Formatting based on comparison with other cells

[avettutor]

I am a teacher and am tracking grades my students get on a series of four tests. I want to format the cells so that if their scores go up from one test to another then the cells turn green, if they stay the same they turn yellow, or if they decrease they turn red.

I've tried multiple ways (IF formulas, conditional formatting rules, formatting icons) and none of them have worked. Can someone help me figure out how to do this?
Thanks!

 

[Teeroy]

Welcome to the forum.

You can do it with conditional formatting ("use formula to determine which cells to format") as below:
Rule1:=$A2<$A1 fill: Red
Rule2: =$A2=$A1 fill: Yellow
Rule3: =$A2>$A1 fill: Green

Make sure you set the right "applies to" range. This example is a list of values in Column A.