Real situations from working spreadsheets — sales targets, commission tiers, messy exports, aged invoices. Numbered in recommended order: start at 1 and work down, or filter to what you need.
7 exercises — Advanced · for Accounting
Diagnose and correct a formula that returns the wrong answer.
IF
Anchor one end of a range so it grows as the formula moves down the column.
SUM
Look up a value that only exists two tables away from what you started with.
XLOOKUP
Use COUNTIF to reconcile two lists and spot what is absent.
COUNTIF · IF
Repair a formula written in SUMIF's argument order instead of SUMIFS'.
SUMIFS
Match two lists where one side has trailing spaces you cannot see.
COUNTIF · IF
Diagnose a match failure where both values look identical on screen.
XLOOKUP
| # | Exercise | Functions | Difficulty | Time | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 72 | Fix a broken commission formulaHarbor Supply — commission run with a bug | IF | Advanced | 14 min | 40 pts |
| 75 | Build a running total that fills downHarbor Supply — monthly sales, cumulative column | SUM | Advanced | 12 min | 35 pts |
| 76 | Chain two lookups with XLOOKUPHarbor Supply — orders, customers and credit terms | XLOOKUP | Advanced | 13 min | 40 pts |
| 78 | Find which customers are missing from a listHarbor Supply — CRM customers versus billing records | COUNTIF · IF | Advanced | 14 min | 40 pts |
| 79 | Fix a SUMIFS with its arguments swappedHarbor Supply — regional totals, formula under repair | SUMIFS | Advanced | 11 min | 35 pts |
| 82 | Reconcile a list with hidden spacesHarbor Supply — export vs master customer list | COUNTIF · IF | Advanced | 12 min | 35 pts |
| 84 | Why does a lookup fail on clean data?Conceptual question — no dataset | XLOOKUP | Advanced | 4 min | 30 pts |