Sorry, hit the send button too early. :-(

Here's a proposal:

A1 = validation list with keys in I2:I5 (first col of vlookup table)
B1:E1 = results from vlookup
Formula in B1 copied to C1:E1:

=IF(VLOOKUP($A$1;$I$1:$M$4;J1;FALSE)="";"";VLOOKUP ($A$1;$I$1:$M$4;J1;FALSE)*)


You may have to replace the semicolons with commas.

Lookup table in I1:M5

0 2 3 4 5
ann math history
ben math history science
carl math science drawing german
peter english drawing german

the numbers in the first row of the lookup table allow copying the
formula without modification.

Hans