10 Excel formulas every beginner must know in 2026
The exact formulas hiring managers still test — with plain-English explanations and practice tips.
Excel is still the #1 skill on job descriptions. Master these 10 formulas and you're already ahead of most candidates.
- SUM, AVERAGE, COUNT
- IF and nested IF
- VLOOKUP and XLOOKUP
- INDEX + MATCH
- TEXT, LEFT, RIGHT, MID
- DATE, EOMONTH, YEARFRAC
- SUMIFS and COUNTIFS
- IFERROR
- UNIQUE and FILTER
- TEXTSPLIT and TEXTJOIN
Practice tip
Don't memorise. Rebuild a real report using each formula — muscle memory beats notes.
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