As a business school student, analyst, or anyone working in the corporate world, what is your super power? What makes you an invaluable asset to your company or your group? Maybe your super power is “strategic thinking,” “communication skills,” or just straight up “problem solving.” Funny how you’ll see all these buzzwords on a resume, and then tucked away at the very bottom under “Skills” you’ll see Excel. We like to think Excel is your super power, and with it you can accomplish anything. Looking to putting your Excel “skills” to the ultimate test? Sign up for the 2014 Modeloff Financial Modeling World Championships. The first round starts this Saturday, October 25th, 2014.

That video is pretty bad ass huh?

Modeloff Excel Financial Modeling Previous Questions

There are only a few days before the first round starts, so check out some of the old questions from previous competitions here. The questions also include the actual Excel workbooks the contestants from previous years saw as well. Everything from Data Analysis to Energy Operations, these previous questions will give you an idea of what to expect if you make it to the final rounds of the Modeloff competition.

We are a huge support of Modeloff, rarely do you see the analysts, bankers, and consultants of the world heralded as world champions for their line of work. We attended the Modeloff 2013 awards ceremony last year and was blown away by the number of Excel enthusiasts waiting to see Excel celebrities like Bill Jelen from Mr. Excel. We also did a thorough write-up of the four challenges the Modeloff 2013 finalists were faced with during the awards ceremony. Check out the challenges and solutions here: 1, 2, 3, and 4. There’s also a lively discussion over at Mr. Excel on these questions as well.

Fail Fast

Modeling (financial, that is) is an art and a science. Those who have been in the trenches staying up until 2AM figuring out why there’s a #REF error in your spreadsheet know that creating models involves a lot of trial and error, debugging, and just plain banging your head against the screen until you’ve tried every formula until it just works.

Embrace your Excel super power. Don’t be afraid to call yourself the king of spreadsheets. Show disdain towards those who still hard code numbers into their spreadsheets and don’t format their models correctly. Through practice, repetition, and grit, you are the guy or gal at your office that everyone looks to when they can’t understand why their VLOOKUP() doesn’t work. That, is power my friends.

Can you compare being an Excel champion to one of the greatest of all time? Hell yeah you can. MJ failed over and over again, which is what makes him great. You can be great too. Join the Modeloff this Saturday and show why your failures have led you to succeed.