These data analyst interview questions for freshers cover what Indian recruiters typically ask in first and second rounds: basics, Excel, SQL, Python, BI and, increasingly, how you use AI tools. Answers are short on purpose. Say them in your own words and add an example from a project you have actually done.
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Basics (1–7)
1. What does a data analyst do?
Collects, cleans and analyses data to answer business questions, then presents findings through reports and dashboards.
2. What is the difference between data analysis and data analytics?
Analysis usually means examining a specific dataset to answer a question; analytics is the wider practice, including tools, processes and prediction.
3. What are the steps of a data analysis project?
Define the question, collect data, clean it, explore it (EDA), analyse, visualise and communicate the results with caveats.
4. How do you handle missing values?
First find out why they are missing. Then drop rows if few and random, fill with a sensible rule (median, mode, “Unknown”) or flag them, and document the choice.
5. What is data cleaning?
Fixing or removing incorrect, duplicate, incomplete or badly formatted data so the analysis is reliable.
6. Mean vs median: when would you use the median?
When the data is skewed or has outliers, such as salaries or order values, because the median is not pulled by extreme values.
7. What is an outlier and how do you find one?
A value far from the rest. Common methods are the 1.5 × IQR rule, z-scores and simply plotting a box plot.
Excel and Power Query (8–10)
8. What is VLOOKUP and what is XLOOKUP?
Both look up a value in a table. XLOOKUP is newer, can search left, defaults to exact match and handles “not found” directly.
9. What is a PivotTable used for?
Summarising large data quickly, for example revenue by region and month, without writing formulas.
10. What is Power Query?
An Excel and Power BI tool for importing, cleaning and reshaping data with recorded, repeatable steps.
SQL (11–15)
11. Write SQL to find total sales per region.
SELECT region, SUM(amount) AS total_sales FROM orders GROUP BY region ORDER BY total_sales DESC;
12. WHERE vs HAVING?
WHERE filters rows before grouping; HAVING filters groups after aggregation.
13. INNER JOIN vs LEFT JOIN?
INNER returns only matching rows; LEFT returns all rows from the left table, with NULLs where there is no match. See SQL joins.
14. How do you find duplicate records in SQL?
SELECT email, COUNT(*) FROM customers GROUP BY email HAVING COUNT(*) > 1;
15. What is a window function?
A function such as ROW_NUMBER, RANK or a running SUM that calculates across related rows without collapsing them into one.
Python and pandas (16–19)
16. What is pandas?
A Python library for loading, cleaning, transforming and summarising tabular data with DataFrames.
17. How do you group data in pandas?
df.groupby("region")["amount"].sum(), or .agg() for several measures at once.
18. merge vs concat in pandas?
merge joins tables on key columns (like SQL JOIN); concat stacks DataFrames on top of or beside each other.
19. What is EDA?
Exploratory data analysis: a first look at data to understand its structure, quality and patterns. See EDA on the Titanic dataset.
Practise these in code with pandas for data analysis.
Charts and BI (20–25)
20. Which chart would you use to show a trend over time?
A line chart. Use bar charts to compare categories and histograms or box plots for distributions.
21. What is a KPI?
A key performance indicator: a measurable value, defined precisely, that tracks progress towards a business goal.
22. What is business intelligence (BI)?
Tools and practices that turn data into reports and dashboards for decision-making, such as Power BI, Tableau and Excel.
23. What is a star schema?
A data warehouse design with a central fact table joined to dimension tables. See star vs snowflake schema.
24. How do you check that a dashboard number is correct?
Recalculate it from raw data with the same filters, compare with the source system, and check the date range and time zone.
25. Correlation vs causation?
Correlation means two variables move together; causation means one causes the other. Correlation alone does not prove cause.
AI Tools (26–27)
26. How can AI tools like Claude or ChatGPT help a data analyst?
They can profile data, write SQL or pandas code, suggest charts and draft summaries. The analyst must verify outputs and protect confidential data.
27. Would you upload company data to an AI tool?
Only if company policy allows it, and never personal data. Use masked or sample data instead.
Scenario and HR (28–30)
28. Scenario: sales dropped 20% this month. What do you do?
Confirm the data is complete, then break the drop down by region, product, channel and customer type to find what explains most of it.
29. Tell me about a project you did.
Pick one dataset, state the question, the cleaning you did, two findings with numbers and what you would do next. A practice project such as Titanic EDA is fine if you present it honestly.
30. Why do you want to be a data analyst?
Link your past (for example testing, where you already compare expected and actual results) to the role, and show a skill you have practised.
How to Prepare in 2 Weeks
| Days | Focus |
|---|---|
| 1–3 | Excel: lookups, PivotTables, Power Query basics |
| 4–7 | SQL: GROUP BY, joins, duplicates, window functions (SQL questions for freshers) |
| 8–10 | pandas and one EDA project you can explain |
| 11–12 | One dashboard with 4 KPIs, each with a written definition |
| 13–14 | Mock interviews: say every answer aloud with an example |
The course Claude AI for Data Analysis & Business Intelligence includes a practice interview questions section for data analysis and BI, along with the Claude AI, pandas, EDA, Excel and Power Query skills these questions test.
Data analysis with AI: Claude AI for data analysis · Claude prompts for data analysis · pandas for data analysis · EDA on the Titanic dataset · AI data analyst course in India · business intelligence course · data analyst roadmap 2026 · ETL testing vs data analyst · data analytics for working professionals · AI tools for data analysis
Frequently Asked Questions
What questions are asked in a data analyst interview for freshers?
Basics of data analysis, Excel (lookups, PivotTables), SQL (GROUP BY, joins), simple statistics, one project you did and, increasingly, how you use AI tools.
Is SQL required for a data analyst fresher?
In most Indian job descriptions, yes. Basic SELECT, GROUP BY, joins and finding duplicates are expected.
Do data analyst interviews ask Python?
Many do, at a basic level: pandas for loading, cleaning and grouping data. Some roles are Excel and SQL only.
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Asim Noaman Lodhi
Certified Google Partner · QA Consultant · 12+ Years IT
QA consultant specializing in ETL testing and data quality. Trained 913+ students to transition into data testing roles through hands-on, real-world instruction.