Maria Csernoch, Piroska Biró Spreadsheet misconceptions, spreadsheet errors 1. Introduction Spreadsheet programs appeared on the market around 30 years ago, and they are now among the most widely used programming systems (Scaffidi, Shaw, and Myers 2005). Originally, these programs were meant for domestic usage – a small program for calculating household expenses, handling personal data, and carrying out some minimal data retrieval (W1 2013; Sestoft 2010). However, time has proved that spreadsheet programs are more powerful and more widely used than was anticipated and communicated to the public. This contradiction has been inherent in the software from the very beginning, since the publishers have been boasting that these systems are easy- to-use programs, while at the same time continuously highlighting their large and increasing number of functions and powerful features. 1.1. Approaches to spreadsheets Studies have shown that there is a high incidence of errors in spreadsheets; up to 90% in some cases (Abraham and Erwig 2009; Jorgensen 2013; Kadijevich 2009, 2013; Kwak 2013; Panko 2008; Panko and Aurigemma 2010; Powell, Baker and Lawson 2008, 2009a, 2009b; W2 2012; Teo and Tan 1999; Tort 2010; Tort, Blondel and Bruillard 2008). Studies have also been attempting to find an explanation for this failure. However, most of these researches have been carried out on completed and saved spreadsheets documents. 1.1.1. Metacognitive approaches to spreadsheets It has also been proved and will be shown in this paper that a previously unknown metacognitive approach, which can be categorized as a surface approach, has emerged in the spreadsheet environment; the trial-and-error wizard-based approach (TAEW-