A complete spreadsheet lesson teaching students when to use COUNT, COUNTA, COUNTBLANK and COUNTIF. It includes text and numerical criteria, plus a business-themed exam-style assessment.

What’s included:

• 20-slide PowerPoint with a function comparison matrix, COUNTIF syntax breakdown, step-by-step build and worked warehouse example.
• A common syntax pitfalls slide, two check-understanding questions with answer reveals, and a key takeaways summary.
• Exam-style worksheet built on an “Apex Logistics” dataset, with three sections: single-criterion verification, multi-criterion COUNTIFS, and error diagnosis and correction.
• Full answer key.

Learning objectives:

• Distinguish between COUNT and COUNTA for numeric and non-empty cells.
• Construct single-criterion COUNTIF formulas with exact text matches.
• Use comparison operators within quotation marks to count against numerical thresholds.

Suitable for:

• KS3 Computing/IT and KS4 spreadsheet units (e.g. OCR Cambridge Nationals R060 preparation). Works with Excel or Google Sheets. Fits one double lesson (80 minutes).

Key features to highlight

• A clear “frequency vs magnitude” explanation, a worked example, error-spotting tasks that target common mistakes, and an exam-style worksheet with a realistic business dataset.