diff --git a/.idea/misc.xml b/.idea/misc.xml
index 5652fc62..4b4a2e59 100644
--- a/.idea/misc.xml
+++ b/.idea/misc.xml
@@ -6,4 +6,5 @@
   <component name="CMakeWorkspace" PROJECT_DIR="$PROJECT_DIR$/exercises-cpp/jimoh_yusuf/ex01_basics">
     <contentRoot DIR="$PROJECT_DIR$" />
   </component>
+  <component name="ProjectRootManager" version="2" project-jdk-name="Python 3.9" project-jdk-type="Python SDK" />
 </project>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/exercises-python/template/ex01_basics/main.py b/exercises-python/template/ex01_basics/main.py
index 28ac3b0b..dc750397 100755
--- a/exercises-python/template/ex01_basics/main.py
+++ b/exercises-python/template/ex01_basics/main.py
@@ -1,9 +1,17 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env python3
 
+def read_ascii_file(param):
+	try:
+		f = open(param, 'r')
+		return f.read()
+	except FileNotFoundError:
+		print("Oops! That was not a valid file. Try again...")
 
 def main():
-	pass
+	read_ascii_file("file.txt")
 
 
 if __name__ == "__main__":
 	main()
+
+
diff --git a/exercises-python/template/ex01_basics/test_wordcount.py b/exercises-python/template/ex01_basics/test_wordcount.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..24f98dd0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/exercises-python/template/ex01_basics/test_wordcount.py
@@ -0,0 +1,20 @@
+import unittest
+from unittest.mock import mock_open, patch
+from main import *
+
+
+class WordCountTest(unittest.TestCase):
+
+    def setUp(self):
+        # Create a temporary ASCII file for testing
+        self.filename = 'file.txt'
+
+    @patch('builtins.open', new_callable=mock_open, read_data='This is a test data')
+    def test_get_file_name_from_arg(self, mock_file):
+        content = read_ascii_file(self.filename)
+        expected_content = 'This is a test data'
+        self.assertEqual(content, expected_content)
+        mock_file.assert_called_once_with(self.filename, 'r')
+
+
+