Broken-Sheet Challenges
Friends, real office files break in small ways: wrong $, circular refs, stale names, unrefreshed pivots, typed-over formulas, mixed currency, fiscal-year traps. Each challenge gives a tiny .xlsx. Find the bugs, fix them, then open hints.
चला मित्रांनो — ऑफिस फाइल्स छोट्या चुकांनी मोडतात. प्रत्येक challenge एक छोटी .xlsx देते.
चलो दोस्तों — ऑफिस फाइलें छोटी गलतियों से टूटती हैं। हर challenge एक छोटी .xlsx देता है।
.xlsx files from our public cards bucket (safe made-up data).Why → What → How
Why: Interviews and junior analyst work reward people who can debug a sheet, not only write a new formula from a blank cell.
What: A hub of downloadable broken workbooks with tiny examples, 12 practice tasks with hints, a quiz, and an in-browser formula checker where it fits. Ends with assessment and oral meta challenges.
How:
- Pick a challenge below.
- Download the broken
.xlsxand open it in Excel or LibreOffice Calc. - Find every bug before you peek at hints.
- Fix the sheet; compare with the solution steps (and optional fixed file).
- Use the on-page checker where available, then the quiz.
Ravindra Bagale’s Tip
Do not race to the solution. Write one sentence for each bug you see — that habit sticks in interviews.
Ravindra Bagale’s Tip – मराठी
थेट solution कडे पळू नका. प्रत्येक bug साठी एक वाक्य लिहा.
Ravindra Bagale’s Tip – हिंदी
सीधे solution पर मत जाओ। हर bug के लिए एक वाक्य लिखो।
Absolute refs
Relative rate refs, SUM misses new rows, hard-coded total.
Numbers as text
Amounts as text so SUM returns 0.
Leading spaces
Padded SKUs break COUNTIF.
Filter left on
AutoFilter left on — rows look deleted.
Chart range
Header as category / month missing.
% vs decimal
Typed 5 vs 0.05 breaks GST math.
Duplicate header
Second header confuses sort.
ROUND vs display
Printout digits ≠ stored values.
Freeze panes
Header scrolls away.
Paste values
Running totals go stale.
VLOOKUP & text
Trailing spaces, approx match, text scores, IF > vs >=.
VLOOKUP col index
Col index stale after insert.
HLOOKUP TRUE
HLOOKUP TRUE on unsorted thresholds.
SUMIF spaces
SUMIF misses padded/case status.
COUNTIFS OR
OR city need — two COUNTIFS.
IF nest order
IF bands tested low-first.
Date serial
Dates shown as serials.
INDEX MATCH
Left lookup needs INDEX+MATCH.
Wildcard COUNTIF
Wildcard over-matches SKUs.
Mixed currency
USD added without FX.
Circular & dates
Circular budget, mixed dates, merges, hard-coded SUMIF, AND vs OR.
Circular interest
Circular Interest↔Total Err:522.
3D sum rename
Mar! ref after rename to March.
Named range stale
Named range misses new weeks.
CF vs IF
CF rules disagree with IF flags.
Pivot stale
Pivot misses appended rows.
Hard-coded NPV
NPV typed, not formula.
Validation moved
Validation list after move.
PQ step order
PQ step order / null text.
Typed-over formula
Shared sheet typed over formula.
SUM with wrong absolute anchors
SUM($B$5:$B$8) freezes the block and misses new rows (15249 vs 18049). Fix anchors. Free Excel debugging.…
India fiscal year vs calendar YEAR()
Calendar YEAR() mis-tags Mar 2025 as FY 2025 instead of FY-start 2024 (Apr–Mar). Fix with MONTH test. Free Excel debugging.…
Find all bugs (assessment sheet)
One sheet, four easy bugs: text amounts, padded status, 5 vs 0.05 rate, GST locked to $D$5. Assessment-style. Free Excel debugging.…
Interview oral — explain each bug in 60 seconds
TalkTrack checklist of five bugs plus a tiny Demo with a typed-over formula. Practice oral explanations. Free Excel teaching page.…
See also: Excel practice hub · Functions · Certificate