CodeHS Python Level 1 Certification Overview & Tips for HS Students from Certified Student

Thank you for checking out this article on CodeHS’s (Code High School) relatively new Python Level 1 Certification. This article will provide you with a broad — but adequate — overview of the certification, exam objectives, and tips for mastering the content tested on the exam. Furthermore, you will be introduced to scenarios in which you can expect to occur during your exam, and you will be equipped with test-taking strategies for this exam. Many of the tips included in this article are from personal experience and are entirely subjective, as one who has passed the certification exam. If your school does not offer this certification, you should inquire about it with your computer science teacher or academic facilitator. This article is divided into three parts, which are as follows:

1. The Significance of a Python Level 1 Certification
2. Basic Exam Information, Objective and Topics Covered
3. Exam Resources, Expectations and Test-Taking Strategies

NOTE: CodeHS has not endorsed this article and was not involved in the production of this article. Visit the official CodeHS website at https://www.codeHS.com.

1 | The Significance of a Python Level 1 Certification

If you are still debating whether or not you should spend a lot of energy studying for this exam, continue reading this part. If you are not debating it, then you may skip this part or continue reading for a further explanation of the benefits of this certification, or any certification.

You may be wondering “Why a Python Level 1 Certification? How would a level 1 certification benefit me at all?”. Certifications, regardless of its subject, can provide people within your field of study, or anyone, with a guaranteed measure of your knowledge on the content tested in the certification’s exam. It allows you to prove mastery of exam content and lessen the doubts that anyone else may have regarding your skill level. A Level 1 Certification in Python is not ‘useless’ as one may refer to it. It can further allow you to explore the notion of computer programming and essentially “get your foot in the door” or a good start in the programming world. Especially if your school is offering you this unique opportunity to take this exam, you should take full advantage of it and train for it. A certification such as this can even potentially help you land an internship or job that is looking for students with Python entry-level introductory knowledge. According to the official CodeHS website,

“certifications provide verification that students have learned industry-relevant skills from our secure, comprehensive exam.”

The skills acquired from learning the exam content will most definitely help you in your journey of Computer Science and Computer Programming and will enable you to have an exceptional head start.

2 | Basic Exam Information, Objective and Topics Covered

This exam is a timed multiple-choice test — 90 minutes (1 hour and 30 minutes) to be exact. You will be required to complete the entire exam within that timeframe, giving you approximately 2 minutes on each question. This will be an online exam whereby you can take it at your high school, or anywhere, I believe; however, you will be required to have a voucher. You will not be allowed to use any sandbox program on CodeHS (you will be restricted on the website), and you cannot use any external methods of finding the answers or any interpreters. You may, however, use a calculator in times of need; a calculator is essential to quickly moving through the problems and gathering the proper solutions to the questions that may yield it. For example, some of the questions on the exam may test you on your ability to solve expressions with operator precedence or order of operations (PEMDAS). A calculator will greatly assist you in your ability to quickly compute these calculations effortlessly and allow you to dedicate your remaining time to the questions most needed of it. Below is an example of a mostly simple expression code block that may be best solved with a standard calculator:

def calculation():
  x = 3 * 5 + 6 / 2 - 2
  return x

calculation()

# This function yields 16. 3 * 5 = 15. 6/2 = 3. 15 + 3 = 18. 18 - 2 = 16.

A pencil and paper are recommended to be used during your exam and can be especially helpful when you are required to ‘track’ object values.

The exam objective is as follows, best said by CodeHS:

“The CodeHS Python Level 1 Certification Exam proves students’ foundational understanding of Python topics and concepts. This certification can serve as a steppingstone for students’ career aspirations and help build programming skill credibility.”

This objective reiterates the points made earlier in this article and emphasize the increase in credibility that you will receive upon receiving the certification.

For the main content of the certification exam and its topics, it is divided into 7 competency areas: Data Types & Operators, Conditionals, Loops, Program Structure, Error Handling, Lists, and Strings. In my experience of taking the exam, the most heavily tested topic would most likely be “Loops” and control structures. You must especially understand the innerworkings of “For Loops” and its three primary formal parameters (Start, Stop, Step), as well as understand enumerative processes that develop throughout the execution of a program containing a loop. In these loops, will include significant changes to objects, which you must mentally or physically keep track of (you may use your pencil and paper to assist you with this). You may be given a loop and be expected to, all at once, compute the result after a method or function is performed on an object (lists, strings, variables, etc.), and sequentially make adjustments to the object as written in your problem’s loop program.

3 | Exam Resources, Expectations and Test-Taking Strategies

There are two main resources you should be using during your training for this certification exam. The two main resources are as follows, listed in order of precedence:

1. CodeHS Python Level 1 Certification Practice

Python Level 1 Certification Practice Course offered by CodeHS

2. CodeHS Python Programming

Python Programming Course offered by CodeHS

Note: For the first resource, you should only be using this if you have already learned the material. This is where you will apply the learned information in order to become more comfortable with the exam material, understand areas you may need to improve on, and quantitatively assess your learning. You should focus on the second resource (which is a course offered by CodeHS) if you have not learned the content.

My philosophy for self-studying most exams is that you cannot begin doing practice tests if you have not learned the content; what would you be practicing if you have not learned anything to practice? It’s not a physical sport that requires repetitive movements of parts of your body, which lead to increased “muscle memory”. For a deeper understanding of exam content, you should first learn the content before attempting to already apply the content, because why force yourself to take a test over and over again when you haven’t even learned anything yet to test?

During your exam, expect to only be allowed to utilize the following physical items:

1. Calculator
2. Pencil or pen
3. Paper
4. A computer and peripherals

Recall, this is a 90-minute timed certification exam, so if you are one who meticulously solves problems — such as myself-then you should ensure you are paying attention to the amount of time that you have left and fully utilizing your resources. The best test-taking strategy for this specific exam, and most exams, is to simply study the topics tested beforehand and tackle your weaknesses. Even if you encounter a question on the exam you are not sure of, you should skip it if you are spending too much time on it and come back to it. A great strategy performed by most is to tackle the quickest, or easiest, questions first; this strategy may sometimes backfire if the problem that looks the quickest may turn out to contain syntax you are unfamiliar with.

You have reached the end of my article on “CodeHS Python Level 1 Certification Overview & Tips for Students”. Thank you so much for reading through my article; if you have any feedback, comments, or want to connect, please check out my LinkedIn page. If you enjoyed this article, please ‘clap’ for this page. Thanks, again!

Have a great rest of your day,

Pedro

View original certification information from CodeHS at www.codehs.com/info/certifications.