Python Exercises for Beginners (With Solutions)

Reading about code is a good start, but you only really learn Python by writing it. This page collects 25 Python exercises for beginners, each with a sample output and a tested solution. They start easy and get a little harder in every section, so you can work through them in order or jump straight to the topic you want to practice.

How to use these Python exercises

Each exercise has a short problem statement, an example of what your program should print, and a link to the lesson that teaches the idea. The solution is hidden behind a Show solution button.

1. Read the problem and write your own solution in a file or an online editor.
2. Run it and compare your output with the example.
3. Only then open the solution. Your code doesn't have to match mine; if the output is right, your answer is right.

Basics exercises

1. Restaurant tip calculator

A dinner bill is $48.50. Calculate an 18% tip and the total, and print both with two decimal places. Related lesson: arithmetic operators.

Tip: $8.73
Total: $57.23

bill = 48.50
tip = bill * 0.18
total = bill + tip

print(f"Tip: ${tip:.2f}")
print(f"Total: ${total:.2f}")

Tip: $8.73
Total: $57.23

2. Celsius to Fahrenheit

Convert 25 degrees Celsius to Fahrenheit using the formula F = C × 9 / 5 + 32. Related lesson: Python numbers.

25 C is 77.0 F

celsius = 25
fahrenheit = celsius * 9 / 5 + 32
print(f"{celsius} C is {fahrenheit} F")

25 C is 77.0 F

3. Movie length in hours and minutes

A movie runs for 135 minutes. Print its length as hours and minutes. Hint: use floor division // and modulus %. Related lesson: arithmetic operators.

2 h 15 min

runtime = 135
hours = runtime // 60
minutes = runtime % 60
print(hours, "h", minutes, "min")

2 h 15 min

String exercises

4. Get someone's initials

Given the full name "grace brewster hopper", print the initials in uppercase with a dot after each letter. Related lesson: string methods.

G.B.H.

full_name = "grace brewster hopper"
initials = ""
for word in full_name.split():
    initials += word[0].upper() + "."
print(initials)

G.B.H.

5. Count the vowels

Count how many vowels (a, e, i, o, u) are in the sentence "Coffee keeps the world turning". Upper and lower case should both count. Related lesson: Python strings.

Vowels: 9

sentence = "Coffee keeps the world turning"
count = 0
for letter in sentence.lower():
    if letter in "aeiou":
        count += 1
print("Vowels:", count)

Vowels: 9

6. Palindrome checker

A palindrome reads the same forwards and backwards. Check whether "Racecar" is one, ignoring upper and lower case. Related lesson: string slicing.

True

word = "Racecar"
cleaned = word.lower()
print(cleaned == cleaned[::-1])

True

7. Hide a card number

Online stores show only the last four digits of a card. Turn "4111222233334444" into stars followed by the last four digits, keeping the same total length. Related lessons: string slicing and f-strings.

************4444

card = "4111222233334444"
masked = "*" * (len(card) - 4) + card[-4:]
print(masked)

************4444

Conditional exercises

8. Even or odd

For each number in 7, 12, 0, print whether it is even or odd. Related lesson: if-else.

7 is odd
12 is even
0 is even

for number in [7, 12, 0]:
    if number % 2 == 0:
        print(number, "is even")
    else:
        print(number, "is odd")

7 is odd
12 is even
0 is even

9. Free shipping rule

An online shop charges $5.99 shipping, but shipping is free for orders of $50 or more. Print the shipping cost for an order of $42.00 and one of $65.50. Related lesson: if-else.

Order $42.00 -> shipping $5.99
Order $65.50 -> shipping $0.00

for order in [42.00, 65.50]:
    if order >= 50:
        shipping = 0
    else:
        shipping = 5.99
    print(f"Order ${order:.2f} -> shipping ${shipping:.2f}")

Order $42.00 -> shipping $5.99
Order $65.50 -> shipping $0.00

10. Leap year

A year is a leap year if it is divisible by 4, except years divisible by 100, unless they are also divisible by 400. Check 2024, 1900 and 2000. Related lesson: logical operators.

2024 True
1900 False
2000 True

for year in [2024, 1900, 2000]:
    is_leap = (year % 4 == 0 and year % 100 != 0) or year % 400 == 0
    print(year, is_leap)

2024 True
1900 False
2000 True

Loop exercises

11. Add up 1 to 100

Use a loop to add every whole number from 1 to 100. Related lesson: range().

5050

total = 0
for number in range(1, 101):
    total += number
print(total)

5050

12. Times table

Print the 7 times table from 1 to 5, lined up neatly. Related lesson: for loop.

7 x 1 = 7
7 x 2 = 14
7 x 3 = 21
7 x 4 = 28
7 x 5 = 35

for i in range(1, 6):
    print(f"7 x {i} = {7 * i}")

7 x 1 = 7
7 x 2 = 14
7 x 3 = 21
7 x 4 = 28
7 x 5 = 35

13. FizzBuzz

The classic interview warm-up. For the numbers 1 to 15, print "Fizz" for multiples of 3, "Buzz" for multiples of 5, "FizzBuzz" for multiples of both, and the number otherwise. Print them on one line. Related lesson: nested if.

1 2 Fizz 4 Buzz Fizz 7 8 Fizz Buzz 11 Fizz 13 14 FizzBuzz

for n in range(1, 16):
    if n % 15 == 0:
        print("FizzBuzz", end=" ")
    elif n % 3 == 0:
        print("Fizz", end=" ")
    elif n % 5 == 0:
        print("Buzz", end=" ")
    else:
        print(n, end=" ")
print()

1 2 Fizz 4 Buzz Fizz 7 8 Fizz Buzz 11 Fizz 13 14 FizzBuzz

14. Savings goal

You have $200 saved and add $75 every month. Use a while loop to find how many months it takes to reach $1,000. Related lesson: while loop.

Goal reached after 11 months with $1025

savings = 200
months = 0
while savings < 1000:
    savings += 75
    months += 1
print(f"Goal reached after {months} months with ${savings}")

Goal reached after 11 months with $1025

List exercises

15. Weekly temperature report

Given the daily highs [18, 21, 19, 24, 26, 22, 20], print the highest, the lowest and the average rounded to one decimal place. Related lesson: Python lists.

High: 26
Low: 18
Average: 21.4

temps = [18, 21, 19, 24, 26, 22, 20]
print("High:", max(temps))
print("Low:", min(temps))
print("Average:", round(sum(temps) / len(temps), 1))

High: 26
Low: 18
Average: 21.4

16. Remove duplicate songs

A playlist has repeats. Remove the duplicates but keep the songs in their original order. Related lesson: list methods.

['Yellow', 'Halo', 'Clocks', 'Hello']

playlist = ["Yellow", "Halo", "Yellow", "Clocks", "Halo", "Hello"]
unique = []
for song in playlist:
    if song not in unique:
        unique.append(song)
print(unique)

['Yellow', 'Halo', 'Clocks', 'Hello']

17. Squares of even numbers

From the numbers 1 to 10, build a list of the squares of only the even numbers, using one list comprehension. Related lesson: list comprehension.

[4, 16, 36, 64, 100]

squares = [n * n for n in range(1, 11) if n % 2 == 0]
print(squares)

[4, 16, 36, 64, 100]

Dictionary exercises

18. Word frequency

Count how many times each word appears in "the cat and the hat and the bat". Related lesson: Python dictionaries.

{'the': 3, 'cat': 1, 'and': 2, 'hat': 1, 'bat': 1}

text = "the cat and the hat and the bat"
counts = {}
for word in text.split():
    counts[word] = counts.get(word, 0) + 1
print(counts)

{'the': 3, 'cat': 1, 'and': 2, 'hat': 1, 'bat': 1}

19. Menu price lookup

A café menu is stored in a dictionary. Print the price of a latte, and print "Not on the menu" for a matcha, without causing an error. Related lesson: dictionary methods.

Latte: 4.5
Matcha: Not on the menu

menu = {"espresso": 3.0, "latte": 4.5, "mocha": 5.25}
print("Latte:", menu.get("latte", "Not on the menu"))
print("Matcha:", menu.get("matcha", "Not on the menu"))

Latte: 4.5
Matcha: Not on the menu

20. Merge two shopping carts

Two family members filled separate carts. Combine them into one dictionary, adding the quantities of items that appear in both. Related lesson: dictionary methods.

{'apples': 6, 'milk': 1, 'bread': 2, 'eggs': 12}

cart_a = {"apples": 4, "milk": 1, "bread": 1}
cart_b = {"apples": 2, "bread": 1, "eggs": 12}

merged = dict(cart_a)
for item, qty in cart_b.items():
    merged[item] = merged.get(item, 0) + qty
print(merged)

{'apples': 6, 'milk': 1, 'bread': 2, 'eggs': 12}

Function exercises

21. Is it a prime number?

Write a function is_prime(n) that returns True if n is a prime number (only divisible by 1 and itself). Use it to list the primes below 30. Related lesson: Python functions.

[2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29]

def is_prime(n):
    if n < 2:
        return False
    for divisor in range(2, int(n ** 0.5) + 1):
        if n % divisor == 0:
            return False
    return True

print([n for n in range(30) if is_prime(n)])

[2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, 23, 29]

22. Order summary with a default argument

Write a function order_total(price, quantity=1, discount=0) that returns the total after a percentage discount. Call it three different ways. Related lesson: function arguments.

12.0
36.0
32.4

def order_total(price, quantity=1, discount=0):
    subtotal = price * quantity
    return round(subtotal * (1 - discount / 100), 2)

print(order_total(12.0))
print(order_total(12.0, 3))
print(order_total(12.0, 3, discount=10))

12.0
36.0
32.4

23. Average of any number of scores

Write a function average(*scores) that accepts any number of scores and returns their average, or 0 if no scores are given. Related lesson: *args and **kwargs.

85.0
0

def average(*scores):
    if not scores:
        return 0
    return sum(scores) / len(scores)

print(average(90, 80, 85))
print(average())

85.0
0

File and OOP exercises

24. Save and count your tasks

Write three tasks to a file called tasks.txt, one per line. Then read the file back and print each task with a number. Related lessons: writing files and the with statement.

1. Buy groceries
2. Call the dentist
3. Water the plants

tasks = ["Buy groceries", "Call the dentist", "Water the plants"]

with open("tasks.txt", "w") as file:
    for task in tasks:
        file.write(task + "\n")

with open("tasks.txt") as file:
    for number, line in enumerate(file, start=1):
        print(f"{number}. {line.strip()}")

1. Buy groceries
2. Call the dentist
3. Water the plants

25. A bank account class

Create a BankAccount class with an owner and a balance. Add deposit() and withdraw() methods; withdraw() should raise a ValueError if there isn't enough money. Related lessons: classes and objects and raise.

Mia has $150
Error: Insufficient funds
Mia has $150

class BankAccount:
    def __init__(self, owner, balance=0):
        self.owner = owner
        self.balance = balance

    def deposit(self, amount):
        self.balance += amount

    def withdraw(self, amount):
        if amount > self.balance:
            raise ValueError("Insufficient funds")
        self.balance -= amount

    def __str__(self):
        return f"{self.owner} has ${self.balance}"


account = BankAccount("Mia", 100)
account.deposit(50)
print(account)

try:
    account.withdraw(500)
except ValueError as error:
    print("Error:", error)

print(account)

Mia has $150
Error: Insufficient funds
Mia has $150

Common mistakes when solving exercises

1. Printing instead of returning

If an exercise says a function should return a value, use return. A function that only prints gives back None:

def double(n):
    print(n * 2)

result = double(4)
print(result)

8
None

Read more in the return statement.

2. Off-by-one ranges

range(1, 100) stops at 99, not 100. The end value is never included, so use range(1, 101) to reach 100.

3. Comparing text without normalizing it

print("Racecar" == "racecaR")
print("Racecar".lower() == "racecaR".lower())

False
True

Python compares strings exactly, including case. Use .lower() (and often .strip()) before comparing.

4. Peeking at the solution too early

The most common mistake isn't in the code at all. If you read the answer before trying, it feels easy, but you won't remember it tomorrow. Give every problem a real attempt first.

Final challenge

def letter_grade(score):
    if score >= 90:
        return "A"
    elif score >= 80:
        return "B"
    elif score >= 70:
        return "C"
    return "F"

def grade_report(scores):
    return {name: letter_grade(score) for name, score in scores.items()}

report = grade_report({"Ava": 93, "Leo": 78, "Zoe": 85, "Max": 64})
for name, grade in report.items():
    print(f"{name}: {grade}")

Ava: A
Leo: C
Zoe: B
Max: F

What's next?

Feeling more confident? Put your knowledge to the test with the top Python interview questions and answers, a great way to review the theory behind everything you just practiced.