Formula Drill

Endless Excel practice. Write real formulas, predict what they return, and master references.

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Start here: how Excel formulas work

Every formula starts with =. Without it, Excel just shows what you typed.
A cell address is column letter + row number. B3 means column B, row 3.
A range is first cell, colon, last cell. D2:D6 means D2, D3, D4, D5 and D6.
Math symbols: + add, - subtract, * multiply, / divide, ^ power. Excel does * and / before + and −, unless you use parentheses.
Functions do bigger jobs. Type the name, then parentheses with the inputs inside: =SUM(D2:D6). Separate inputs with commas: =ROUND(C2,2).
Words inside a formula go in quotes: =IF(D2>100,"High","Low"). Numbers don't.
Point to cells instead of typing numbers. =B2*C2, not =12*4, so the answer updates when the data changes.

New to this? Stay in Basics until you're scoring around 85%, then try Mixed. In any question, press Hint twice for step-by-step help.

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Function cheat sheet

Error	Usually means
#DIV/0!	Dividing by zero or a blank cell, or AVERAGEIF found no matches.
#N/A	A lookup couldn't find the value. Check spelling and the exact-match argument.
#REF!	The formula points to a cell that doesn't exist, like a column number past the edge of a VLOOKUP table, or a deleted cell.
#NAME?	Excel doesn't recognize a name: a misspelled function, or text missing its quotes.
#VALUE!	Math on text, or the wrong kind of argument.

Type	Example	Copy down	Copy right
Relative	B2	Row changes	Column changes
Absolute	$B$2	Stays	Stays
Mixed (row locked)	B$2	Stays	Column changes
Mixed (column locked)	$B2	Row changes	Stays

Press F4 (Fn + F4 on many laptops, Cmd + T on a Mac) while editing a reference to cycle through these.