Python Challenges Volume 2 – OCR edition

20 harder Python challenges for GCSE: 2D lists, files, subroutines, merge sort, validation. Tested solutions, mark schemes and notes. OCR J277 / AQA 8525.

For students who have the basics and need to tackle the longer programs the exam and NEA-style tasks demand. Every challenge is one printable page with the task, steps, an exact example run, a success-criteria checklist, a hint and an extension; every one has a tested model solution, a mark scheme and teaching notes.

Silver (1–10, 8 marks each): word frequency with parallel lists, insertion sort with a trace, anagram checker, formatted receipt with VAT, hangman, UK postcode validator, a code-breaking game, Roman numerals, text-file statistics and a self-correcting times-table trainer. Gold (11–20, 10 marks each): merge sort printed by rounds, a library system, noughts and crosses, a password strength checker, stock control from CSV with a low-stock report, binary addition with overflow and hex, a word search generator, a till with 3-for-2 and spend offers, ISBN-13 check digits, and a capstone quiz manager with a sorted leaderboard.

You get: student booklet (23-page PDF + editable Word, no answers); teacher pack (38-page PDF + editable Word) with mark schemes, model solutions, common errors and a specification map; all 20 solutions as .py files plus the seven sample data files. Every solution has been run and checked against the example output; no comprehensions, lambdas, classes or recursion, so the code reads like exam pseudocode. Written for OCR J277 and AQA 8525; suitable for Edexcel and Eduqas. Follows on from 30 Python Programming Challenges but stands alone. More at learncomputing.org.