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 — for Finance
Divide actual sales by target to get an achievement percentage.
Calculate the mean value of a set of customer orders.
AVERAGE
Count how many rows meet a numeric condition.
COUNTIF
Identify the extremes in a column of values.
MAX · MIN
Add up only the rows matching a text condition.
SUMIF
Work out how many days old each invoice is.
TODAY
Combine date arithmetic with a conditional label.
IF · TODAY
Require two conditions to be true at once.
IF · AND
Return one of three labels depending on where a value falls.
IF
Count rows that satisfy several criteria at once.
COUNTIFS
Return the right rate from several tiers without nesting.
IFS
Apply two conditions at once to a conditional sum.
SUMIFS
Combine INDEX and MATCH to look up a value without a fixed column number.
INDEX · MATCH
Produce a summary line combining count, total and average for one region.
COUNTIF · SUMIF
Diagnose and correct a formula that returns the wrong answer.
IF
Use absolute references so a lookup does not break when copied down a column.
XLOOKUP
Combine ranking with a lookup to return a name, not just a number.
LARGE · INDEX · MATCH
| # | Exercise | Functions | Difficulty | Time | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | Calculate achievement against targetHarbor Supply — Q3 rep performance | — | Beginner | 3 min | 10 pts |
| 8 | Find the average order value with AVERAGEHarbor Supply — October orders | AVERAGE | Beginner | 3 min | 10 pts |
| 9 | Count orders above a threshold with COUNTIFHarbor Supply — October orders | COUNTIF | Beginner | 5 min | 15 pts |
| 10 | Find the largest and smallest orderHarbor Supply — October orders | MAX · MIN | Beginner | 4 min | 10 pts |
| 12 | Total sales for one region with SUMIFHarbor Supply — October orders by region | SUMIF | Beginner | 6 min | 15 pts |
| 13 | Calculate invoice age with TODAYHarbor Supply — open invoices | TODAY | Intermediate | 8 min | 25 pts |
| 14 | Flag overdue invoices with IF and TODAYHarbor Supply — aged debt | IF · TODAY | Intermediate | 9 min | 25 pts |
| 17 | Approve orders with ANDHarbor Supply — order approval queue | IF · AND | Intermediate | 8 min | 25 pts |
| 18 | Band orders by size with nested IFHarbor Supply — October orders | IF | Intermediate | 9 min | 25 pts |
| 19 | Count orders meeting two conditionsHarbor Supply — orders across regions | COUNTIFS | Intermediate | 8 min | 25 pts |
| 20 | Apply commission tiers with IFSHarbor Supply — Q3 sales by rep | IFS | Intermediate | 10 min | 25 pts |
| 22 | Total sales for a region and month with SUMIFSHarbor Supply — orders across regions and months | SUMIFS | Intermediate | 9 min | 25 pts |
| 24 | Find a value with INDEX and MATCHHarbor Supply — commission rates by rep | INDEX · MATCH | Intermediate | 10 min | 25 pts |
| 25 | Build a regional summary from raw ordersHarbor Supply — raw October order export | COUNTIF · SUMIF | Advanced | 16 min | 40 pts |
| 26 | Fix a broken commission formulaHarbor Supply — commission run with a bug | IF | Advanced | 14 min | 40 pts |
| 28 | Lock ranges so a lookup survives fill-downHarbor Supply — orders and customer reference | XLOOKUP | Advanced | 12 min | 40 pts |
| 30 | Name the second-best rep with LARGE and INDEXHarbor Supply — Q3 sales by rep, unsorted | LARGE · INDEX · MATCH | Advanced | 14 min | 40 pts |