Mistakes Students Make When Handwriting Python
- Lost indentation — a 4-space block becomes 2, confusing the marker.
- Quote confusion —
'mistaken for`or'. - Colon vs semicolon — writing
if x > 0;loses 1 mark. - Equals vs == —
if x = 3is invalid.
How to Prevent Them
- Draw two clear vertical guides on scrap paper, then indent relative to them.
- Always put a colon dot-first, then the horizontal stroke.
- Write
=boldly when assigning, and==with a clear gap. - Re-read each loop and if-statement once before moving on.
Bonus: Brace Yourself for Curly Braces
Students used to C/Java sometimes write { } around Python blocks. Python uses indentation — omit braces entirely.
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