Hands-on practice for Excel
Excel practice that proves your formula works.
Solve real work tasks in your browser. Cellwise then re-runs your formula on data you haven’t seen, and shows you exactly what broke.
The first module is free. No sign-up needed to start.
=SUMIF(A2:A7,"North",B2:B7)| A | B | C | D | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Region | Revenue | |||
| 2 | North | 1,200 | Region | North | |
| 3 | West | 900 | Total | 1,850 | |
| 4 | North | 650 | |||
| 5 | East | 400 | |||
| 6 | West | 1,500 | |||
| 7 | South | 700 |
How it works
Do the task in a live spreadsheet
Every task is a small job from a normal workday. You type real formulas in your browser, and there’s nothing to install.
We re-run it on data you haven’t seen
Your formula has to get the right answer on the sheet you can see and on three hidden versions of it.
Find out exactly what to fix
If something breaks, you see what your formula gave, what the answer should have been, and why.
Feedback that names the mistake
“Incorrect” doesn’t teach you much. Here are three of the messages you can get, including mistakes that give the right number today.
Right here, breaks elsewhere
You typed the region name
Your formula won’t follow G2 when your manager asks about another region. Point at cell G2 instead.
Wrong on this sheet
Your rate reference moved when you filled down
C2 is right, but lower rows point at F3, F4 and so on, which are empty. Lock the rate with dollar signs: $F$2.
Right by luck
Your VLOOKUP is using approximate match
Without FALSE at the end, VLOOKUP assumes the list is sorted and can return the wrong row without any warning.
57 lessons, from your first formula to dynamic arrays
See the full courseSpreadsheet foundations
Formulas, totals and quick summaries of a list.
- Your first formulas
- Adding up with SUM
- Average, highest and lowest
- Counting what’s there
Formulas that scale
Fill a formula down a whole table, and make it decide things.
- Filling formulas down
- Making decisions with IF
Percentages and growth
Percent change, discounts, tax and running totals.
- Percent change, discounts and tax
- Locking just the row or column
- Running totals
Answering questions about your data
Totals and counts for just the rows you care about.
- Totals with conditions
- Counts with conditions
- Partial matches and exclusions
- Totals between dates
Looking things up
Pull the right value from another table.
- Find it with XLOOKUP
- VLOOKUP and INDEX/MATCH
- Two-way lookups
- XLOOKUP’s hidden powers
Working with text
Split, clean and join the text that real data arrives in.
- Pulling text apart
- Cleaning messy text
- Splitting at a marker
- Joining text together
- Replacing and formatting text
- TEXTBEFORE, TEXTAFTER and TEXTSPLIT
- Numbers and dates stored as text
Working with dates
Schedules, deadlines, tenure and working days.
- Taking dates apart
- Calculating with dates
- Tenure and working days
- Weekends and working days
- Times and timesheets
Advanced logic
Rules with several conditions, and sheets that handle errors.
- Rules with several parts
- Many outcomes with IFS and SWITCH
- Handling errors and gaps
- Finding duplicates
Understanding your numbers
Middles, rankings, rounding and group statistics.
- When the average misleads
- Top performers and rankings
- Rounding properly
- Statistics for one group
- Multiply and add with SUMPRODUCT
- Whole numbers and remainders
- Rounding to a step
Financial functions
Loans, savings and whether an investment pays off.
- Loan payments
- Savings and compound growth
- Is it worth investing?
Modern Excel: formulas that spill
One formula that returns a whole list.
- UNIQUE and SORT
- The FILTER function
- Readable formulas with LET
- SEQUENCE and SORTBY
- FILTER with several conditions
- Top N, chosen columns and stacked lists
Putting it all together
Real jobs that take several skills at once.
- Fixing and using imported data
- A report that updates itself
- Budget against actual
- From timesheet to pay
Keyboard shortcuts
Work faster, with Windows and Mac versions of every drill.
- Moving around fast
- Selecting without dragging
- Everyday editing shortcuts
- Formatting shortcuts
More than a course
Everything you need to learn it, keep it, and show an employer you have it.
Prove it
Mock interviews and a certificate
Timed tests like the ones employers give, and a certificate with a public page anyone can check.
Take a look: Mock interviews and a certificateReal Excel
6 projects, checked from your file
Build a report, a PivotTable or a budget in Excel itself, then upload it. We check your formulas, charts and PivotTables.
Take a look: 6 projects, checked from your fileNext skill
A SQL track, 21 lessons
Write real queries against a real database in your browser, tested on databases you haven’t seen.
Take a look: A SQL track, 21 lessonsFive minutes a day
Daily challenge and streaks
One new task a day, and streaks that forgive a missed day. Nothing resets because you were busy.
Take a look: Daily challenge and streaksRemember it
Flashcards that space themselves
Cards you get right come back later, and the ones you miss come back sooner.
Take a look: Flashcards that space themselvesLook it up
23 how-to guides and 71 functions
Plain-English answers to everyday Excel jobs, with every formula checked in real Excel.
Take a look: 23 how-to guides and 71 functions
Checked against real Excel
Practice only helps if it carries over to work. So we ran the same test formulas through this spreadsheet and through Microsoft Excel, and compared every result.
- Formulas that matched
- 218 of 220
- Functions covered
- 114
- Lesson answers, examples and guides that matched
- 821 of 821
Who it’s for
Your new job expects Excel
Get comfortable with the formulas you’ll actually be asked to use, before someone’s waiting on your report.
You have an Excel test coming up
Practice doing the work yourself, without following along with a video.
You get by, but you copy formulas
Find out which of your habits only work by luck, and what to do instead.
Questions
Do I need Excel installed?
No. Everything runs in your browser. It’s a spreadsheet built for practice, not Microsoft Excel itself, but the formulas you learn are the ones you’d use in Excel.
Do formulas behave exactly like they do in Excel?
Almost always. We ran 220 test formulas through both, and 218 gave the same result as real Excel. We also ran every accepted lesson answer and every function example and guide formula through real Excel, 821 in all, and every one matched. One of the two differences, text used as an IF test, gets flagged in the lessons. The other, wildcards in SEARCH, isn’t taught yet.
What if I solve it a different way?
That’s fine. We check whether your answer works, not whether it matches one set formula. SUMIF, SUMIFS and SUMPRODUCT can all pass the same task.
How much does it cost?
The first module, the placement test, the daily challenge, flashcards, function pages and guides are free. Full access to every lesson, the SQL track, projects, mock interviews and the certificate is $49 a year, $14.99 a month, or $149 once. Any payment can be refunded within 14 days.
Do I need an account?
No. Open a lesson and start, and your progress saves in this browser. A free account keeps it safe, and lets you pick up on any device.
Can I use it on my phone?
Use a computer with a keyboard for now. Spreadsheet work is hard on a small screen, and we haven’t tested phones yet.