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.
15 exercises — Intermediate · for Data Analyst
Cycle a reference through its absolute and relative forms while editing.
Extract characters from the middle of a text value.
MID
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
Clean inconsistent spacing and casing so values can be matched.
Pick the right summary statistic for a set with one huge outlier.
AVERAGE · MEDIAN
Find rows whose order number appears more than once in the column.
COUNTIF · 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
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
Sum the orders that beat the average, without typing the average in yourself.
SUMIF · AVERAGE
Combine INDEX and MATCH to look up a value without a fixed column number.
INDEX · MATCH
Return the campaign name behind the highest conversion count.
INDEX · MATCH · MAX
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 |
| 38 | Pull the year out of an order code with MIDHarbor Supply — order codes | MID | Intermediate | 7 min | 25 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 |
| 41 | Standardise messy codes with TRIM and UPPERHarbor Supply — supplier feed, uncleaned | — | Intermediate | 7 min | 25 pts |
| 44 | Average or median for this data?Conceptual question — no dataset | AVERAGE · MEDIAN | Intermediate | 4 min | 20 pts |
| 48 | Spot duplicate order numbers with COUNTIFHarbor Supply — order import, run twice | COUNTIF · IF | Intermediate | 9 min | 30 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 |
| 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 |
| 60 | Total only the orders above averageHarbor Supply — October order values | SUMIF · AVERAGE | Intermediate | 8 min | 25 pts |
| 66 | Find a value with INDEX and MATCHHarbor Supply — commission rates by rep | INDEX · MATCH | Intermediate | 10 min | 25 pts |
| 68 | Name the best-performing campaignHarbor Supply — conversions by campaign, unsorted | INDEX · MATCH · MAX | Intermediate | 10 min | 30 pts |
| 69 | When can VLOOKUP not do the job?Conceptual question — no dataset | VLOOKUP · XLOOKUP | Intermediate | 3 min | 20 pts |