How to Use COUNTIF in Excel Like a Pro (With Real-Life Examples)

The COUNTIF function in Excel is a powerful tool that lets you count cells based on a specific condition. Whether you're managing student grades, sales reports, or inventory tracking — COUNTIF is your go-to formula!

🧮 What is COUNTIF?

The syntax is simple:

=COUNTIF(range, criteria)

range: The group of cells you want to count in.
criteria: The condition that must be met for a cell to be counted.

🎯 Real-Life Example 1: Student Grades

Suppose you have a list of student results in column B (B2:B10). You want to count how many students passed.

=COUNTIF(B2:B10, "Pass")

This formula will count how many cells contain the word “Pass”.

🎯 Real-Life Example 2: Sales Above ₹10,000

=COUNTIF(C2:C50, ">10000")

This will return the number of cells in the range C2 to C50 that have a value greater than 10,000.

⚠️ Common Mistakes to Avoid

Using criteria without double quotes (e.g., ">50" must be inside quotes)
Incorrect range (always select only the cells you want to evaluate)

💡 Bonus: Combine with IF

You can use COUNTIF inside other formulas like IF:

=IF(COUNTIF(B2:B10, "Fail") > 3, "Review Needed", "All Good")

This formula helps you trigger alerts when failures exceed a limit.

📌 Summary

Use COUNTIF to quickly analyze large data sets.
Perfect for student tracking, sales analysis, attendance, and more.
Combine with IF or AVERAGE for advanced Excel logic.

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