How to use the Excel XLOOKUP Practice
- 1. Read the questionEach question says what's in H2 (and I2) and what to return.
- 2. Type your formulaWrite it as you would in Excel, starting with =, and press Check.
- 3. Learn from feedbackSee what your formula returned, use a hint, or reveal one correct answer.
What you'll practise
The sheet holds 12 employees in A1:F13: Emp ID, Name, Department, City, Salary and the year they joined. The ten exercises build up step by step:
- a basic lookup, and changing the return column
- looking up to the left, which VLOOKUP can't do
- if_not_found, and returning three columns at once
- searching from the bottom (search_mode −1)
- exact-or-next-smaller matching (match_mode −1) and wildcards (match_mode 2)
- a two-condition lookup with multiplied TRUE/FALSE arrays
- a two-way lookup with one XLOOKUP inside another
Worked example
Question 7: H2 holds 60000, and you need the employee earning exactly that, or else the next smaller salary. The answer is =XLOOKUP(H2, E2:E13, B2:B13, "Not found", -1). Nobody earns ₹60,000, so match_mode −1 takes the largest salary below it, ₹58,000, and returns Vikram Rao. Unlike VLOOKUP's approximate match, XLOOKUP doesn't need the salaries sorted.
How checking works
- Your formula runs in a small, safe Excel-formula evaluator in your browser, built for this sheet. It supports XLOOKUP's six arguments, VLOOKUP, INDEX, MATCH, IF, IFERROR, SUMIFS, COUNTIFS, FILTER and common maths and text functions.
- A formula counts as correct when it returns the right value and uses XLOOKUP.
- We checked our reference answers in an independent Excel-formula engine. It confirms 8 of the 10; it can't do the two spill exercises, multi-column and nested XLOOKUP, which follow Microsoft's documented behaviour.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need Excel installed?
No. Everything runs in the page. To use XLOOKUP in your own files you need Excel 2021, Microsoft 365 or Google Sheets.
Can I use semicolons?
Yes. The checker accepts either commas or semicolons between arguments.
Is the Excel XLOOKUP practice free?
Yes. You can open the Excel XLOOKUP practice and use it without signing up. When you see your score for the first time, we ask once for your name and WhatsApp number; after that it, and every other Uncodemy tool, opens straight away.