PCEP Computer Programming and Python Fundamentals Practice Test 11 — 15 Questions

Question 1

A programmer is writing a Python script and needs to create variables that hold a user's name, age, and whether they are a student. Which TWO of the following assignments are syntactically valid and will execute without error in Python? (Choose two.)

Choose an answer to begin — your selection is scored in the full session.

Accepted Answer

user_name = "Alice". Valid Python identifiers must start with a letter or underscore, contain only letters, digits, and underscores, and must not be keywords. The assignments user_name = "Alice" and is_student = True satisfy these rules. Names starting with a digit, using hyphens, or using reserved words like class are invalid and cause syntax errors.

Answer

class = "Math"

Answer

user-name = "Bob"

Answer

2nd_age = 25

Question 2

A Python script contains the following code: x = 10 y = 3 result = x // y What is the value of result after execution?

Accepted Answer

3. The // operator performs floor division, which divides the left operand by the right and rounds down to the nearest integer. With x=10 and y=3, 10 // 3 equals 3. The other options correspond to true division, rounding up, or modulo, none of which match the behavior of //.

Answer

3.3333333333333335

Answer

1

Answer

4

Question 3

A programmer needs to store the number of items in a shopping cart. The value will be a whole number and may be used in arithmetic operations. Which Python data type is most appropriate for this variable?

Accepted Answer

int. The number of items in a cart is a whole number used in arithmetic, so int is the correct type. Floats are for decimal values and can introduce rounding, strings are text and would break calculations, and booleans only represent truth values. Using int keeps the data accurate and operations predictable.

Answer

bool

Answer

str

Answer

float

Question 4

A programmer writes the following code to classify a temperature reading: temp = 25 if temp > 30: print('Hot') elif temp > 20: print('Warm') else: print('Cool') What is printed when this code runs?

Accepted Answer

Warm. The if-elif-else structure evaluates conditions top-down. Since temp is 25, the first condition (temp > 30) is false, the second (temp > 20) is true, so the 'Warm' branch executes. The else is bypassed. The other outputs would occur only if the temperature fell into different ranges or if the code were invalid.

Answer

Cool

Answer

Nothing is printed because the code has a syntax error.

Answer

Hot

Question 5

A Python program contains the following code:

print(10 / 4)

What is displayed when this program runs?

Accepted Answer

2.5. In Python 3, the single forward slash performs true division regardless of operand types, so 10 / 4 evaluates to the float 2.5. Floor division with // would instead produce 2, and integer truncation does not happen with /. The print function then displays that float value on the console.

Answer

2

Answer

2.0

Answer

A TypeError is raised.

Question 6

A developer is reviewing a script that processes user data. The script contains the following lines:

name = "Alice"
age = 30
print(name + " is " + age)

When executed, the script raises a TypeError. Which of the following changes will make the script run without error and produce the output "Alice is 30"?

Accepted Answer

Change the print statement to: print(name + " is " + str(age)). The TypeError arises from attempting to concatenate a string and an integer using the + operator. Python requires both operands to be strings for concatenation. Converting the integer to a string with str() allows the concatenation to succeed. The other options either leave the type mismatch or convert to other numeric types, which still cannot be concatenated with a string.

Answer

Change the print statement to: print(name + " is " + age + " years")

Answer

Change the print statement to: print(name + " is " + int(age))

Answer

Change the print statement to: print(name + " is " + float(age))

Question 7

A developer is writing a Python script and assigns a value to a variable named '2nd_place'. When the script is run, it raises a SyntaxError. What is the cause of this error?

Accepted Answer

Variable names cannot start with a digit.. Python identifiers must start with a letter or underscore, not a digit. The name '2nd_place' begins with '2', so the parser cannot treat it as a single identifier and raises a SyntaxError. Underscores are allowed, uppercase is not required, and the name is not a keyword.

Answer

Variable names must be uppercase.

Answer

The name '2nd_place' is a reserved keyword.

Answer

Variable names cannot contain underscores.

Question 8

A student types the following into a Python 3 interactive session:

>>> greeting = 'Hello'
>>> greeting = greeting + ' World'
>>> print(greeting)

What is displayed?

Accepted Answer

Hello World. The second statement evaluates the right-hand side first: greeting still refers to 'Hello', so 'Hello' + ' World' produces a new string containing the space, and the name greeting is rebound to that value. The subsequent print call therefore outputs the combined text. Because str objects are immutable, reassignment replaces the reference rather than altering the original object in place.

Answer

Hello

Answer

HelloWorld

Answer

A TypeError is raised

Question 9

A student runs the following code in a Python 3.11 interactive session:

>>> 7 // 2

What is displayed?

Accepted Answer

3. Floor division with the double forward slash operator divides two numbers and rounds the result down to the nearest whole number. With integer operands, Python returns an integer. Because seven divided by two is three with a remainder of one, the floor value is three, and that integer is what the interactive session displays.

Answer

3.5

Answer

1

Answer

4

Question 10

A programmer is debugging a Python script that is supposed to concatenate a user's first and last names with a space between them. The code is: first = 'John' last = 'Doe' full = first + ' ' + last print(full) What is the output of this script?

Accepted Answer

John Doe. The + operator concatenates strings. The expression first + ' ' + last evaluates to 'John' + ' ' + 'Doe', which is 'John Doe'. The print function then displays that string. The other options misinterpret the space, the quotes, or the validity of string concatenation.

Answer

John' 'Doe

Answer

JohnDoe

Answer

An error occurs because you cannot concatenate strings with the + operator.

Question 11

A developer writes the following code to sum a list of scores:

scores = [12, 7, 25, 18]
total = 0
for s in scores:
    total += s
print(total)

What is printed?

Accepted Answer

62. The for loop visits every item in the scores list, and the augmented assignment total += s adds each score to the running sum. Starting from zero, the additions produce 12, 19, 44, and finally 62, which is the value printed after the loop completes.

Answer

[12, 7, 25, 18]

Answer

12

Answer

0

Question 12

A developer is creating a Python script and needs to assign a value to a variable. Which TWO of the following assignment statements are syntactically valid in Python? (Choose two.)

Accepted Answer

my_var2 = 10. Valid Python identifiers must start with a letter or underscore, and may contain letters, digits, and underscores. 'my_var = 10' and 'my_var2 = 10' follow these rules. Names starting with a digit, containing a hyphen, or containing a space are invalid and cause SyntaxError.

Answer

my-var = 10

Answer

my var = 10

Answer

2myvar = 10

Question 13

A developer writes the following code and runs it without any error:

x = 5
y = 2.0
z = x + y

What is the value and type of z?

Accepted Answer

7.0, of type float. When Python evaluates an arithmetic expression containing both an int and a float, it converts the integer to a float and produces a float result. Adding five and two point zero yields the float value seven point zero. The variable z therefore references a float object, which can be verified by examining type(z) in the interpreter.

Answer

A TypeError is raised because int and float cannot be added

Answer

7, of type int

Answer

7.0, of type str

Question 14

A developer writes a short script to convert a numeric string entered at the console into a number for arithmetic:

value = input('Enter a quantity: ')
total = value * 2
print(total)

A user types 7 and presses Enter. What is printed, and why?

Accepted Answer

77, because the string '7' is repeated twice by the * operator. The built-in input always yields a str in Python 3, so value refers to the two-character sequence '7'. When * receives a str on the left and an int on the right, it repeats the string that many times instead of multiplying numerically. The assignment therefore stores '77', and print outputs those characters. Converting with int(value) first would give the arithmetic result 14.

Answer

14, because input converts the entry to an integer automatically

Answer

7, because the second operand is ignored for string values

Answer

A TypeError is raised, because a string cannot be multiplied

Question 15

A programmer is writing a Python script to calculate the area of a circle. They write the following code:

radius = 5
area = 3.14 * radius ** 2
print(area)

What is the output of this code?

Accepted Answer

78.5. The exponentiation operator ** has higher precedence than multiplication, so radius ** 2 is computed first, yielding 25. Then 3.14 * 25 equals 78.5, which is printed. This demonstrates correct operator precedence in Python and the use of the exponentiation operator for squaring a number.

Answer

25

Answer

31.4

Answer

An error occurs because radius is an integer and cannot be used with exponentiation.