GearMinds STEM Academy

Earn Your PCED Certification. Industry-recognized credential! (An Extra Incentive Awaits)

If your child takes the official PCED™ (Certified Entry-Level Data Analyst with Python) certification exam by the first week of August and earns a passing score, GearMinds will reimburse $50 of the exam fee (proof of score required). This is our way of celebrating their hard work and dedication.

Do I need to know Python before joining the Data Science Camp?

Prior experience with Python is not a requirement!

Our camp is designed to welcome participants of all skill levels. The first two days will focus on teaching the fundamentals of Python, allowing complete beginners to quickly get up to speed. For 8th graders and above in particular, the concepts will be very accessible—no prior coding knowledge is required.

By the third day, every student will be fully prepared to explore data science with confidence.

For rising grades 8+

Every click, purchase, and message generates valuable data. Turn data into insights and earn a professional certification this summer. In our Data Science with Python Boot Camp, you will acquire the skills required to succeed on the PCED (Certified Entry-Level Data Analyst with Python) exam—an industry-recognized credential offered by the Python Institute.

We begin with the fundamentals:

• What is data?
• How do you clean it?
• How can you tell a story using a chart?

By the end of the course, you will be able to write Python scripts, analyze real-world datasets, and be prepared to pass a certification that will enhance your resume for college applications and internships.

What You’ll Learn (PCED Exam Aligned)

The PCED exam covers four key domains, which we teach thoroughly:

Data Analysis Concepts

• Understanding data: quantitative vs. qualitative, structured vs. unstructured.
• The data lifecycle: collection → storage → processing → analysis → reporting.
• Data sources: APIs, web scraping, databases, and surveys.

Python Basics for Data Analysis

• Variables and data types: integers, floats, strings, booleans, lists, and dictionaries.
• Control flow: using if statements and for/while loops.
• Writing your own functions - Reading and writing files (CSV, text) using the CSV module
• An introduction to NumPy for numerical arrays.

Working with Data - Simple Analysis

• Cleaning data: handling missing values and removing duplicates.
• String manipulation techniques.
• Descriptive statistics: mean, median, and standard deviation.
• Grouping data and calculating conditional metrics.
• Basic Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA).

Communicating Insights & Reporting

• Creating visualizations with Matplotlib and Seaborn.
• Designing charts that effectively tell a story.
• Summarizing findings for both technical and non-technical audiences.
• Final project presentation.

Certification Details:

The PCED certification, offered by the Python Institute, verifies your ability to perform real-world data tasks using Python.

Exam Code: PCED-30-02
Duration: 60 minutes
Number of Questions: 40 (single/multiple-select and scenario-based)
Passing Score:75%

Validity: 7 years
Prerequisites: None – we provide comprehensive preparation. The training camp includes dedicated exam preparation sessions.