Interesting–when was this?
graduate school, in the 20th century 
We were explicitly told not to record students’ exam scores on a computer. After the course was over and final grades were issued, those went into the computer, of course, but not things like individual quiz grades (unless someone bothered to digitize them later).
Exams were on paper, too, and we collected all the scratch paper, just in case it needed to be scrutinized.
P.S. At least one scientist faking data was caught altering computer files: Victor Ninov - Wikipedia
Heh. I think that advice might not be given anymore.
What’s notable about Microsoft Excel (perhaps the most famous spreadsheet platform) is that it’s not just used as an accounting tool. It’s used as an EVERYTHING tool. Lists, reports, mathematical modelling, financial statements, Gannt charts, Kanban board, org charts, software application, database.
it’s not great at any of that stuff, but it’s easy to do ALL of that with Excel. You would be surprised how much of my career has been spent reverse-engineering some convoluted collection of intrerlinking Excel spreadsheet applications that had evolved into the enterprise infrastructure for a global corporation.
I doubt I’d be surprised. 
With great power (Excel), and little IT skill (most white collar workers), comes great WTFery.