Practice by topic / Excel / Conditional Logic
In an Excel formula, "" means an empty cell: =IF(A2="","Missing","OK") flags blanks, and =IF(A2<>"",…) does the opposite. ISBLANK, COUNTBLANK and COUNTA cover the rest. Checking for blanks first stops empty inputs turning into zeros in totals and pay calculations. These 10 exercises build up step by step, starting with flag a missing email, show a label only when a cell is filled, check for blanks with isblank.
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A2 should hold an email address but may be empty. Write a formula in B2 that returns 'Missing' if A2 is blank, otherwise 'OK'.
| A | B | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | ||
| 2 | ? |
Use =IF(A2="","Missing","OK")
Right — two quote marks with nothing between them ("") means an empty cell.
Expected result in B2: Missing
A2 holds the date a form came back, or is empty if it hasn't. Write a formula in B2 that returns 'Received' if A2 is not blank, otherwise an empty result ("").
| A | B | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Form returned | |
| 2 | 12 Mar | ? |
Use =IF(A2<>"","Received","")
Good — <>"" means 'is not blank', and returning "" keeps the cell visually empty.
Expected result in B2: Received
A2 holds the date a contract was signed, or is empty. Write a formula in B2 that uses ISBLANK to return 'Chase' if A2 is empty, otherwise 'Done'.
| A | B | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Signed date | |
| 2 | ? |
Use =IF(ISBLANK(A2),"Chase","Done")
Right — ISBLANK returns TRUE for an empty cell, so it can be the condition in an IF.
Expected result in B2: Chase
A2 holds hours worked and B2 an hourly rate (currently blank). Write a formula in C2 that returns 'Incomplete' if either A2 or B2 is blank, otherwise A2*B2.
| A | B | C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hours | Rate | Pay |
| 2 | 38 | ? |
Solution and instant grading: open it in the practice app (use one of your 20 free picks, or Pro).
Try it in the live spreadsheet →A2 holds hours worked and B2 an hourly rate. Write a formula in C2 that returns 'Incomplete' if either cell is blank, otherwise A2*B2.
| A | B | C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hours | Rate | Pay |
| 2 | 38 | 12.5 | ? |
Solution and instant grading: open it in the practice app (use one of your 20 free picks, or Pro).
Try it in the live spreadsheet →A2:D2 is one row from a form. Write a formula in E2 that counts how many of the four fields are blank.
| A | B | C | D | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Name | Phone | Address | ||
| 2 | Tan Wei | 9123 4567 | ? |
Solution and instant grading: open it in the practice app (use one of your 20 free picks, or Pro).
Try it in the live spreadsheet →A2:C2 is one row from a form. Write a formula in D2 that returns 'Complete' if none of the three cells is blank, otherwise 'Incomplete'.
| A | B | C | D | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Name | Phone | ||
| 2 | Tan Wei | [email protected] | 9123 4567 | ? |
Solution and instant grading: open it in the practice app (use one of your 20 free picks, or Pro).
Try it in the live spreadsheet →A2 holds a custom price (blank if none was agreed) and B2 the list price. Write a formula in C2 that returns the custom price if there is one, otherwise the list price.
| A | B | C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Custom price | List price | |
| 2 | 49 | ? |
Solution and instant grading: open it in the practice app (use one of your 20 free picks, or Pro).
Try it in the live spreadsheet →A2 holds an exam score, or is blank if the student was absent. Write a formula in B2 that returns 'Absent' if A2 is blank, 'Pass' if the score is 50 or more, otherwise 'Fail'.
| A | B | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Score | |
| 2 | 47 | ? |
Solution and instant grading: open it in the practice app (use one of your 20 free picks, or Pro).
Try it in the live spreadsheet →A2:A7 hold sign-ups, with one blank row. Write a formula in C1 that counts the names.
| A | B | C | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Attendees | ? | |
| 2 | Ali | ||
| 3 | Bala | ||
| 4 | |||
| 5 | Chen | ||
| 6 | Devi | ||
| 7 | Eva |
Solution and instant grading: open it in the practice app (use one of your 20 free picks, or Pro).
Try it in the live spreadsheet →