Vocations · Certifications

Read the code.
Say what it prints.

100 original practice items for the PCEP entry-level Python exam, in the same shares as its published blueprint. Every answer was checked by running the code, and you can step through the programs one line at a time.

Start practicingWhat you get

The practice tool

Practice by section, take a timed set at the exam's pace, or step through a program in the trace lab. Load the sample study record to see the progress view filled in.

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What you get

Vocations · CertificationsFreeNot affiliated with the Python Institute

What you finish with
A clear picture of which of the 35 PCEP objectives you can already do and which need work, an explanation for every practice question, the habit of tracing code line by line, and a day-by-day study plan to your exam date.
Who it is for
High school and college students finishing a first Python course, career changers and self-taught programmers preparing for the PCEP entry-level exam, and teachers running a programming class or club.
Format
Browser tool: 100 original items with explanations, timed sets of 10, 18 or 35 questions, a trace lab of 10 programs, 50 quick cards and a progress view by objective. Prints progress and the plan; downloads a calendar file of study days, a spreadsheet of answers and a progress file you can import on another device.
Access
Free. No account or sign-in. It runs in your web browser on a phone, tablet or computer. Everything you type stays in this browser and is saved there as you go; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Certifications space in Caveat Vocations.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Start a practice round in one section. Decide what the program prints before you look at the choices, then check and read the explanation.
  2. When an answer surprises you, step through the code and watch each variable change.
  3. In the trace lab, turn on Ask me what each print shows and keep going until you can call every line.
  4. Take a timed set once a week. The exam-length set has 35 questions in 50 minutes, like the exam.
  5. On Progress, choose any empty tile to practice that objective. Add your exam date and follow the plan.

Start practicing

How the items, the traces and the scores work

Original items, mapped to the published syllabus and checked by running them.

Built on the published blueprint

The items follow the exam syllabus for PCEP-30-03, blueprint version 1.5, revised November 2, 2026: five sections, 35 objectives, 35 questions in 50 minutes and a pass mark of 70%. The bank holds 100 items in the same shares as the section weights, and the exam-length timed set draws 6, 8, 9, 7 and 5. The Python Institute revises its syllabus; read the current one on pythoninstitute.org before you book, and study from it.

Section, as publishedWeightExam questionsItems here
1. Computer Programming and Python Fundamentals17%617
2. Control Flow: Conditional Blocks and Loops23%823
3. Data Collections: Lists, Tuples, Sets, Dictionaries, and Strings26%926
4. Functions and Exceptions20%720
5. File Handling and Module Imports14%514

Every answer was run, not assumed

When this page is built, Python runs every program in the bank. The marked answer has to be exactly what the program prints or the exception it raises, every option of a choose-all item is evaluated, and every value on a card is computed. The step-by-step traces are recordings of those runs: 81 question programs and 10 lab programs. The items stay inside features that behave the same in every current version of Python 3.

What the numbers mean

Caveat wrote every item for this tool. None comes from the exam, from Python Institute courses or from another question bank, so the wording and the difficulty will differ from the real test. The progress ring asks one thing, weighted by section: did you get the item right the last time you tried it. It is a study guide. A practice score here is not an exam score and does not predict one.

PCEP is a certification of the OpenEDG Python Institute; the PCEP, Python Institute and OpenEDG names and marks belong to the Open Education and Development Group. Python is a registered trademark of the Python Software Foundation. Caveat Academic Services is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any of them. Every practice item, card and program on this page is original and is not drawn from the exam.

1. Fundamentals17% · 6 questions2. Control flow23% · 8 questions3. Data collections26% · 9 questions4. Functions and exceptions20% · 7 questions5. Files and modules14% · 5 questions35 questions · 50 minutes · pass mark 70%
One objective, one question. The published syllabus lists 35 objectives in five sections and gives each section as many exam questions as it has objectives. The progress map on this page uses the same 35 tiles.

Sources

  1. OpenEDG Python Institute. PCEP: Certified Entry-Level Python Programmer, exam syllabus, PCEP-30-03, blueprint version 1.5, revised November 2, 2026. Sections, weights and objectives; pythoninstitute.org/pcep-exam-syllabus. Read November 10, 2026. Check the current version before you study.
  2. OpenEDG Python Institute. PCEP certification page: 35 questions, 50 minutes, pass mark 70%, no prerequisites; pythoninstitute.org/pcep. Read November 10, 2026.
  3. Python Software Foundation. The Python Language Reference and The Python Standard Library, docs.python.org/3. Operator precedence, built-in types and exceptions, and the csv, math and random modules.
  4. Python Software Foundation. PEP 8: Style Guide for Python Code, peps.python.org/pep-0008. Naming conventions.

PCEP is a certification of the OpenEDG Python Institute; the PCEP, Python Institute and OpenEDG names and marks belong to the Open Education and Development Group. Python is a registered trademark of the Python Software Foundation. Caveat Academic Services is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by any of them. Every practice item, card and program on this page is original and is not drawn from the exam. Practice scores are not exam scores and do not predict a result. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.