=SUMIF(B2:B8,Travel,C2:C8)
Text in a formula needs double quotes: "Travel".
Free Excel practice
Make Excel work for you.
Practise Excel formulas on real tasks in a live sheet. When something’s off, the feedback names the part to fix.
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Try a task
One formula. A lot less adding up.
Example data
In B10, total the Travel expenses.
| A | B | C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Item | Category | Amount |
| 2 | Taxi to airport | Travel | 42.50 |
| 3 | Team lunch | Meals | 86.00 |
| 4 | Hotel, 2 nights | Travel | 310.00 |
| 5 | Printer ink | Office | 38.90 |
| 6 | Client dinner | Meals | 124.00 |
| 7 | Train ticket | Travel | 27.00 |
| 8 | Notebooks | Office | 15.60 |
| 9 | |||
| 10 | Travel total | (answer cell) |
Scroll the sheet sideways to see every column.
That’s one row. Excel Foundations has 96 more tasks, from your first formula to XLOOKUP. Carry on in the free course
Your progress sheet
- Finish the task to add your first row.
Feedback
Text without quotes
A missing bracket
A typed-in answer
A whole-column range
Feedback that names the fix.
“Incorrect” doesn’t help anyone. These are our checker’s real replies to four slips on the task above.
=SUMIF(B2:B8,"Travel",C2:C8
Check the closing bracket. SUMIF( opens a bracket, so the formula needs a ) to close it.
=379.5
Your formula doesn’t use the sheet. Point it at the cells that hold the data, so the answer updates when they change.
=SUMIF(B:B,"Travel",C:C)
This formula uses its own cell (B10), so it can never finish. Point it at other cells.
It also reruns your formula on changed data, so it catches formulas that are right by luck: a range that stops a row short, or a condition read from the wrong cell.
How it works
One clear step at a time.
01
Read the task
Each lesson explains one idea, then gives you a task on labelled example data.
02
Write the formula
Type in a live grid with a formula bar. Click cells to point at them, fill down and undo: the moves you’ll use in Excel.
03
Check it
Feedback arrives when you check, and hints step in when you’re stuck. Finish a task and your progress sheet gains a row.
Courses
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Start with the essentials.
Excel Foundations comes first, and it’s free. Pro tracks follow on the same live sheet.
Excel Foundations
Useful skills for everyday work. Eight modules take you from your first formula to SUMIF and XLOOKUP, then a final test.
- Find your way around
- First formulas
- Summarise a column
- Copy formulas safely
- Make decisions
- Work with text
- Count and add with conditions
- Look things up
Excel Test Prep
Timed practice tests at basic and intermediate level, scored by skill.
Excel Intermediate
Dates, INDEX and MATCH, FILTER, SORT, UNIQUE, tables and data cleaning.
Excel for Analysis
SUMPRODUCT, LET, what-if models and a dashboard project.
SQL Foundations
SELECT, WHERE, GROUP BY and JOINs, with queries running in your browser.
Function practice
Practise one function at a time.
Each page explains a function, shows the mistakes that trip people up, and gives you live tasks to check.
XLOOKUPFind a value in one column and return the match from another.VLOOKUPSearch the first column of a table and return a value from the same row.SUMIFAdd up the numbers that meet one condition.COUNTIFCount the cells that meet a condition.IFReturn one value when a test is true and another when it isn’t.
Pricing
Free to learn. Pro when you need more.
Free
$0
For learning the essentials
Pro
$12 a month, or $72 a year
For building skills over time
Interview Pass
$19 once, for 30 days
For an Excel test coming up
Planned launch prices. Paid plans open at the full launch. Compare the plans
Questions
Before you start.
Do I need Excel installed?
No. Lessons run in your browser, in a practice sheet built for learning. The formulas you write are the same ones you’d type in Excel.
Is it really free?
Excel Foundations is free: every lesson, the final test and the certificate of completion. Pro adds the later tracks, unlimited timed tests and skills reports.
When can I start?
Now. Excel Foundations is free to practise in your browser, with no sign-up. Accounts, the Pro tracks and paid plans come with the full launch.
Where is my progress saved?
In your browser, on this device. Clearing your browsing data resets it. Accounts that keep your progress across devices come with the full launch.
Is the certificate a Microsoft certification?
No. Passing the Foundations test earns a certificate of completion from The Next Row. It shows you finished the course. It isn’t an accreditation or a Microsoft certification.
Will it help with an Excel test for a job?
Foundations covers the core formulas, from SUM to SUMIF and XLOOKUP. The planned Test Prep track adds timed tests at basic and intermediate level, scored by skill. We don’t use any test provider’s questions.
What about SQL?
SQL Foundations is planned for 2027, on the same practice engine, with queries running in your browser.
Start practising now.
Excel Foundations is free, with no sign-up. Your progress is saved in this browser.