Study plan: Weekday · IAD1-B - IP Python Training

Instructor: Dave Flanagan


Dates	Tuesday, December 8 to Friday, December 18, 2026
Class days	Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm, with a 1-hour lunch
Location	Suite 300
Labs	PCEP course in the IP Lab Portal
Homework	Two Exam Edge assignments in MyIP Portal

How your 36 hours are used

You have 6 class days of 6 hours: 36 hours in class over two weeks.

Part	Hours	What happens
Modules and labs	24	All 14 modules, with one key lab per module done together in class
Exam prep	12	Section reviews, two timed practice rounds, the capstone lab, and a final review
Homework labs	About 7, on your own	The other 21 labs, in the IP Lab Portal

There is not enough class time for all 36 labs, so the rest are homework. Do each one after its module is covered in class, while it is fresh.

Week 1 · December 8 to December 11

Day	In class	Lab in class
Tue December 8	Course introduction Module 1: How Python runs your code Module 2: Literals and variables Module 3: Operators, expressions, and console I/O Module 4: Conditional execution (start)	Lab 1: Hello, Python Lab 3: Miles and kilometers converter Lab 5: Evaluate an expression
Wed December 9	Module 4: Conditional execution (finish) Module 5: Loops Module 6: Lists Module 7: Tuples and sets (start)	Lab 9: Leap year checker Lab 10: Guess the secret number Lab 15: Shopping list manager
Fri December 11	Module 7: Tuples and sets (finish) Module 8: Dictionaries Module 9: Strings Module 10: Defining functions Module 11: Flexible arguments and scope (start)	Lab 19: Unique visitors with sets Lab 21: Word counter Lab 22: Palindrome checker Lab 25: Leap year function

Homework labs

17 labs, about 5 hours 30 minutes in total.

Lab	Module	Time
Lab 2: Literal values	Module 2	15 min
Lab 4: Formatting output with print()	Module 3	15 min
Lab 6: Trip end time calculator	Module 3	25 min
Lab 7: Ticket price checker	Module 4	15 min
Lab 8: Income tax calculator	Module 4	25 min
Lab 11: Countdown with range()	Module 5	15 min
Lab 12: Vowel skipper	Module 5	15 min
Lab 13: Collatz sequence	Module 5	20 min
Lab 14: Block pyramid	Module 5	20 min
Lab 16: Remove duplicates	Module 6	15 min
Lab 17: Seat map	Module 6	25 min
Lab 18: Coordinates with tuples	Module 7	15 min
Lab 20: Phone book	Module 8	20 min
Lab 23: Receipt formatter	Module 9	20 min
Lab 24: Caesar cipher	Module 9	25 min
Lab 26: Days in a month	Module 10	20 min
Lab 27: Prime finder	Module 10	20 min

Nothing due this weekKeep up with the homework labs

Week 2 · December 15 to December 18

Day	In class	Lab in class
Tue December 15	Module 11: Flexible arguments and scope (finish) Module 12: Exceptions Module 13: File handling Module 14: Modules and imports	Lab 29: Scope detective Lab 30: Safe number input Lab 32: Daily journal file Lab 34: Geometry with math
Wed December 16	Exam prep: Exam briefing and traps clinic Exam prep: Sections 1 and 2 review Exam prep: Section 3 review Exam prep: Practice round 1
Fri December 18	Exam prep: Sections 4 and 5 review Exam prep: Capstone lab Exam prep: Practice round 2 Exam prep: Final review and exam-day plan	Lab 36: Tic-tac-toe capstone

Homework labs

4 labs, about 1 hour 30 minutes in total.

Lab	Module	Time
Lab 28: Flexible statistics	Module 11	20 min
Lab 31: Robust calculator	Module 12	25 min
Lab 33: Grades CSV report	Module 13	25 min
Lab 35: Dice and lottery with random	Module 14	20 min

Exam prep

The last 12 hours of class get you ready for the exam. Bring your questions.

Session	What you do
Exam briefing and traps clinic	How PCEP-30-03 works (35 questions, 50 minutes, 70% to pass), then the mistakes the exam is built around: operator precedence, `//` and `%` with negative numbers, slices, two names for one list, scope, and the order of `except` branches.
Sections 1 and 2 review	Fundamentals and control flow, 40% of the exam. Rework the Check your understanding questions from Modules 1 to 5 and trace short programs by hand.
Section 3 review	Data collections, 26% of the exam and the biggest section. Lists, tuples, sets, dictionaries, and strings from Modules 6 to 9.
Sections 4 and 5 review	Functions, exceptions, files, and modules, 34% of the exam. Modules 10 to 14.
Practice round 1	35 exam-style questions in 50 minutes, then go through every answer together.
Practice round 2	A fresh set of 35 questions in 50 minutes. Compare your score with round 1.
Capstone lab	Build Lab 36: Tic-tac-toe capstone together. One program that uses every PCEP section.
Final review and exam-day plan	Your weakest topics, open questions, and how to book and sit the exam.

Exam Edge assignments

Two assignments of 50 questions each, 100 questions in total, in MyIP Portal. Both are due seven days after your last class. Start them once you finish Module 14, and use your misses to choose what to review.

Due Friday, December 25Exam Edge Assignments #1 and #2, submitted in MyIP Portal

Certification exam

The exam for this course is PCEP-30-03, Certified Entry-Level Python Programmer, from the Python Institute. It has 35 questions in 50 minutes, and you need 70% to pass. You take it online through the OpenEDG Testing Service. See the PCEP exam overview and the official PCEP page. Book it once you score 70% or more on both Exam Edge assignments.

Getting Started

Study Plan

PCEP

M1 - How Python runs code

M2 - Literals and variables

M3 - Operators and I/O

M4 - Conditionals

M5 - Loops

M6 - Lists

M7 - Tuples and sets

M8 - Dictionaries

M9 - Strings

M10 - Defining functions

M11 - Arguments and scope

M12 - Exceptions

M13 - File handling

M14 - Modules and imports

Study plan: Weekday · IAD1-B

How your 36 hours are used

Week 1 · December 8 to December 11

Homework labs

Week 2 · December 15 to December 18

Homework labs

Exam prep

Exam Edge assignments

Certification exam