Try these with documentation but without a tutorial. They show what to prepare, and are not a timed admission test.
- Read a small CSV, check that an amount is numeric, and return a useful error for a bad row.
- Write a function and a test, run them from a terminal, and explain the stack trace of a deliberate failure.
- In a throwaway repo, make a Git commit, look at its diff, and undo one accidental change.
- Explain why 12 events among 80 eligible cases is 15%, then say what would make that denominator wrong.
If the first three feel unfamiliar, use the programming resources in Chapter 2's resource list before counting the chapter budgets. Take one Python course, such as CS50P or Python for Everybody, then Learn Git Branching and The Missing Semester for Git and the shell. If fractions or function notation feel rusty, list the maths topics to revisit and work through the examples alongside Chapters 2 and 3. You can start without a full mathematics course. The reference lab is a small project with no API calls for checking your local workflow.