Excel Interview Prep: Top 50 Practice Problems
Every problem on this path mirrors a task that shows up in real Excel hiring screens: exact-match lookups, nested IF decisions, multi-condition aggregation, and formulas that survive edge cases. Type your formula into the live sheet and get instant pass/fail grading — no install, no signup. The track grows as we publish new problems; the list below shows every problem live today.
Look up an employee's department (VLOOKUP)
You're in an HR screen and the interviewer slides over an employee directory: IDs, names and departments in A2:C5. Given the ID in E2, write a formula in the Department cell F2 that reports which department that employee works in.
Look up salary by employee ID (XLOOKUP)
You are putting together a department salary report. Employee IDs and departments are already filled in, but the Matched salary column is still empty. Write a formula in G2:G6 so each row looks up the salary for the employee ID in column E from the staff roster in columns A–C.
Look up unit price by SKU (VLOOKUP)
You run a small warehouse. The price list on the left has every SKU, but the order sheet on the right still needs unit prices. Fill the Unit price cells F2:F4 so each order row pulls the price for its SKU from the price list in columns A–C.
Check if cell contains specific text (IF + SEARCH)
Customer support needs to triage incoming tickets in A2:A5. If a ticket's message contains the word Urgent (case-insensitive), label it as Priority; otherwise, label it as Normal. Fill the Priority status cells B2:B5 using an IF formula that checks for substring presence.
Compare a score to the middle value
You're analyzing a class quiz: the five scores are already entered in A2:A6, and you want to know whether the first student's score in A2 sits above, below, or right at the middle of the class. Fill the vs Middle cell B2 — return Above, Below, or Equal.
Convert a score into a letter grade (nested IF)
It's report-card season: exam scores are already entered, and the school system needs a letter grade beside each one. Fill the Letter cell B2 with a grade for the score in A2: A for scores ≥90, B for ≥80, C for ≥70, otherwise D.
Default to zero on missing discount (VLOOKUP + IFERROR)
You are processing store checkouts. Members get a discount based on their VIP tier in columns A–B (Bronze 5%, Silver 10%, Gold 15%, Platinum 20%). Non-VIP customers have standard tiers like 'Regular' or 'None' that are NOT in the VIP table, causing a naked VLOOKUP to fail with #N/A. Fill the Discount cells E2:E5 using VLOOKUP wrapped in IFERROR (or IFNA) so missing tiers safely default to 0.
Find tax bracket using approximate match (VLOOKUP)
HR needs to compute the withholding tax rate for each employee's annual taxable income. The reference table in columns A–B lists income thresholds in ascending order (0, $30,000, $60,000, $100,000) and their corresponding tax rates. Fill the Tax rate cells F2:F4 using VLOOKUP with approximate match so each employee is assigned the rate matching their income tier in E2:E4.
Handle missing SKUs in a lookup (IFERROR)
Customer service forwarded an order list, and one of the SKUs was discontinued — it is not in the price list anymore, so a plain lookup would blow up with an error in the middle of your report. Fill the Unit price cells F2:F4 so every order row either shows the matched price or the text Not found.
Pull multiple columns for an employee (VLOOKUP)
You are building an employee profile card. Given an employee ID in F2, pull their Department into G2 and City into H2 from the master employee directory in columns A–D. Lock the table reference with $ so the lookup formula remains stable across columns.
Total sales for one region (SUMIF)
The quarterly ledger in A2:B7 mixes four regions into one running list. Regional review is tomorrow and the North team wants their number, not the company total. Put the North-region sales total in the Total sales cell E2, driven by the region name in D2.
Weighted final grade with SUMPRODUCT
Your course grade is not a plain average — the final exam counts for more than the homework. The grading sheet in A2:C5 lists each component's score and its weight (weights sum to 1). Compute the final grade in the Final grade cell E2 by pairing each score with its weight in one formula.
Calculate tiered sales commission (IF)
Quarter-end is here and sales ops needs commission run for the team in B2:B5. The plan has three tiers: 8% on sales of at least 10,000, 5% on sales of at least 5,000, and 3% below that. Fill the Commission cells D2:D5 with each person's payout.
Find who earns a given salary (INDEX + MATCH)
Payroll flagged one salary amount for audit, but the query came back as a number — you need the person. The roster keeps names in the first column and salaries in the last, and the amount to trace sits in E2. Return the matching employee's name in the Employee cell F2.
FAQ
How should I work through this track?
Top to bottom. Problems start easy and ramp up. Each one is a locked mini-sheet: type a single formula into the answer cell and grading is instant. Passed problems are saved in your browser automatically.
Are these similar to real Excel interview tests?
Yes. The problem mix mirrors what employers screen for in hiring processes: VLOOKUP/XLOOKUP lookups, nested IF decisions, COUNTIF/SUMIFS aggregation, and error-proofing with IFERROR and ISNA.
How long does the track take?
Most problems take 2–5 minutes, so the whole set fits into a few focused sessions. Progress is saved locally, so you can stop and resume on the same device.
Is the track free?
Yes — every problem listed below is free to practice in the browser. No account or installation required.