Practice exercises
Write a formula for a small dataset, compare it with reviewed answers and check the expected result in your spreadsheet. No account needed.
Each exercise gives you a grid, a task and a formula box. The checker compares your input with a finite list of reviewed answers; it does not calculate the result and can miss an equivalent formula. Copy the data into your spreadsheet for an independent check. A hint and worked solution explain the task.
Try a browser formula exercise or work with a practice file.
Choose a file practice task
Work in a spreadsheet app, then compare the supplied answers. These tasks are separate from the browser formula checker.
Sales analysis: 200 orders
Calculate Revenue and summarize sales by region, category and month. Download the source, tasks-only handout and answer workbook with formulas and expected tables.
Employee lookup: six requests
Use the 150-row roster to return Department and Annual Salary, including a repeated ID and a missing ID. Compare all six answers on the page; the downloads contain the raw roster.
Cleanup: 100 messy rows
Use a separate XLSX with tasks, blank Name and Amount helpers, seven result checks and a visible literal answer key.
Subject summary: 180 score records
Use a fixed XLSX with Tasks, Data and Answer key sheets and 36 blank responses. Calculate subject counts, totals, means and the share scoring at least 70. These synthetic records are not a complete student gradebook.
Browser formula exercises
Lookup
Look up a value with XLOOKUP
Fetching a value from another column by matching a key — the single most-used skill in any real spreadsheet.
Start exercise AdvancedFind the last matching row, not the first
Use a reverse search to return the final recorded status for a repeated ticket, then check when the last row also means the latest date.
Start exerciseAggregation
Total a column with SUM
The first formula everybody learns, and the one place a typed-out chain of plus signs still costs people an afternoon.
Start exercise StarterTotal only the rows that match, with SUMIF
Aggregating a slice of the data instead of all of it — the step from a total to a report.
Start exercise IntermediateCount rows that meet two conditions
COUNTIFS with two criteria — where "how many" questions actually start.
Start exercise IntermediateFind the third-largest value without sorting
Top-n answers that do not disturb the sheet — and do not break when two values tie.
Start exercise AdvancedAverage one region over the last seven calendar days
Choose a date window that includes late readings on its final day, ignores missing observations and retains measured zeros.
Start exerciseText
Dates
Count working days between two dates
Date arithmetic that respects weekends — the difference between a calendar and a delivery promise.
Start exercise IntermediateAdd a month to a date without drifting
Adding 30 days looks right until it lands on the 2nd of the wrong month. This is the trap behind every subscription date.
Start exerciseLogic
Turn a score into a band without nesting IFs
Four thresholds, one readable formula. The nested-IF version is where bracket-counting errors come from.
Start exercise AdvancedMake a lookup fail gracefully
A column of #N/A is not a bug — but shipping it to a reader is. Handling the expected failure without hiding the real ones.
Start exerciseCleanup
Fix a lookup broken by invisible spaces
Two values that look identical and refuse to match. This is the most-reported and least-understood spreadsheet bug there is.
Start exercise IntermediateRemove non-breaking spaces that TRIM leaves behind
Reproduce a code containing Unicode non-breaking spaces, then replace those characters before trimming ordinary spaces.
Start exerciseQuestions
Is it really free?
The exercises and formula checker require no account or signup. Entering an email address is not required to use an exercise.
Do I need Excel installed?
No. The grid and the checker are on the page. Having a spreadsheet open beside it helps, because you can verify the expected result yourself. The separate cleanup and student score workbooks need a spreadsheet app that opens XLSX; their formula examples are text and their answer keys are visible.
Does it run my formula?
The checker normalises case, spacing, argument separators and dollar-sign anchors, then compares your input with a finite list of reviewed formulas. It does not evaluate the formula and can reject an equivalent unlisted answer. Copy the sample data into your spreadsheet to check the expected result independently.