Free Excel exercises
You are welcome to try any of the 113 Excel exercises listed below, but please do not distribute them in any form without asking for our written permission first.
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Excel basics |
| Level: |
Relatively easy |
| Exercise: |
Adding new data, editing and copying and changing column widths for customer services data. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Creating formulae |
| Level: |
Relatively easy |
| Exercise: |
Use Excel to to calculate basic statiscs about the richest people in the world. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Creating formulae |
| Level: |
Relatively easy |
| Exercise: |
Use Microsoft Excel to create simple Poohsticks formulae calculating scores. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Creating formulae |
| Level: |
Relatively easy |
| Exercise: |
Use Microsoft Excel to to calculate basic statistics about big budget movies. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Creating formulae |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Basic Formulae including totals - credit payments exercise. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Creating formulae |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Basic Formulae including totals - telephone call statistics. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Creating formulae |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Basic formulae including totals - weight loss exercise. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Creating formulae |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Creating basic formulae including totals - buying toys exercise. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Creating formulae |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Revision of creating and copying basic formulae including totals - chocolate consumption. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Creating formulae |
| Level: |
Harder than average |
| Exercise: |
Basic Formulae including totals - MP Office Expenses. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Creating formulae |
| Level: |
Harder than average |
| Exercise: |
Basic Formulae including totals - Office costs for first quarter of year. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Formatting worksheets |
| Level: |
Relatively easy |
| Exercise: |
Apply some simple formatting changes to an Excel worksheet fo interview data. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Formatting worksheets |
| Level: |
Relatively easy |
| Exercise: |
Making simple formatting changes to a list of enquiries and complaints. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Formatting worksheets |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Apply outlining to a finanical model predicting game show contestant winnings. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Formatting worksheets |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Formatting - Changing the appearance of your workbook before printing - buying toys exercise. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Formatting worksheets |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Formatting - changing the appearance of your workbook before printing - telephone call stats. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Formatting worksheets |
| Level: |
Harder than average |
| Exercise: |
Formatting - changing the appearance of your workbook before printing - credit payments. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Basic printing |
| Level: |
Relatively easy |
| Exercise: |
Printing Summer Sale Order worksheet. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Basic printing |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Changing print settings like headers and footers - weight loss exercise. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Basic printing |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Set a header, footer and print area in an Excel worksheet. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Basic printing |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Set a print area, print titles and a header and footer for an Excel sheet - hair salon data. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Charts |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Selects all the data and creates a 3D pie chart with an exploded segment and labels with %. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Charts |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Selects all the data and creates a line chart which has to be formatted to display time across X axis. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Charts |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Selects part of the chocolate bar worksheet and creates a basic column chart that has formats applied. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Absolute references |
| Level: |
Relatively easy |
| Exercise: |
Cake Friday - uses an absolute cell to always refer to the cakes per child figure. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Absolute references |
| Level: |
Relatively easy |
| Exercise: |
Changing Sterling to Euros Using Absolute References. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Absolute references |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Calculate salesperson commission using absolute cell references. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Absolute references |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Price orders using absolute cell references. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Absolute references |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Uses absolute cell references to refer to the ticket prices in the formulae. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Range names |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Calculate part time pay rates using range names in Excel. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Range names |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Creates 3 range names and uses them to calculate the revenue, costs and profit. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Range names |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Creates Range names and uses them in formulae. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Range names |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Creating range names for input cells. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Range names |
| Level: |
Harder than average |
| Exercise: |
Calculate ticket prices bands using range names in Excel. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Range names |
| Level: |
Harder than average |
| Exercise: |
Creates range names for the archery scoring and uses them in the formula. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Conditional formulae |
| Level: |
Relatively easy |
| Exercise: |
Using If to display different size text messages. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Conditional formulae |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Calculate conditional counts and sums of data using Excel functions for sales data. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Conditional formulae |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
If functions to calculate different order discounts. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Conditional formulae |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Using If to Calculate different parking charges for car parking data. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Conditional formulae |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Using IF to calculate different voucher rates. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Conditional formulae |
| Level: |
Harder than average |
| Exercise: |
Using =IF and Concatenation to display different text messages. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Conditional formatting |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Colour and format rows of data according to the values in cells for exam data. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Conditional formatting |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Using conditional formatting to highlight pay data values according to criteria. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Basic tables |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Create an Excel table of rollercoasters and sort the data. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Basic tables |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Filter a list of hoildays in an Excel table. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Basic tables |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Sort a list of courses by level, time and cost, then filter them. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Basic tables |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Sort and filter a table of data in Excel for hair salon data. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Basic tables |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Use a table in Excel to filter a list of rollercoaster. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Basic tables |
| Level: |
Harder than average |
| Exercise: |
Filter a Microsoft Excel table of dinosaurs. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Formatting numbers and dates |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Create a variety of date series, using a combination of AutoFill and date formatting. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Working with dates |
| Level: |
Harder than average |
| Exercise: |
Add headings to an Excel business model giving the start and end of each month. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Data validation |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Apply validation and protection to a model of game show winner expenditure and income. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Data validation |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Set data validation on cells to stop invalid entries - pay data. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Protection |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Use Excel protection to stop people accidentally overwriting cells. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Advanced IFs |
| Level: |
Relatively easy |
| Exercise: |
Using Nested If to Calculate Parking Charges. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Advanced IFs |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Nested IF calculates different % for staff bonuses as well as a text message. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Advanced IFs |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Using a nested =IF function to calculate different discounts. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Advanced IFs |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Using the IF function to calculate different interest rates and messages. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Advanced IFs |
| Level: |
Harder than average |
| Exercise: |
Combining nested =IF and =AND functions. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Lookup functions |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
How to use the XLOOKUP function to look up data from different columns/rows for plants data. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Lookup functions |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Using a lookup table to calculate different discounts. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Lookup functions |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Using a Lookup Table To display a curry rating in text. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Lookup functions |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Using a VLOOKUP to display a text message (dog jacket size). |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Lookup functions |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Using exact match look-ups to search on ISBN codes. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Lookup functions |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Using exact match on site codes to return matching data. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Lookup functions |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Using lookup formulae to calculate staff bonuses. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Lookup functions |
| Level: |
Harder than average |
| Exercise: |
Create a lookup formula to show the council tax for any given house, using VLOOKUP. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Lookup functions |
| Level: |
Harder than average |
| Exercise: |
Create a VLOOKUP formula to multiply celebrity earnings by a factor depending on which talent contest you have won. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Lookup functions |
| Level: |
Harder than average |
| Exercise: |
Using an exact match lookup and HLOOKUP with music exam data. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Spill functions |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Use combinations of the UNIQUE, SORT and FILTER functions to manipulate a table of data. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Advanced lookup functions |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Using MATCH and INDEX to lookup flight times by destination and weekday. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Advanced lookup functions |
| Level: |
Harder than average |
| Exercise: |
Create MATCH and INDEX functions to look up the value of a cell given its row and column label. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Text functions |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Using various text functions in Excel to parse film names. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Advanced charts |
| Level: |
Relatively easy |
| Exercise: |
Creating sparklines in cells to report on accidents involving animals. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Advanced charts |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Adding stacked pictures to a chart series for a chocolate treats dataset. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Advanced charts |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Creating combination charts for data where a secondary axis is required for butter data. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Advanced charts |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Creating scatter charts of sales data with regression trendlines. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Multiple worksheets |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Using 3D sums to calculate totals across sheets for teenage spending. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Advanced tables |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Adding subtotals to a table of data for playground data. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Advanced tables |
| Level: |
Harder than average |
| Exercise: |
Using Advanced Filters in Tables with multiple criteria and extract ranges for property data. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Pivot tables / charts |
| Level: |
Relatively easy |
| Exercise: |
Use MS Excel 2007 Pivot Tables to filter your data and generate statistics. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Pivot tables / charts |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Creating a pivot table to analyse the results of a house search. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Pivot tables / charts |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Show film statistics by genre and certificate using a slicer. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Pivot tables / charts |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Show Oscar nominations by by certificate using a pivot chart and slicer. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Pivot tables / charts |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Summarise playground safety data by month in a pivot table. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Pivot tables / charts |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Use Microsoft Excel to generate useful rollercoaster statistics from Pivot Tables. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Pivot tables / charts |
| Level: |
Harder than average |
| Exercise: |
Analyse property data in a pivot table including a calc field and grouping. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Advanced pivot tables |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Creating frequency pivot tables and using the show values as options for playground data. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Advanced pivot tables |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Using Slicers, Timelines and Report Filter pages in Pivot tables. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Advanced pivot tables |
| Level: |
Harder than average |
| Exercise: |
Use grouping to create a whole new group in a pivot table for property data. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Scenarios |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Create 3 scenarios for an investment appraisal, and a summary showing the NPV/IRR for each. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Scenarios |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Creating scenarios for different input changes for an investment model. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Data tables |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Create a one-way data table to show the effect of a change in initial investment on the NPV for a project. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Data tables |
| Level: |
Harder than average |
| Exercise: |
Create a two-way data table in an Excel model, comparing NPVs for different discount rates, etc. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Advanced formulae |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Create a function which allows you to refer to a formula on a worksheet with a variable worksheet name,using the INDIRECT function. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Advanced formulae |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Use a SUMPRODUCT function to return the value of a report item for a particular year and line item. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Advanced formulae |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Use dynamic range names to create formulae which automatically extend when you add new columns to a spreadsheet model. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Advanced formulae |
| Level: |
Harder than average |
| Exercise: |
Use INFO, CELL and text formulae to extract the file name for a workbook. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Advanced formulae |
| Level: |
Harder than average |
| Exercise: |
Use ISERROR and IF to determine whether a lookup formula returns an error or not. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Building models |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Create a spreadsheet to model your lifestyle as a winner of a game show. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Masking |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Apply a mask to cost and revenue row for a year whose value can be chosen by a user. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Cashflow calculations |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Calculate cashflow avoiding circular references, using interest rate and start balance assumptions. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Investment appraisal |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Calculate the NPV - net present value - and IRR - internatl rate of return - for a financial model. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Querying data |
| Level: |
Relatively easy |
| Exercise: |
Import a population table then tidy up the data. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Querying data |
| Level: |
Average difficulty |
| Exercise: |
Tidy up exchange rate and investment data in Power Query, splitting columns and replacing values. |
| Software: |
Excel |
| Topic: |
Querying data |
| Level: |
Harder than average |
| Exercise: |
Create a query to import a table of tall buildings, create new columns and then pivot the data. |
You can search our full list of Excel exercises here.
Or why not learn to do them the right way on one of our Excel training courses? You can attend our online training classes wherever you are in the world!
