Top Python Interview Questions for Freshers (2026) — with Answers

Updated August 2026

Python is the most popular test-taking language for AP/Telangana students, and interviewers know it — so they probe whether you understand the language or just its syntax.

These questions cover what actually gets asked at service companies and startups alike.

Frequently asked questions

List vs tuple — when do you use which?

Lists are mutable, tuples immutable. Use tuples for fixed collections (coordinates, dict keys, function returns) — they are faster and hashable. Use lists when contents change.

What is the difference between == and is?

== compares values; is compares identity (same object in memory). Two equal lists are == but not is. Use is only for None checks.

How does Python manage memory?

Reference counting plus a cycle-detecting garbage collector. When an object's reference count hits zero it is freed; the GC handles reference cycles that counting alone cannot.

What are *args and **kwargs?

*args collects extra positional arguments into a tuple; **kwargs collects extra keyword arguments into a dict. They let functions accept flexible argument lists.

What is a list comprehension? Give an example.

A one-line way to build lists: [x*x for x in range(10) if x % 2 == 0] gives squares of even numbers. More readable and usually faster than an explicit loop with append.

Shallow copy vs deep copy?

A shallow copy (copy.copy or list slicing) copies the outer object but shares nested objects. A deep copy (copy.deepcopy) recursively copies everything. Mutating a nested list after a shallow copy affects both.

What is the GIL?

The Global Interpreter Lock lets only one thread execute Python bytecode at a time in CPython. Threads still help for I/O-bound work; for CPU-bound parallelism use multiprocessing.

What are decorators?

Functions that wrap other functions to add behavior without changing them — applied with @name. Common uses: logging, timing, authentication checks.

How is a dictionary implemented, and what makes a valid key?

As a hash table — keys must be hashable (immutable types like str, int, tuple). Average O(1) lookup. From Python 3.7, dicts preserve insertion order.

What is the difference between range and xrange?

A Python 2 question that still gets asked: xrange was lazy. In Python 3, range itself is a lazy sequence object, and xrange no longer exists.

Explain exception handling in Python.

try/except/else/finally: put risky code in try, handle specific exceptions in except (catch narrow types, not bare except), else runs when nothing raised, finally always runs (cleanup).

What are Python generators?

Functions that yield values lazily one at a time, keeping their state between calls. They handle large or infinite sequences in O(1) memory — e.g., reading a huge file line by line.

How to prepare

• If you used Python for the coding test, expect "why Python over Java?" — answer with tradeoffs (speed of development vs runtime performance), not fandom.
• Practise writing Python on paper or a plain editor — no autocomplete in interviews.
• Know your own test solutions: interviewers often ask you to re-explain and optimize the code you submitted.

Where these questions get asked

• TCS NQT guide and Infosys hiring guide — the two biggest exams these questions appear in.
• All company placement guides — pattern, syllabus and rounds for every mass recruiter.