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.
17 exercises — Intermediate · for Business Analyst
Cycle a reference through its absolute and relative forms while editing.
Extend a selection to the last filled row in one press.
Cut a combined location field at the comma without counting characters by hand.
LEFT · FIND
Pick the right summary statistic for a set with one huge outlier.
AVERAGE · MEDIAN
Return one of three labels depending on where a value falls.
IF
Count rows that satisfy several criteria at once.
COUNTIFS
Guard a division so cancelled lines do not fill the report with errors.
IF
Build a conditional average out of a conditional sum and a conditional count.
SUMIF · COUNTIF
Narrow a count with three criteria at once rather than filtering by hand.
COUNTIFS
Apply an upper and a lower bound to the same column at once.
COUNTIFS
Count people in one department whose last review was long enough ago.
COUNTIFS
Match a customer ID against a reference table to return their region.
XLOOKUP
Compare the second-best and second-worst weeks to get a fairer range.
LARGE · SMALL
Add up spend for a single channel out of a mixed campaign list.
SUMIF
Apply two conditions at once to a conditional sum.
SUMIFS
Recall the argument order that differs between SUMIF and SUMIFS.
SUMIF · SUMIFS
Identify the one situation VLOOKUP genuinely cannot handle.
VLOOKUP · XLOOKUP
| # | Exercise | Functions | Difficulty | Time | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 35 | Add the dollar signs without typing themNo dataset — this one is about your hands | — | Intermediate | 4 min | 20 pts |
| 39 | Select to the bottom of the dataNo dataset — this one is about your hands | — | Intermediate | 4 min | 20 pts |
| 40 | Split a city away from its stateHarbor Supply — carrier destination export | LEFT · FIND | Intermediate | 8 min | 25 pts |
| 44 | Average or median for this data?Conceptual question — no dataset | AVERAGE · MEDIAN | Intermediate | 4 min | 20 pts |
| 45 | Band orders by size with nested IFHarbor Supply — October orders | IF | Intermediate | 9 min | 25 pts |
| 46 | Count orders meeting two conditionsHarbor Supply — orders across regions | COUNTIFS | Intermediate | 8 min | 25 pts |
| 49 | Work out fill rate without a divide errorHarbor Supply — fill rate by line, some cancelled | IF | Intermediate | 8 min | 25 pts |
| 51 | Average one region without AVERAGEIFHarbor Supply — orders by region | SUMIF · COUNTIF | Intermediate | 9 min | 30 pts |
| 52 | Count backorders on three conditionsHarbor Supply — open order lines by warehouse | COUNTIFS | Intermediate | 8 min | 25 pts |
| 53 | Count orders inside a value bandHarbor Supply — order values, last month | COUNTIFS | Intermediate | 7 min | 25 pts |
| 54 | Count staff overdue a reviewHarbor Supply — months since last review | COUNTIFS | Intermediate | 8 min | 25 pts |
| 57 | Look up a customer's region with XLOOKUPHarbor Supply — orders plus a customer reference table | XLOOKUP | Intermediate | 8 min | 25 pts |
| 58 | Measure the spread, ignoring the extremesHarbor Supply — weekly revenue, one quarter | LARGE · SMALL | Intermediate | 7 min | 25 pts |
| 59 | Total marketing spend for one channelHarbor Supply — campaign spend by channel | SUMIF | Intermediate | 7 min | 25 pts |
| 62 | Total sales for a region and month with SUMIFSHarbor Supply — orders across regions and months | SUMIFS | Intermediate | 9 min | 25 pts |
| 65 | Which range does SUMIFS want first?Conceptual question — no dataset | SUMIF · SUMIFS | Intermediate | 3 min | 20 pts |
| 69 | When can VLOOKUP not do the job?Conceptual question — no dataset | VLOOKUP · XLOOKUP | Intermediate | 3 min | 20 pts |