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Level 1 / Project 06 - Simple Gradebook Engine

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Concept This project — Quiz Flashcards — Browser

Estimated time: 25 minutes

Focus

  • aggregate scores and grade bands

Why this project exists

Calculate student averages from multiple scores, assign letter grades using threshold bands (A/B/C/D/F), and produce a class-wide summary. You will learn CSV-based score parsing, numeric aggregation, and grade-band logic.

Run (copy/paste)

Use <repo-root> as the folder containing this repository's README.md.

cd <repo-root>/projects/level-1/06-simple-gradebook-engine
python project.py --input data/sample_input.txt
pytest -q

Expected terminal output

=== Gradebook Report ===

  Alice Johnson   Avg: 91.25  Grade: A
  Bob Smith       Avg: 73.75  Grade: C

  Class average: 82.50
  Highest: Alice Johnson (91.25)
5 passed

Expected artifacts

  • data/output.json
  • Passing tests
  • Updated notes.md

Checkpoint: Baseline code runs and all tests pass. Commit your work before continuing.

Alter it (required) — Extension

  1. Add a --curve flag that adds N points to every student's average before assigning letter grades.
  2. Add a "pass/fail" summary showing how many students scored above/below 60%.
  3. Re-run script and tests.

Break it (required) — Core

  1. Add a student row with non-numeric scores like Alice,A,B,C -- does calculate_average() crash?
  2. Add a student with no scores (just a name) -- does the parser handle it?
  3. Add a score above 100 like Alice,105,98,92 -- does letter_grade() still work?

Fix it (required) — Core

  1. Validate that all scores are numeric in parse_student_row().
  2. Handle students with no scores by assigning an average of 0.
  3. Add a test for the non-numeric-scores case.

Checkpoint: All modifications done, tests still pass. Good time to review your changes.

Explain it (teach-back)

  1. Why does letter_grade() use if/elif chains with descending thresholds (90, 80, 70, 60)?
  2. What does calculate_average() do with sum(scores) / len(scores) and when does it fail?
  3. Why does class_summary() compute class-wide statistics separately from individual grades?
  4. Where would gradebook logic appear in real software (LMS platforms, school administration, HR training)?

Mastery check

You can move on when you can: - run baseline without docs, - explain one core function line-by-line, - break and recover in one session, - keep tests passing after your change.

Stuck? Ask AI

If you are stuck after trying for 20 minutes, use one of these prompts:

  • "I am working on Simple Gradebook Engine. I got this error: [paste error]. Can you explain what this error means without giving me the fix?"
  • "I am trying to assign letter grades based on score ranges. Can you show me how to map numeric ranges to categories using if/elif, with a different example like age groups?"
  • "Can you explain how to calculate an average from a list of numbers in Python?"
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