Why You Must Never Copy-Paste Code in HKDSE ICT

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 = 3 is 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.