a1akashchauhan's blog

Is Practice the only way to improve rating?
By a1akashchauhan, history, 2 years ago, In English

I am not asking this question as a Love For CP forget about rating point view.

I was just curious about how much effort it takes to reach a particular rating.

Is it equivalent to how many questions you have solved?

I have seen people doing CP continuously for more than 2 years. Continuously practicing, up solving, have solved 1000-1500 problems significantly of good ratings but still, they are stuck between 1400-1500 ratings.

And also there are many who are doing CP for the last 5-6 months reaching 1600+ ratings and all.

Just want to know what are the other factors than practice on which problem-solving abilities/ CP ratings depend?

  • Vote: I like it
  • +13
  • Vote: I do not like it

Comments Comments (29)
| Write comment?
»
2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

well rating changes depend on many things like your knowledge , how fast you are solving the problems.

→ Reply
»
2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +2 Vote: I do not like it

I think thinking is as important as practice. Maybe you can think about some problems, or even the way you think, in your spare time.

→ Reply
»
2 years ago, # |
← Rev. 3   Vote: I like it +16 Vote: I do not like it

I think people stuck at low rating due to their lack of knowledge.

If people with 1500 rating keep doing 1500 rating problems, they cannot encounter with new ideas or knowledge in higher ratings.

So the way that i can speed run from newbie to master in 11 months is that: If my rating is x, I will do problems with x + 400 to x + 500 rating to encounter with new ideas and knowledge. When I encounter with a new knowledge I will learn to understand it and practise problems with that kind of idea on all platforms.

→ Reply
  • »
    »
    2 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +4 Vote: I do not like it

    I became Master from Newbie in 14 months and I did it almost the same way — I solved problems with my rating + 200 rating and learned new things from them. So I completely agree with you.

    → Reply
    • »
      »
      »
      2 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +11 Vote: I do not like it

      Thanks for the tip. But how do you choose which problems to solve? There are so at least 300 problems per rating.

      → Reply
      • »
        »
        »
        »
        2 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it -10 Vote: I do not like it

        Sort by number of people solved (the more people solved the more educational)

        → Reply
      • »
        »
        »
        »
        2 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it +10 Vote: I do not like it

        I solved the newest problems first cause I think they are closer to the tasks from the real modern rounds.

        → Reply
        • »
          »
          »
          »
          »
          2 years ago, # ^ |
            Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

          and what did you do in case you are not able to understand the editorial for the problem?

          → Reply
          • »
            »
            »
            »
            »
            »
            2 years ago, # ^ |
              Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

            It is a rare situation for me and I archive this problem for a month or two to solve it when I will be stronger this case.

            → Reply
    • »
      »
      »
      2 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

      can u pls tell how much time u give to one problem before seeing the editorial.

      Thanks in advance.Sorry for the same old question.

      → Reply
      • »
        »
        »
        »
        2 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it +3 Vote: I do not like it

        I saw the editorial if I have no ideas how to solve problem after an hour.

        → Reply
    • »
      »
      »
      2 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

      Did you have prior competitive programming experience before CF?

      → Reply
    • »
      »
      »
      2 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

      From where you learned the concepts?

      → Reply
      • »
        »
        »
        »
        2 years ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it +6 Vote: I do not like it

        Mostly from codeforces blogs, you can search like this "concept name + codeforces"

        → Reply
      • »
        »
        »
        »
        23 months ago, # ^ |
          Vote: I like it +5 Vote: I do not like it

        From the first website in google when searching algo that I need

        → Reply
  • »
    »
    2 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +6 Vote: I do not like it

    I have seen people recommending rating+200 rated problems but x+400. Salute to your determination.

    → Reply
»
2 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +4 Vote: I do not like it

To be born a genius is a option too tho

→ Reply
  • »
    »
    2 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it -8 Vote: I do not like it

    no one is a genius just by being a genius, the "genius" you see is after months, years of hardwork they pour into it

    → Reply
    • »
      »
      »
      2 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +7 Vote: I do not like it

      No there are definitely geniuses with natural talent. If it only took dedicating your entire life to something to be the best of the best of it, making professional levels in anything wouldn't be seen as so impossible. Yes you need hard work. And yes, if you don't have talent, you can still reach a very high level in anything if you try hard enough. But people who are actual geniuses are born like that.

      → Reply
»
2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it
Yes, but......
→ Reply
»
2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +32 Vote: I do not like it

→ Reply
»
2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

I think practice is necessary to train your mind to solve faster and find the most optimal solution , but also there are some other things that you can do that improves you CP skills like reading the editorial of the problems even the solved ones , reading top rated peoples solutions since you can learn some new implementation tricks and ideas and finally you need to study some algorithms and data structures apart to open a new world of problems that you can solve with thar particular topic !

→ Reply
»
2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Yes, but if you want to improve yourself, rating isn't important because rating doesn't represent your strength. It will only satisfy your vanity. So try your best to solve every problem.

→ Reply
»
2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -14 Vote: I do not like it

As of now, probably, in the future we are surely going to have some sort of transfer learning where the knowledge / experience of top competitive programmers can be directly uploaded to our brain, thanks to Elon musk Neura Link. Basically, we would upload the model directly to our brain and voila you are a LGM after the updates successfully installed.

Its 2023 and things are changing :) I am so much excited to see newer tech innovations.

→ Reply
  • »
    »
    2 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +3 Vote: I do not like it

    Can't wait for year 2030 when lord Elon Musk will inject 100x GPU trained Deep Convoluted Recurrent Network into my brain and cure my stupdity 🤯

    → Reply
»
2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

Well first it comes to the practice but then it depends upon how you practise If you aren't practising wisely it's nothing but wastage of time,like(now if you are practising with problems having rating <= 1200). Try problems with higher difficulty spend time on them if you are unable to solve it and then see the editorial .Always try to get some intuition from any hard problem you solve or tutorial you see. GL

→ Reply
»
12 days ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

No. Right practice is the only correct way to improve in CP.

→ Reply