I know that "ticks" work well with formulas such as:

=IF(OR(A1="",B1=""),"",IF(A1=B1,"a","r"))

Can the formula to adjust to accomodate text as well? I wasn't sure!
I tried it, but it only seemed to register numerical values.

Ticks? I assume you mean "quote marks". Also, I assume you mean text in
place of the two quote marks next to each other. Those two quote marks next
to each other define a text constant with no text (an empty string)... if
you want to test for text, put the text between the quote marks.

Rick