Few different ways. You could use CountIf formulas, pivot table, or
subtotals. I would probably use subtotals personally. Sort your data
by column A and then by column B. Choose Data--Subtotals. Make the
necessary adjustments to the criteria and click OK. You can also have
multilevel subtotals (what I would do) by doing the subtotal process
over again and checking off the Replace Current Subtotals checkbox.

All that said, I would:
1-Sort on column A the column B.
2-Subtotal to count the total number of tests taken per work location.
3-Second subtotal to count the occurrences of P or F per work
location.

Robin wrote:
I know there must be a worksheet function to do what I am doing by various
degrees of filtering and sorting, so I thought I'd ask here. Basically:

Column A contains data on work location, eg, IHR, CPD, ED
Column B contains data on whether or not someone passed or failed a test, eg
P or F

I need to know, how many people from each work area passed and failed a
test. For example, if data in Column A = IHR, how many people (in that work
area) passed the test and how many failed the test

Currently, Im sorting the data to get all my IHRs grouped together, then
adding blank rows below each work location and counting the # of Ps and Fs
for that "group". I know there must be an easier way. Assistance is much
appreciated.
Thanx.