Excel Practice Start learning
Home · Lessons · IF with text

IF with text practice

A number tells you the value. A label tells the reader what it means, which is usually what they wanted.

IF(test, "if true", "if false")

What this lesson covers

The test comes first, then the true result, then the false result. Text answers need quotes.

3 exercises in this lesson

  1. Task 1 · cell E10

    Label the first order "Big" if E2 is above 100, otherwise "Small".

  2. Task 2 · cell E10

    Label the first order "Big" if E2 is above 200, otherwise "Small".

  3. Task 3 · cell E10

    Label the first order "Review" if E2 is above 150, otherwise "OK".

Using IF with text at work

The syntax is IF(test, "if true", "if false"). Once it is in your hands, the work it replaces is the kind of thing that used to mean scrolling a column and hoping you did not miss a row.

This is lesson 16 of 37. It takes a few minutes, and the exercises are marked the moment you submit rather than at the end.

Where people usually slip

  • Ranges drift. Pointing at three cells when the data has six is the single most common cause of a wrong total, and it is invisible because the answer still looks plausible.
  • Copying breaks a reference. Relative references shift when a formula is copied. If a value should stay put, lock it with dollar signs.
  • The number is right, the method is not. Typing a total by hand produces the right answer once. A formula produces it again when the data changes, which is the actual skill.

How this is marked

Each exercise is checked against the result the formula should produce, and then re-run on a different set of numbers. A hardcoded answer passes the first check and fails the second, so it is rejected. That second pass is the part that makes the practice stick.

Practise IF with text now →