Excel practice exercises
Reading about Excel does not make you fast. You learn a formula by typing it, getting it wrong, and fixing it until the result is right. This guide gives you a routine for that, using the free lessons on this site.
The routine works in short sessions: about 20 minutes, three or four times a week. Each session has one formula family, a few exercises, and a check at the end.
1. Pick one formula family per week
Start with the basics: the grid, first formulas and SUM. Then move to averages and counts, conditions with IF, lookups with VLOOKUP or XLOOKUP, and text and dates. Stay on one family until you can write it without looking anything up.
2. Type the formula, then check the result
Write the formula in the cell yourself. Do not copy a formula from the answer first. Then compare the result with the expected value. If they differ, use the formula bar to read what you typed, rather than rewriting it from memory.
3. Practise with the references, not just the function
Many mistakes come from cell references, not from the function itself. After each exercise, copy your formula down a column and across a row, and check that the references still point where you expect. The lesson on cell references covers the $ sign.
4. Repeat the exercises you missed
Keep a short list of the tasks you got wrong or had to look up. At the start of the next session, redo them before you start anything new. Repetition a few days apart builds memory better than one long session.
5. Add speed last
Once a formula is right every time, time yourself. Aim to finish the same exercise faster each week. Learn the keys that save the most time, such as moving to the edge of a range and filling a formula down.
6. Practise on data you care about
After a few weeks, copy a real spreadsheet of your own (a budget, a sales list, a schedule) and use the same functions on it. Real data has blanks, text in number columns and dates in the wrong format, which exercises do not show.
Common mistakes
Copying the answer. It feels like progress, but you will not remember the formula in the next session.
Fix: Look at the expected result, close the answer, and write the formula again from the start.
Practising one function for hours. You get good at that exercise, not at the skill.
Fix: Split each session across two or three exercises, and mix in one from an earlier week.
Skipping the check. A formula can return a value that looks right but refers to the wrong cells.
Fix: Check one value by hand with a few rows of the data, every time.
Frequently asked questions
How much time per week do I need?
About an hour, in three or four short sessions. Consistency matters more than the total.
Should I practise in Excel or Google Sheets?
Use the one you will use at work or school. Most formulas in these lessons work in both, but a few functions and shortcuts differ.
Related functions
- SUMSUM adds up numbers, cells and whole ranges in one formula.
- SUMIFSSUMIFS adds up values that meet several conditions at once, such as paid orders from one region.
- IFIF checks a condition and returns one value if it's true and another if it's false.
- VLOOKUPVLOOKUP finds a value in the first column of a table and returns a value from the same row in another column.
- XLOOKUPXLOOKUP searches one column or row and returns the matching value from another, in any direction, with a built-in 'not found' message.
- IFERRORIFERROR returns a value you choose when a formula produces an error such as #N/A or #DIV/0!, and the normal result otherwise.