Certified Entry-Level Python Programmer (PCEP) — Preparation Guidelines and Plan
How I prepare for Entry Level Python Certification Exam in 15 days
The aim of this article is to share my learning plan regarding the “Entry Level Python Certification Exam.” By profession, I am a software engineer with 6+ years of experience in full-stack development. I did some of my projects in Python, and my master’s research thesis is also implemented in a Python framework called Django. Similar to AWS Cloud Practitioner Certification (CLF-C02), PCEP is also part of my 2024 resolution. This certification doesn’t require any prior Python experience. The main objective of this certification is to show that the individual is familiar with universal computer programming concepts like data types, containers, functions, conditions, and loops, as well as Python programming language syntax, semantics, and the runtime environment.
Exam Syllabus:
The exam material is divided into four sections because the final exam is also splitted in to four topics:
Section 1: Computer Programming and Python Fundamentals
Section 2: Control Flow — Conditional Blocks and Loops
Section 3: Data Collections — Tuples, Dictionaries, Lists, and Strings
Section 4: Functions and Exceptions
You can find the details of the exam syllabus on the official site: https://pythoninstitute.org/pcep-exam-syllabus
Learning Material:
I did the following course by “Adrian Wiech” on Udemy. This course is extremely good. I recommend you go with this course.
Python PCEP: Become Certified Entry-Level Python Programmer
In addition to the Udemy course, I also go through the course ‘Python Essentials — Part 1 (Basics)’ by OpenEDG. This course is free of cost. You can make an account and start learning the topics. Each topics have further sub-topics and each section have their own quizes and tests.
Preparation Plan:
Here I am sharing my timeline and how I can prepare it. But it may vary with the developer’s prior experience and knowledge about Python programming.
Day 1 to 2: The Udemy course is only 4 hours long. As I already mentioned, I have little prior experience in Python, so this course is not too difficult for me. I just completed the course in 2 days, which taught me all the basic syntax, logic, etc. But if you are quite new to the Python programming language, you can spend as much time as you want, and you can watch the complete course twice and solve the module quizzes again. But even if you are a newbie to Python, four days are enough to complete the Udemy course.
Day 3 to 10: These eight days I spend to complete the ‘Python Essentials — Part 1 (Basics)’ by OpenEDG. It’s a 42-hour-long course. You must devote approximately 5 hours per day. I personally didn’t go through each topic. I skipped most of the topics and read the summary at the end. Also, the quizzes after each topic or module are very important. If you do not get a good score, repeat it again.
Day 11 to 14: In the last 4 days, I mostly solved the exam dumps. It helped me a lot to practice the topic more deeply. I mentioned all the resources below that I used to practice for the exam.
Day 15: I book the exam and give it from home. I passed it successfully with a 95% score. Exam fees and further details are explained below.
Exam dumps:
- I subscribed to the channel ‘Code Shed’ on Youtube, and they have a playlist of videos of quizzes and mock exam questions. I believe it is the same as OpenEDG questions. You can check out the video at the below link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-y1i7zN6Djs&list=PLTYALJawAnSC65Xkv6NL08CUSDJ8vioTM - The above-mentioned Udemy course by “Adrian Wiech” also has one mock exam. If you score between 90% and 100%, then I recommend you prepare for the exam.
- Adrian Wiech also has a separate Udemy course named “Practice Tests: Python PCEP Certified Entry-Level Programmer.” It is a paid practice test course that has six practice exams. I personally didn’t purchase this because of the cost.
- I used the exam question course by Sandeep Kumar called “PCEP-30–01: Certified Entry-Level Practice Tests Certificate,” which cost only 19$, cheaper than the above practice test course. But I have a Udemy business account, so it’s free for me.
Exam cost:
Following are the exam costs. You can select and pay according to your budget. I personally pay only 59$ because I am confident that I will prepare enough and pass the exam.
USD $59 (Exam: Single-Shot)
USD $76.70 (Exam: with one retake)
USD $71.00 (Exam: Single-Shot + Practice Test)
USD $29 (Practice Test)
Exam format and passing core:
The PCEP-30–02 — Exam is 40 minutes long. The exam consists of 30 multiple-choice questions, drag-and-drop questions, and multiple-answer questions. The questions are split into the following topics:.
- Section 1: Computer Programming and Python Fundamentals → 7 questions, Max Raw Score: 180 (18% of the total exam score)
- Section 2 : Control Flow — Conditional Blocks and Loops → 8 questions, Max Raw Score: 290 (29% of the total exam score)
- Section 3 : Data Collections — Tuples, Dictionaries, Lists, and Strings → 7 questions, Max Raw Score: 250 (25% of the total exam score)
- Section 4 : Functions and Exceptions → 8 questions, Max Raw Score: 280 (28% of the total exam score)
The total marks for the exam are 1000. The passing criteria of the exam is 70%, so you need at least 700 out of 1000 to pass the exam. So roughly, you can answer only 9 questions out of 30 wrong.
Where do I give the exam?
For entry-level certification, you can only take the exam from your home or office. You need to create an account on OpenEDG Testing Service — TestNowTM. Where you can add your exam voucher and start the exam. The exam is not video recorded, but they monitor your activities.
What’s next?
After successfully passing the Entry-Level Python Certification, my plan is to prepare for the next level of certification, which is “PCAP™ — Certified Associate Python Programmer.” I am planning to target it in the next two months. I hope I will make it. I will write the article on the topic of how I prepared and which resources I used for the PCAP certification once I pass it.
Have any questions?
That’s ALL what I did for the certification. If you have further questions, please feel free to write me on LinkedIn 😊
Reference: https://pythoninstitute.org/pcep
