Python Project: Quiz Game

What you are building

You store questions as dictionaries. Each item has a prompt, a list of choices, and the correct answer. The program walks the list, compares a prepared answer to the stored one, and prints a score with a percent.

Open /try for Python. Player answers live in a list next to the questions, so the full quiz prints without input().

Skills used

• A list of dicts with keys q, choices, and answer
• A for loop that keeps a running score
• String compare after strip and lower
• Percent as score / total * 100
• A printed report of each mark plus a final line

One question as a dict

A dict keeps the prompt, the options, and the key together. You never have to remember that index 0 is the text and index 2 is the answer. Read the keys by name.

item = {
    "q": "What keyword defines a function?",
    "choices": ["func", "def", "function", "lambda"],
    "answer": "def",
}

print(item["q"])
for i, choice in enumerate(item["choices"], start=1):
    print(i, choice)
print("Correct choice:", item["answer"])

Numbering the choices from 1 is for display. The stored answer is the text def, not the number 2. That way you can shuffle choices later without rewriting the key.

Check a list of answers

Pair each question with one player answer. Zip them, or index both lists. Add 1 to the score when they match. Print right or wrong as you go so the report is not only a final number.

questions = [
    {"q": "What keyword defines a function?", "answer": "def"},
    {"q": "Which type is ordered and changeable?", "answer": "list"},
]

player = ["def", "tuple"]
score = 0

for item, given in zip(questions, player):
    ok = given.strip().lower() == item["answer"].lower()
    if ok:
        score += 1
        mark = "correct"
    else:
        mark = "wrong"
    print(item["q"])
    print("  you:", given, "-", mark)

print("Score:", score, "/", len(questions))

Complete program

Four questions, four prepared answers. Two are right, two are wrong, so the percent is 50. Run the file at/try and match the table below.

QUESTIONS = [
    {
        "q": "What keyword defines a function?",
        "choices": ["func", "def", "function", "lambda"],
        "answer": "def",
    },
    {
        "q": "Which type is ordered and changeable?",
        "choices": ["tuple", "set", "list", "frozenset"],
        "answer": "list",
    },
    {
        "q": "What symbol starts a comment?",
        "choices": ["//", "#", "--", "/*"],
        "answer": "#",
    },
    {
        "q": "Which loop runs while a test is true?",
        "choices": ["for", "while", "each", "repeat"],
        "answer": "while",
    },
]

PLAYER = ["def", "tuple", "#", "for"]

score = 0
total = len(QUESTIONS)
rows = []

print("Quiz")
print("====")
for n, (item, given) in enumerate(zip(QUESTIONS, PLAYER), start=1):
    print()
    print("Q" + str(n) + ".", item["q"])
    for i, choice in enumerate(item["choices"], start=1):
        print(" ", i, ")", choice)
    ok = given.strip().lower() == item["answer"].lower()
    if ok:
        score += 1
        mark = "correct"
    else:
        mark = "wrong"
    print("You answered:", given, "-", mark)
    if not ok:
        print("Key:", item["answer"])
    rows.append((n, mark, item["answer"]))

percent = round(score / total * 100)
print()
print("Report")
print("Q  result   key")
for n, mark, key in rows:
    print(f"{n:<3}{mark:<9}{key}")
print()
print("Score:", score, "/", total)
print("Percent:", percent)

Common mistakes

• Storing the answer as an index and then shuffling choices. Store the answer text.
• Dividing by zero if the question list is empty. Guard with if total == 0 before the percent line if you later load questions from elsewhere.
• Using is to compare strings. Use ==.
• Letting PLAYER run short. zip then silently drops extra questions. Checklen(PLAYER) == len(QUESTIONS) if the lists come from two places.
• Printing the percent as integer division: score / total * 100 is what you want in Python 3, not score // total * 100.

How to extend / Practice tasks

Keep the same four questions until the score math is solid.

1. Change PLAYER to all correct answers and confirm the percent prints 100.
2. Add a fifth dict about True and False. Extend PLAYER by one value so the report still has one row per question.
3. Award two points for a correct answer and zero for a miss, then print both raw points and percent. The percent should still be 50 with the original demo answers.