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- Every exercise in Foundations
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FreeFoundations: every exercise, no account needed
Hands-on Excel practice, built for students, job seekers, analysts, and finance teams.
Short exercises in a real spreadsheet, right in your browser. Type the formula, get it checked on what it calculates, and get a specific hint when it is off.
- A real grid in your browser
- Checked on changed data, too
- Works on your phone
Foundations · SUM · free
Total a monthly budget
SUM adds up numbers. Give it a range like B2:B7 and it adds every cell from B2 down to B7.
Your taskIn B8, use SUM to add up all the expenses in B2:B7.
Answer cell
Type in a cell, or double-click it to edit
| Row | A | B | C | D | E | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Expense | Amount | ||||
| 2 | Rent | $950.00 | ||||
| 3 | Groceries | $320.00 | ||||
| 4 | Transport | $85.00 | ||||
| 5 | Phone | $40.00 | ||||
| 6 | Gym | $35.00 | ||||
| 7 | Streaming | $18.00 | ||||
| 8 | Total | |||||
| 9 | ||||||
| 10 |
Your answer goes in the yellow cell, B8. It is checked on this data and on a changed copy.
Learn it the way you will use it.
Every exercise is the same short loop: a small, real problem, a live sheet, and feedback on what your formula actually does.
- 01
Type formulas in a real grid.
Click a cell to put its reference in your formula, or drag across a range. Enter commits, Esc cancels, F2 edits: the same moves you will make at work.
- References outlined in colour as you type
- Argument help under the formula bar
- Function names suggested after two letters
- 02
Get checked on what it calculates.
Your formula runs on the exercise data and again on changed copies of it. Any formula that gets there passes, however you wrote it. A typed-in number does not.
- No single “official” answer
- Ranges that are one row short get caught
- Instant: nothing to submit and wait for
- 03
A hint for your exact mistake.
Not just a red cross. The feedback says what your formula returned and what was expected, and hints come one at a time, so you still do the thinking.
- Specific messages for common slips
- Up to three hints per exercise
- On a phone, a row of formula keys under the grid
Videos explain. Tutorials show. Practice sticks.
You learn Excel by typing formulas and seeing what they do. Here is how that compares with the usual ways to learn it.
| ExcelStreak | Video courses | Static tutorials | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Type real formulas in a live grid | Yes | No | No |
| Checked on changed dataso a typed-in number does not pass | Yes | No | No |
| Says what is wrong with your answerwhat it returned, and what was expected | Yes | No | Answer key |
| Hints, one step at a time | Yes | No | Sometimes |
| Practise on your phone | Yes | Watch only | Read only |
| Start without an account | Yes | Rarely | Yes |
Based on what is typical for each kind of course, not on any one site.
Try it freeThe functions you actually use at work.
Short modules, one function at a time. Each exercise is a small, real problem: a budget, a grade sheet, a price list.
- 01Free
Foundations
Formulas, the everyday functions, and the $ references that make one formula fill a whole table.
- Formulas
- Order of operations
- SUM
- AVERAGE
- MAX and MIN
- COUNT and COUNTA
- Relative references
- Absolute references ($)
- Percent of total
- Percent change
- ROUND
- Mixed references
- Work out a line totalEasy
- Average two exam scoresEasy
- Total a monthly budgetEasy
- Average daily visitorsEasy
- Find the temperature rangeEasy
- Count the real answersEasy
- Copy one formula down a columnEasy
- Lock the tax rate with $Easy
- Each region's share of salesMedium
- Growth from last yearMedium
- Price with VAT, to the centMedium
- Fill a price grid with one formulaHard
- 02Pro
Logic and decisions
Let a formula decide: IF, AND, OR, nested IF, IFS, SWITCH and IFERROR.
- IF
- AND
- OR
- Nested IF
- IFS
- SWITCH
- IFERROR
- IF with blanks
- Mark each score Pass or FailEasy
- Pay commission above a thresholdMedium
- Bonus only when both targets are metMedium
- Free shipping for members or big ordersMedium
- Discount tiers with nested IFMedium
- Letter grades with IFSMedium
- Turn codes into names with SWITCHMedium
- Hide #DIV/0! with IFERRORMedium
- Pending until shippedEasy
- 03Pro
Conditional counting and sums
Count, add, average and find the maximum of only the rows that matter, with one or many conditions.
- COUNTIF
- SUMIF
- SUMIFS
- COUNTIFS
- AVERAGEIF
- AVERAGEIFS
- MAXIFS
- Wildcards
- SUMPRODUCT
- Count the late deliveriesEasy
- Count orders above a thresholdMedium
- Total one rep's salesEasy
- Total with two conditionsMedium
- Count deals that meet two conditionsMedium
- Average deal size in one regionEasy
- Average delivery time for one carrier and serviceMedium
- Biggest sale in a regionMedium
- Count products that contain a wordMedium
- Total revenue in one formulaMedium
- Revenue for one region, no helper columnHard
- 04Pro
Lookups
Pull the right value out of a table: VLOOKUP, HLOOKUP, INDEX with MATCH, and XLOOKUP.
- VLOOKUP
- VLOOKUP (approximate)
- HLOOKUP
- INDEX and MATCH
- XLOOKUP
- IFERROR + VLOOKUP
- Look up a product priceEasy
- Commission tiers with an approximate matchMedium
- Read a row-based table with HLOOKUPEasy
- Look up to the left with INDEX and MATCHMedium
- Two-way lookup in a rate gridHard
- XLOOKUP with a friendly "not found"Easy
- Return a whole record at onceMedium
- Find the latest priceHard
- Shipping cost by weight bracketMedium
- A lookup that never shows #N/AMedium
- 05Pro
Cleaning text
Split, join, clean and label text the way real exports need it.
- Joining text (&)
- TRIM and PROPER
- LEFT and RIGHT
- RIGHT
- MID
- LEFT and FIND
- TEXTAFTER
- TEXTBEFORE
- SUBSTITUTE
- TEXTJOIN
- TEXT
- SEARCH
- LEN
- Join first and last namesEasy
- Clean up messy namesEasy
- Split a SKU into its partsEasy
- Show only the last four digitsEasy
- Pull the year out of an invoice numberEasy
- Get the username from an emailMedium
- Get the domain with TEXTAFTEREasy
- First names with TEXTBEFOREEasy
- Strip dashes and spaces from phone numbersMedium
- One line with every attendeeMedium
- A label with a formatted numberMedium
- Flag tickets that mention a refundHard
- Check that every code is 8 charactersMedium
- 06Pro
Dates and deadlines
Dates are numbers: build them, count the days between them, and move them by months or working days.
- DATE
- Date arithmetic
- DATEDIF
- EDATE
- EOMONTH
- NETWORKDAYS
- WORKDAY
- WEEKDAY
- COUNTIFS with dates
- TEXT with dates
- Build a date from year, month and dayEasy
- How many days late?Easy
- Age in whole yearsMedium
- When does each contract end?Easy
- Due at the end of next monthMedium
- Working days in each projectMedium
- Delivery date in working daysMedium
- Weekend or weekday?Medium
- Count orders between two datesHard
- Turn dates into month namesMedium
- 07Pro
Statistics that matter at work
Median versus average, top values, rankings and the most common value.
- MEDIAN
- LARGE
- RANK.EQ
- MODE.SNGL
- COUNTIF with a calculation
- The typical salary, not the averageEasy
- The runner-up scoreEasy
- Total of the top threeHard
- Rank every playerMedium
- The best-selling shoe sizeEasy
- How many beat the average?Hard
- 08Pro
Modern Excel: dynamic arrays
One formula that returns a whole list: FILTER, SORT, UNIQUE, SEQUENCE, TAKE and LET.
- Spilling
- UNIQUE
- COUNTA + UNIQUE
- SORT
- SORTBY
- FILTER
- SORT + UNIQUE
- TAKE + SORT
- LET
- SEQUENCE
- One formula, a whole column of totalsEasy
- A list of customers without repeatsEasy
- How many different customers?Medium
- A leaderboard that sorts itselfEasy
- Names in score orderMedium
- Show only one regionEasy
- Filter by two conditions, with a fallbackMedium
- Filter for one region or anotherMedium
- A sorted list of distinct customersMedium
- Top three in one formulaHard
- Name the parts of a formula with LETHard
- A 12-month timeline in one formulaHard
- 09Pro
Finance and business maths
Margins, growth, loans, savings and investment decisions, the way analysts build them.
- Margin
- Break-even
- CAGR
- Growth projection
- FV
- PMT
- IPMT
- NPER
- PV
- NPV
- IRR
- XIRR
- Weighted average
- CHOOSE
- Gross margin per productEasy
- How many units to break even?Medium
- Compound annual growth rateMedium
- Project revenue five years outMedium
- What will the savings be worth?Medium
- Monthly payment on a loanMedium
- How much of the first payment is interest?Hard
- How long until the card is paid off?Medium
- Lump sum or yearly payments?Medium
- Is the project worth it? NPVHard
- The return on a project: IRRHard
- Return on investments made on irregular datesHard
- Portfolio return, weighted by sizeMedium
- A scenario switch for a modelHard
Free to start. Pro when you want it all.
Pro
The whole course, as it grows.
- Every module, including Logic and decisions, Conditional counting and sums, Lookups, Cleaning text, Dates and deadlines, Statistics that matter at work, Modern Excel: dynamic arrays, and Finance and business maths
- New exercises as they are added
- The same grid, checks and hints
Questions, answered.
The short version: start with the first exercise, it takes a couple of minutes.
Do I need Excel installed?
No. Exercises run in a spreadsheet grid in your browser. The functions work the way they do in Excel, so what you learn carries straight over.
Do I need an account?
Not to start. Every exercise in Foundations is open to anyone. Create a free account when you want your progress saved across devices.
How is my answer checked?
Your formula runs on the exercise data and again on changed copies of it, and its results are compared with a reference solution. If they match every time, you pass, whichever way you wrote it.
Does it work on my phone?
Yes. On a touch screen a row of formula keys (=, brackets, colon and the function you are practising) sits under the grid, so you rarely need the keyboard’s symbol page.
I use a Mac, or Google Sheets. Will this help?
Yes. The functions in the course work the same in Excel for Windows and Mac, and almost all of them work the same in Google Sheets.
What does Pro add?
Every module after Foundations, and the new exercises as they are added. Plans and prices are on the pricing page.
Is ExcelStreak made by Microsoft?
No. ExcelStreak is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft.
Start today
Your first SUM is two minutes away.
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The Excel skills employers actually test.
Job ads ask for “strong Excel skills”, and the tests behind them check a short, predictable list of things. Here is what is on that list, what a test looks like, and how to practise for it.
What employers test
Looking things up
Pull a price, a manager or a department from one table into another by matching an ID. Expect at least one in any Excel test: it is something people do every day at work. Know XLOOKUP, and know VLOOKUP and INDEX with MATCH for older files.
Totals and counts with conditions
Sales for one region in one month, orders over a limit, tickets still open. SUMIFS and COUNTIFS answer these without a filter or a pivot table, and they keep working when the data changes.
Logic and errors
Flag late invoices, band scores into grades, and show a clean blank instead of #N/A when a lookup finds nothing. Testers watch for formulas that hide real problems, so know what each error means before you wrap it in IFERROR.
Cleaning and reshaping data
Real exports come with duplicates, rows you only need some of, and dates that have to become month-ends or working days. UNIQUE and FILTER pull out what you need, the date functions do the calendar arithmetic, and TEXT shows numbers and dates the way a report needs them.
Finance basics
For finance, accounting and analyst roles: what a loan costs each month, and whether a project is worth more than it costs. PMT and NPV come up again and again, along with the classic mistake of discounting today’s money.
What an Excel test looks like
Tests differ between employers, but they tend to look alike: a workbook with a few sheets of realistic data, a list of questions and a time limit. The person marking it checks your numbers, and often opens the cells to see how you got them. Typical tasks:
- Look up a value from a second table, and say what happens when it isn’t there.
- Total or count rows that meet two or three conditions at once.
- Fix a sheet whose formula breaks when it is copied down, usually a missing $.
- Turn messy text and dates into clean columns.
- Answer a business question from the data, and show the formula that gets there.
A typed-in number where a formula should be, or a formula that only works for the rows on screen, counts against you even when the answer is right.
How the course works
- Pick an exercise. Each one is a small, real problem on a sheet of data: a budget, a price list, a sales report.
- Type the formula in the grid, the way you would in Excel.
- It is checked on what it calculates, then again on changed copies of the data, so a typed-in answer or a formula that only fits this sheet doesn’t pass.
- When it is off, you get a hint about your exact mistake, not just “wrong”.
Every exercise in Foundations is free, with no account needed. Pro opens the rest of the course. Browse the exercises.
Free calculators
Work out a loan payment, or a project’s NPV and IRR, then copy the Excel formula that gives the same answer for your own numbers.
Or look up any function in the Excel function reference, with worked examples and a sheet to practise on.
Excel skills: common questions
What does “advanced Excel” mean in a job ad?
Usually less than it sounds. It most often means you can join tables with lookups, summarise data with SUMIFS and COUNTIFS, write nested IF logic, and handle errors cleanly. Some roles add pivot tables, charts or dynamic arrays such as FILTER and UNIQUE. Ask, or look at the tasks in the job description: they tell you more than the label.
Should I learn XLOOKUP or VLOOKUP?
Both. XLOOKUP is simpler and safer, and it is the one to use in Excel 365 and Excel 2021 or later. VLOOKUP is still in countless older workbooks, and many tests still ask for it. Our guide XLOOKUP vs VLOOKUP compares them side by side.
How do I get ready for an Excel test in an interview?
Practise writing formulas from a blank cell rather than reading about them. Time yourself on short tasks, check your answer on a second set of numbers, and get used to absolute references ($A$1), because copying a formula down is where many mistakes show up.
Which version of Excel should I learn on?
Excel 365 or Excel 2021 if you can: they have XLOOKUP, FILTER and UNIQUE. If the job uses Excel 2019 or older, practise VLOOKUP and INDEX with MATCH as well, because there the newer functions show #NAME? instead of an answer.
How is this different from watching tutorial videos?
A video shows someone else typing the formula. Here you type it yourself, on a real sheet, and find out at once whether it is right, and why not when it isn’t. That is the skill a test, and the job, actually asks for.