Final answer:
The "key data" should be placed in the First column when constructing a table_array for the VLOOKUP function.
Step-by-step explanation:
When constructing a table_array to be used as a lookup reference table in the VLOOKUP function, the "key data" should be placed in the First column. This means that the values you want to look up and compare should be in the leftmost column of the table.