tautology's blog

Once upon a time I was an expert
By tautology, history, 12 months ago, In English

That's true! you've read it correctly.

You might not believe it, but when I started CP back in 2016(from the main account, this is my alt for shitposting), I struggled a lot and currently, I'm struggling again(on this account). However, I had managed to cross 1600 ratings after 1000+ problems and 75+ contests, 3 years later in 2019(on the main account). Then I got a full-time job and left CP completely for 1.5-2 years.
And now I'm here, feel like I'm again at the point from where I've started.

Has the competition got tougher or have I become really that rusty? I'm doing well btw, on AtCoder and LeetCode contests.

Anyone, who has been through a similar journey, kindly share your experience like how you get back in shape after a long break.



Thanks,
tautology



P.S: I'm again into CP even after having a full-time job solely because of pure interest in it. I don't get time to practice much but I make sure to participate in CF/CC/HE/LeetCode and Atcoder contests.

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12 months ago, # |
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Contests got a lot harder and problem style meta changed quite a bit in past 5 years.

But if you have not thought about cp at all for long time you are also probably very rusty, and the lower level you are the less likely you are to retain your level after a break.

You can get back into shape just by practicing same way as anyone else, hopefully you should improve quicker this time around though in the beginning.

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12 months ago, # |
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Leetcode contests are cool. Just curious, what are you rated there?

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12 months ago, # |
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codeforce is just game for smart kid, i suggest you not be a kid and do something meaningful hoby

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    12 months ago, # ^ |
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    What's a meaningful hobby ? Please teach me ;)

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      12 months ago, # ^ |
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      train in north korea army !! ! ! !

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12 months ago, # |
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I stopped CP and came back a year later twice. It gave me the time to think a bit about this.

For me, CP is the combination of multiple skills. To simplify, lets assume its the 3 following skills : 1. Problem analyzing and problem solving skills (logic) 2. Algorithm knowledge 3. coding efficiency

Our level in each of those 3 skills decay following very different curves. The knowledge doesn't really go away, or very slowly, and we can get it back quite fast. The coding efficiency goes away immediately. I'm doing a huge number of edge cases mistakes when each time i'm coming back. I'm struggling with where exactly upper_bound and lower_bound place myself in a container. Will it be equal to begin() in some cases, or to end(), do I need to move the iterator once in a direction to get the solution i want. Same thing with segment tree modifications for example... Finally, the logic skill, I believe, we don't lose much on this one (when we come back, we can solve problem as hard as when we left), but we need much more time to understand the problem and create a solution which is a huge part of CP.

To get back to our previous level, we need to focus on the skills that decayed by a noticeable margin. Luckily, it's not that hard. Like you, I'd say rusty is the word. It takes me a month or so to go back to my previous level and I do it by participating in a few contest and rereading my solutions to the CSES problem set (which I find to be a representative sample of most common problems).

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