optimize DAX calculations (avoid iterators)

• Reduce column data types

• Use aggregated tables

• Limit visuals per report

22. What is an Aggregation Table in Power BI?

Aggregation Tables precompute and store summary data to improve performance.

23. How do you optimize DAX calculations?

• Use SUMX() instead of row-wise calculations

• Replace IF() with SWITCH()

• Avoid nested FILTER() functions

24. How do you manage large datasets in Power BI?

• Use Power BI Dataflows

• Apply data compression

• Enable incremental refresh

25. What is Incremental Refresh in Power BI?

It refreshes only new data instead of reloading everything, improving performance.

Power BI Security & Deployment

26. What is Row-Level Security (RLS)?

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RLS restricts data access based on user roles using DAX filters.

[SalesRegion] = USERPRINCIPALNAME()

27. How do you publish a Power BI report?

• Click Publish from Power BI Desktop to Power BI Service.

28. What is Power BI Gateway?

A Power BI Gateway connects on-premises data sources to the Power BI Service for
scheduled refreshes.

29. How do you share reports in Power BI?

• Publish to Power BI Service

• Use Power BI Apps

• Share via SharePoint or Teams

30. What are Workspaces in Power BI?

Workspaces are collaborative environments in Power BI Service for report sharing and app
creation.

These 30 Deloitte Data Analyst Power BI questions and answers cover core concepts, DAX,
Power Query, visualization, optimization, and security. Let me know if you need more
advanced topics!

30 Excel interview questions with answers, specifically for a Deloitte Data Analyst role:

Basic Excel Questions

1. What are the key features of Microsoft Excel?

• Data entry & storage

• Formulas & functions

• Pivot Tables & Charts

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• Conditional Formatting

• Data Validation

• Power Query & Power Pivot

2. How do you remove duplicate values in Excel?

• Select data → Click Data tab → Choose Remove Duplicates

3. What are the different data formats in Excel?

• General – Default format

• Number – Numeric values

• Text – Non-numeric values

• Date/Time – Stores date & time

• Currency – Displays monetary values

• Percentage – Converts decimal to %

4. What is the difference between a Workbook and a Worksheet?

• Workbook – The entire Excel file

• Worksheet – Individual sheets within a workbook

5. How do you freeze panes in Excel?

• Select the row/column → Go to View Tab → Click Freeze Panes

Excel Formulas & Functions

6. What are the most commonly used Excel functions?

• SUM() – Adds numbers

• AVERAGE() – Finds mean

• IF() – Conditional logic

• VLOOKUP() / XLOOKUP() – Lookup values

• HLOOKUP() – Horizontal lookup

• COUNT() / COUNTA() – Counts cells

• LEN() – Returns length of a text

7. How do you use the IF function?

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=IF(A2>50, "Pass", "Fail")

8. What is the difference between VLOOKUP and HLOOKUP?

• VLOOKUP – Searches data vertically

• HLOOKUP – Searches data horizontally

9. How does XLOOKUP work?

XLOOKUP replaces VLOOKUP & HLOOKUP:

=XLOOKUP(lookup_value, lookup_array, return_array)

10. How do you combine text from multiple cells?

Using & or CONCATENATE():

=A2 & " " & B2

=CONCATENATE(A2, " ", B2)

Data Analysis & Pivot Tables

11. What is a Pivot Table?

A Pivot Table summarizes large data sets dynamically, allowing easy grouping and filtering.

12. How do you create a Pivot Table?

• Select data → Go to Insert → Click Pivot Table → Choose location

13. What is a Pivot Chart?

A Pivot Chart is a graphical representation of a Pivot Table.

14. How do you group data in a Pivot Table?

Right-click on a column (like dates) → Click Group

15. How do you refresh a Pivot Table?

Right-click on the Pivot Table → Click Refresh

Data Cleaning & Formatting

16. How do you remove blank spaces from a dataset?

Using TRIM():

=TRIM(A2)
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17. How do you remove special characters from a text?

Using SUBSTITUTE():

=SUBSTITUTE(A2, "#", "")

18. How do you separate text into columns?

• Select column → Click Data tab → Choose Text to Columns

19. How do you find and replace values in Excel?

Press Ctrl + H, enter values, then click Replace All.

20. What is Conditional Formatting?

Conditional Formatting changes cell color, font, or style based on rules.

Advanced Excel Features

21. What is Power Query?

Power Query is used for data extraction, transformation, and loading (ETL) in Excel.

22. What is Power Pivot?

Power Pivot helps in data modeling and handling large datasets in Excel.

23. How do you create a dynamic drop-down list?

Using Data Validation:

• Select a cell → Go to Data tab → Click Data Validation → Choose List

24. What is the difference between COUNT, COUNTA, and COUNTIF?

• COUNT() – Counts numeric values

• COUNTA() – Counts non-empty cells

• COUNTIF() – Counts based on a condition

25. How do you use INDEX and MATCH?

Used for flexible lookups:

=INDEX(B2:B10, MATCH("Product1", A2:A10, 0))

Excel Automation & Macros

26. What are Macros in Excel?

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Macros are recorded actions that automate repetitive tasks.

27. How do you record a Macro?

• Go to Developer Tab → Click Record Macro → Perform actions → Stop recording

28. How do you run a Macro?

• Press Alt + F8, select Macro, then click Run

29. What is VBA in Excel?

VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) is used for advanced automation and scripting in Excel.

30. How do you protect an Excel sheet?

• Go to Review Tab → Click Protect Sheet → Set a password

These 30 Excel interview questions and answers cover basic to advanced Excel concepts,
useful for a Deloitte Data Analyst role. Let me know if you need more!

Here are 30 SQL interview questions with answers, specifically for a Deloitte Data Analyst
role:

Basic SQL Questions

1. What is SQL?

SQL (Structured Query Language) is used to query, manipulate, and manage relational
databases.

2. What are the different types of SQL commands?

• DDL (Data Definition Language) – CREATE, ALTER, DROP

• DML (Data Manipulation Language) – INSERT, UPDATE, DELETE

• DQL (Data Query Language) – SELECT

• TCL (Transaction Control Language) – COMMIT, ROLLBACK, SAVEPOINT

• DCL (Data Control Language) – GRANT, REVOKE

3. What is the difference between DELETE and TRUNCATE?

• DELETE – Removes specific rows with a WHERE condition and can be rolled back.
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• TRUNCATE – Removes all rows from a table and cannot be rolled back.

4. What is a Primary Key?

A Primary Key uniquely identifies each row in a table and cannot have NULL values.

5. What is a Foreign Key?

A Foreign Key is a column that creates a relationship between two tables by referring to the
Primary Key of another table.

SQL Query Writing

6. How do you retrieve all records from a table?

SELECT * FROM table_name;

7. How do you filter records in SQL?

Using WHERE:

SELECT * FROM employees WHERE salary > 50000;

8. How do you sort query results?

Using ORDER BY:

SELECT * FROM employees ORDER BY salary DESC;

9. How do you find unique values in a column?

Using DISTINCT:

SELECT DISTINCT department FROM employees;

10. How do you find the number of records in a table?

Using COUNT():

SELECT COUNT(*) FROM employees;

Joins & Relationships

11. What are the types of SQL Joins?

• INNER JOIN – Returns matching records

• LEFT JOIN – Returns all records from the left table and matching records from the
right table
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• RIGHT JOIN – Returns all records from the right table and matching records from the
left table

• FULL JOIN – Returns all records from both tables

12. Write an INNER JOIN query.

SELECT employees.name, departments.department_name

FROM employees

INNER JOIN departments ON employees.department_id = departments.department_id;

13. What is a Self Join?

A Self Join joins a table with itself:

SELECT A.name, B.name

FROM employees A, employees B

WHERE A.manager_id = B.employee_id;

14. What is a Cross Join?

A Cross Join returns the Cartesian product of two tables:

SELECT * FROM employees CROSS JOIN departments;

15. What is the difference between UNION and UNION ALL?

• UNION – Removes duplicates

• UNION ALL – Includes duplicates

SELECT city FROM customers

UNION

SELECT city FROM suppliers;

Aggregation & Grouping

16. How do you calculate the total salary in a table?

Using SUM():

SELECT SUM(salary) FROM employees;

17. How do you find the average salary?

Using AVG():
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SELECT AVG(salary) FROM employees;

18. How do you find the highest salary?

Using MAX():

SELECT MAX(salary) FROM employees;

19. How do you group records in SQL?

Using GROUP BY:

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

20. How do you filter grouped records?

Using HAVING:

SELECT department, AVG(salary)

FROM employees

GROUP BY department

HAVING AVG(salary) > 50000;

Advanced SQL Queries

21. How do you find the second highest salary?

Using LIMIT or OFFSET:

SELECT DISTINCT salary FROM employees ORDER BY salary DESC LIMIT 1 OFFSET 1;

22. How do you fetch records in a specific range?

Using BETWEEN:

SELECT * FROM employees WHERE salary BETWEEN 40000 AND 60000;

23. How do you use CASE in SQL?

SELECT name, salary,

CASE

WHEN salary > 50000 THEN 'High Salary'

WHEN salary BETWEEN 30000 AND 50000 THEN 'Medium Salary'

ELSE 'Low Salary'

END AS salary_category
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FROM employees;

24. How do you find duplicate records in SQL?

SELECT name, COUNT(*)

FROM employees

GROUP BY name

HAVING COUNT(*) > 1;

25. What is the difference between a View and a Table?

• View – A virtual table based on a query.

• Table – A physical data storage structure.

CREATE VIEW high_salary AS

SELECT name, salary FROM employees WHERE salary > 50000;

Indexes & Optimization

26. What is an Index in SQL?

An Index speeds up query execution by allowing faster data retrieval.

CREATE INDEX idx_employee_name ON employees(name);

27. What is a Clustered vs. Non-Clustered Index?

• Clustered Index – Sorts and stores data physically in the table.

• Non-Clustered Index – Stores a pointer to the data, not the data itself.

28. How do you improve SQL query performance?

• Use Indexes

• Avoid **SELECT ***

• Use LIMIT for large datasets

• Optimize Joins

• Use EXPLAIN PLAN

EXPLAIN ANALYZE SELECT * FROM employees WHERE salary > 50000;

29. What is a Stored Procedure?

A Stored Procedure is a precompiled SQL block stored in the database.

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CREATE PROCEDURE GetEmployees()

AS

BEGIN

SELECT * FROM employees;

END;

30. What is a Common Table Expression (CTE)?

A CTE is a temporary result set that simplifies complex queries.

WITH EmployeeCTE AS (

SELECT name, salary FROM employees WHERE salary > 50000

SELECT * FROM EmployeeCTE;

These 30 SQL interview questions and answers cover basic to advanced concepts for a
Deloitte Data Analyst role. Let me know if you need more!

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