prvocislo's blog

I Reached GM after 5 years
By prvocislo, history, 23 months ago, In English

Hello Codeforces! I did it! My main goal for 2022 was to reach red and I succeeded in the last contest of the year by getting +1 delta and going from cursed 2399 to 2400! I was very happy but scared to celebrate because I was worried that my rating would go down to 2399 again after the cheater removal. But now it’s 2401, so I think I’m safe now.

Why am I writing this blog? I'm very excited about this achievement, it means a lot to me and I want to share my happiness with Codeforces. Also people ask me in DM quite often about how I got onto this level or who I am in general, so I think it's time to summarize it all into one blog post.

Oh, wait… You don’t even know me, so why should you keep reading this blog post? Let me introduce myself a little first. I’m a high schooler from a small European country where few people do Codeforces. I love competing in OI and MO, I always did. One day, my father found the Codeforces website and suggested that I should start practicing there. At first, I was very confused. I quickly managed to get AC on Watermelon and some other 800 problems since I was doing OI before, but something was bugging me. People on blog posts had nice colors, and I couldn’t figure out how to get one. I didn’t realize I was supposed to do contests XD So after a while, I quit the website. Worst decision ever.

Luckily after a year or so, my friends told me how to do contests. Then I did my first contest. It was one of the most exciting memories I have. And then I did it again and again. Sometimes I didn’t do them for a long time because I was scared or because I didn’t have the motivation. But no matter how long I was gone, I always came back again and did more contests. The exciting feeling was still there. At the beginning of 2022, I made a resolution. I wanted to reach red before 2023. A few months ago, I gave up on it and decided to focus on MO instead because I didn’t have many friends who’d encourage me to do CF. But I didn’t give up, and it paid off! Now I have more motivation than ever to continue doing CP this year together with my friends, whom I now found thanks to competitions like IOI. My next goal is IGM; let’s see whether I can do it!

Back to the present. So, soon after the goodbye round, I got a DM asking me how I became red. There isn’t a correct answer to this question; different ways work for different people. But I will do my best now and talk a little about what helped me and what did not.

My observations about the training process:
My observations about the contests:

Soo, that’s it. Thank you, Codeforces, for making my ordinary days so exciting. Thank you everyone who encouraged me along the way. And thank you, reader, if you actually read this whole thing. You can also reach red. It might take years, but I believe anyone can do it if they work hard enough and enjoy CP as much as I do.

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Comments Comments (75)
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23 months ago, # |
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There’s nothing as satisfying as finally figuring out a solution to a hard problem you couldn’t solve for hours and then getting AC.

Agree!

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    23 months ago, # ^ |
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    Not gonna lie, every Accepted verdict makes me feel a little high.

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23 months ago, # |
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thanks for sharing.

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23 months ago, # |
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Congratulations!!! And best of luck for upcoming journey.

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23 months ago, # |
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orz congrats!!

thanks for share your experience (:

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23 months ago, # |
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Congrats!!

But what is MO?

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23 months ago, # |
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Looking forward to your IGM blog!

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23 months ago, # |
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Congratulations!!

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23 months ago, # |
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Congratulations prvocislo, you are my inspiration. I'm motivated by your achievement and maybe one day I'll be red too with you :)... I added you as my friend few months back when you were an author in one particular contest recently. After the contests, I read your code for my better understanding of the problem I missed during the contest. TRUST ME, you write code like even a newbie would understand. And at last, I wish to be red and meet you after that soon for a coffee:) Ljubim te Eliska :)

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    23 months ago, # ^ |
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    It makes me happy to hear my codes were useful to someone :)

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23 months ago, # |
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Congrats! Your passion for problem-solving is inspiring :)

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23 months ago, # |
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Congrats! Hopefully, this year will go a lot better for you than the last one.

Also, about your contest observation 5, I can confirm that it works. When I started taking contests more seriously and staying until the end, I had my rating go up by around 200. For example, if you look at my performance during global round 22 (the one that made me Master), you can see that my last submission was 3 minutes before the end. Without it, I would have had negative delta from that round.

I have seen more examples of why you should stay until the end of the contest, but I will not state them here. I know that it is hard to stay concentrated and problem-solve when you know that you probably do not have time, but it's important that you do not spend the last 30 minutes of the contest just looking at a clock, or thinking "I cannot solve more problems."

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    23 months ago, # ^ |
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    Yes, that was my point exactly and I've seen people often underestimate it.

    I also have such story — in GR 24 there were 40 minutes left and I just wanted to quit after solving E which was very hard, but I'm glad I didn't because I found F much easier and quickly solved it.

    So anything can happen in last minutes. Even though most of the time I just end up staring at the next problem, sometimes it can change a lot. Also it's a good practice for onsite contests to fight until the end.

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23 months ago, # |
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Congrats! You inspired me to study even more and introduced me to a lot of awesome people, I'm very grateful to you and you reaching red made me really happy!

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    23 months ago, # ^ |
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    Thank you so much, it means a lot to me knowing I inspired you at least a little! :D

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23 months ago, # |
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Hello world, can you teach me how to become gm? Also, does being red taste better than the sea?

Jokes aside, congrats! I'm very happy you reached red, and I'm sure you'll achieve your next goal too. Just don't forget about us yellows :)

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    23 months ago, # ^ |
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    Nah I still prefer eating sea

    And dw, I'll never forget certain yellows

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23 months ago, # |
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Congratulations!

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23 months ago, # |
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Good blog. Thank you for your sharing!

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23 months ago, # |
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Congrats bro , your hard work got some value You worth it! :)

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23 months ago, # |
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thank for this blog inspired me a lot :)

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23 months ago, # |
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Congratulations, you definitely deserve this title!

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23 months ago, # |
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Congrats and thanks! Writing what you have learned from a problem in a diary is a great idea. I'll do the same for 2023.

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    23 months ago, # ^ |
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    Thank you! I hope my idea will work for you too :)

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23 months ago, # |
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Well done prvocislo! You're my inspiration :) <3

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    23 months ago, # ^ |
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    Your consistency and determination to take every contest is my inspiration <3

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23 months ago, # |
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Congratulations!

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23 months ago, # |
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I have a diary where I write down answers to such questions after solving every problem.

How often do you refer back to your diary? Or is that the wrong way to think about it and it's actually the process of summarizing that's more important?

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    23 months ago, # ^ |
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    My diary has two main advantages:

    1. I will remember better my mistakes/techniques I've seen

    2. I can find and recall any problem I solved earlier fast

    I never just go and "reread everything I've learned". I revisit it only when adding a problem or trying to find a problem. So yeah, I think it's the process of trying to find what to improve and remembering it what is important.

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23 months ago, # |
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I already knew you are at least GM level, but now your profile shows that as well. Congratulations! Also, thanks for the training tips. I will try the diary idea!

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    23 months ago, # ^ |
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    atodo comment, yay :) I'm very eager to see how your diary turns out :D

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23 months ago, # |
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Congratulations <3

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23 months ago, # |
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Congratulations!

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23 months ago, # |
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I can not vote twice (upvoted)

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23 months ago, # |
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Congratulations!

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22 months ago, # |
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Congrats, you earned it :)! Best wishes to your 2023!

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22 months ago, # |
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Congrats bro

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22 months ago, # |
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Congratulations!!!

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22 months ago, # |
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omg GM prvocislo

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22 months ago, # |
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congrats! and nice photo of Shinomiya Kaguya~

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    22 months ago, # ^ |
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    thanks :) I wanted to have kaguya pfp when I'll reach red ever since I watched the anime :D

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12 months ago, # |
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Hello! We know each other a bit from olympiads. I just started doing CF. Hope to get as good as you once! :D Congrats on all the success -> IMO, IOI, CF. You are unstoppable

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    12 months ago, # ^ |
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    Oh hi! Thank you! Good luck with codeforces, I'm curious to see how it'll go for you and I believe you have a great advantage thanks to your MO background :)

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12 months ago, # |
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Congratulations!

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12 months ago, # |
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Which other sites did(do) you use?

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    12 months ago, # ^ |
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    Currently I compete on AtCoder too. I also use oj.uz, codeforces IOI archive and cses problemset for olympiad preparation.

    I've started doing CP and learned basic algorithms thanks to few Slovak online judges (which sadly aren't available in English).

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      12 months ago, # ^ |
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      You wrote which algos are enough to reach red. Can you also write which algos are enough to get bronze, silver, gold IZHO/IOI? Is CF enough for preparing to them?

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12 months ago, # |
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Thank you so much for your wonderful blog ! The points you mentioned here regarding contests and practice make a lot of sense .

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12 months ago, # |
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Does hearing music during contest helps at thinking problem?

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    12 months ago, # ^ |
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    I think it's very individual. For me, music distracts me a lot so I never listen to it during contest, but I know some people who like to listen to music during contest. So I recommend you to try both and figure out what works best for you.

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      12 months ago, # ^ |
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      Just curious, what's next for you? :) was achieving a GM was a goal itself?

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        12 months ago, # ^ |
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        I guess my next big goal is getting a good rank at IOI 2024 (my last attempt) :)

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12 months ago, # |
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Congrats! For me it's actually seems nearly impossible to get even 1500. But I see, that others get twice more, so it's somehow inspiring me. (I try to solve some problems and get unmotivated when I can't solve it)

Thanks for useful tips! Is there any list of problems which will be helpful to understand the basics (I am literally solving all problems from the beginning (800-...))

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    12 months ago, # ^ |
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    CF archive should be useful for this (as long as you pick problems of the right difficulty). Also maybe try cses for basic algorithms.

    I personally don't know many good websites for the basics as I learned those mostly from websites in my native language.

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      12 months ago, # ^ |
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      Thank you for additional source and wonderful post! I am just solving all problems from 800. As far as I understood, I am able to solve only A question in Div 2 and a sometimes B. I will try to solve 900-1000, so I will be able to solve at least 2 questions 100%.

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12 months ago, # |
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5 years is too much in one's life. I think its better to do something else. IMO it better to do 2-3 hours per week as an exercise to keep you sharp is better and keeping no goal is best goal

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12 months ago, # |
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conclusion: Fundamental problem-solving skills are way more important.

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