ORDER BY clause in Google Sheets - Cell-by-Cell Formula Trace

Sample Data

This table shows names of students and their scores.

Cell	Value
A1	Name
B1	Score
A2	Alice
B2	85
A3	Bob
B3	92
A4	Charlie
B4	78
A5	Diana
B5	90

Formula Trace

=QUERY(A1:B5, "SELECT A, B ORDER BY B DESC", 1)

Step 1: QUERY(A1:B5, "SELECT A, B ORDER BY B DESC", 1)

Step 2: Data rows before sorting: [Alice 85, Bob 92, Charlie 78, Diana 90]

Step 3: Sort rows by Score descending: [Bob 92, Diana 90, Alice 85, Charlie 78]

Step 4: Add header row: [Name, Score]

Step 5: Final output: [Name Score; Bob 92; Diana 90; Alice 85; Charlie 78]

Cell Reference Map

    A       B
1 |Name   |Score |
2 |Alice  |  85  |
3 |Bob    |  92  |
4 |Charlie|  78  |
5 |Diana  |  90  |

Formula references range A1:B5 for data and headers.

The formula uses the data and headers in cells A1 to B5.

Result

    D       E
1 |Name   |Score |
2 |Bob    |  92  |
3 |Diana  |  90  |
4 |Alice  |  85  |
5 |Charlie|  78  |

The QUERY formula outputs the table sorted by Score descending, showing the highest scores first.

Sheet Trace Quiz - 3 Questions

What does the ORDER BY B DESC part do in the formula?

A Filters rows where column B is greater than DESC

B Sorts the rows by column B from highest to lowest

C Sorts the rows by column A alphabetically

D Selects only column B

Key Result

QUERY(range, "SELECT columns ORDER BY column DESC", headers) sorts data by a column descending.