How to Use IF Function in Excel
Learn what the Excel IF function is, why it’s essential for conditional logic, and how to implement it in real-world scenarios.
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IF Function Basics in Excel
IF function is one which are used the most often in Excel. IF is a logical function. In Excel, IF can return more than TRUE/FALSE.
IF Function contains from 3 parts:
- Logical test – IF function checks if this test is true or false in the cell
- Value if true – you can use it if logical test is true
- Value if false – put the argument here for the failed test
Excel IF pass/fail evaluation
Consider a scenario where you have a table of exam results, and you want Excel to determine if a student passed or failed the exam automatically.
You can use the IF function for this purpose. Here’s the formula:
=IF($C3>50,”PASSED”,”FAILED”)
In this formula:
- $C3 represents the student’s score.
- The logical test checks if the score is greater than 50.
- If the score is greater than 50, Excel displays “PASSED”; otherwise, it shows “FAILED.”
Grading System
Now, let’s tackle a more complex scenario where you want to assign grades to students based on their scores.
The grading criteria are as follows:
- A: >90 points
- B: >75 points
- C: >60 points
- D: >50 points
- E: ≤50 points
You can use nested IF functions to achieve this. Here’s the formula:
=IF($C3>90,”A”,IF($C3>75,”B”,IF($C3>60,”C”,IF($C3>50,”D”,”E”))))
This formula checks multiple logical tests sequentially to determine the appropriate grade for the student based on their score.
Excel 2016 and later support the IFS function, which simplifies multiple conditions without deep nesting:
=IFS($C3>90,”A”,$C3>75,”B”,$C3>60,”C”,$C3>50,”D”,TRUE,”E”)
Switching to IFS reduces formula complexity and improves readability.
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