rishabhxchoudhary's blog

Why is there so much cheating in Contests in India ? Especially on CodeChef?
By rishabhxchoudhary, history, 3 months ago, In English

I am from India. I have been doing competitive programming for 3 years, though I started on Codeforces late. I have a YouTube channel where I upload post-contest discussions. Channel Link. I have realized that there is a lot of cheating going on, with some YouTube creators uploading solutions during the contests and Telegram channels selling solutions.

I have observed that most of this cheating is happening in India. I think this is because they believe that higher ratings will increase their chances of getting their resumes shortlisted.

I don't care about those who are selling the solutions on Telegram. But I want to ask those who buy from them: What do you gain by doing it? No interviewer will check your ratings on your resume. No one has time to click on every CodeChef/Codeforces/AtCoder profile of every candidate to check their rating. Why are you buying it then? To flaunt your ratings in your friend circle? I have never heard of anything like a "Rating Cap" for selecting candidates.

As for the YouTube creators, they undermine the competition, and I despise it when my rating could have increased more, but now after so many have solved it, I will get fewer points. What do you gain by sharing your code on YouTube? Who are you helping? Getting some views is nice, but a 10-15-second video will not even give you enough watch time to make even 1 rupee.

To me, someone who has earned their rating through hard work holds more value than an individual who reached their rating by purchasing solutions. I anticipate receiving criticism for expressing these views, but I'm at a loss for what else to do. What's worse is that no one is talking about it or spreading awareness to deter it. If no one tells my juniors to stop, they might think it's normal to cheat to increase their rating. The prevalence of cheating, especially on CodeChef, significantly dampens my motivation.

I find myself questioning why CodeChef struggles with detecting plagiarism. Why is there no "hacking" phase on CodeChef? I urge CodeChef to enhance its plagiarism detection methods and take action against cheating. Failure to address this issue risks tarnishing the platform's reputation entirely. I sent a mail to CodeChef with screenshots of a few candidate's codes and I did not receive any reply from them.

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3 months ago, # |
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you yapped a whole essay and thought they'd answer or something?

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    3 months ago, # ^ |
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    I just wanted to express my views as a codechef and codeforces user.

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      3 months ago, # ^ |
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      Cheaters have a significant effect only on the ratings of hardstuck grey/green/cyans.

      If one belongs to this category, he should think- Perhaps cheaters are a sign from God that competitive programming is not for me?

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3 months ago, # |
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Your name is Rishabh, so I am assuming you're Indian, so I am quite astonished as to why you have this doubt (as it is actually quite obvious (if you are in college)). The reason most indians cheat is because they see that most experts and above receive a high package and are very well respected in the indian tech community. They think that if they too reach those titles, they will also be treated the same. Becoming an expert+ is not an easy task, so many decide to cheat their way to "glory". Additionally, it adds a lot to their resume. This is their thinking.

Note that I am just stating the mindset of all those who are cheating, I obviously do not condone it.

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    3 months ago, # ^ |
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    I agree. I think their logic is so flawed(not only cause they grey/green) that they assume being expert->good package. Whereas it is having expert level skill->good package.

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      3 months ago, # ^ |
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      cheating in codechef is a major issue only if you are 4 stars or below... beyond 5 stars cheating rarely happens so you should try to learn new skills, data structures or algorithms and do cses problemset

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3 months ago, # |
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Focus on yourself and your abilities bro. Why does it matter to you if others cheat. Anyway nobody who cheats get beyond a certain level, both in cp and in life. Focus on solving problems and enjoying it while doing it.

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3 months ago, # |
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the submission always increases exponentially in the last 45 minute ,div 4 bois solving upto 4 question of div 1

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3 months ago, # |
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bro post this same on CodeChef discuss

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3 months ago, # |
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"Why is there no "hacking" phase on CodeChef?"

How does having a hacking phase help with reducing plagiarism?

"I urge CodeChef to enhance its plagiarism detection methods and take action against cheating."

Not sure how you consider penalizing literally more than 1000 participants in most contests as not taking action — https://discuss.codechef.com/t/updates-on-curtailing-plagiarism/98350

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    3 months ago, # ^ |
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    If there is a hacking phase, people will spend more time reading codes and if they find 2 similar submissions they can report it via mail, and that will reduce plagiarism, I think.

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3 months ago, # |
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A very effective solution:

1) Learn: Basic STL, preliminary greedy strategies and math

2) Push to expert

3) You are out of the cheater zone, relax :)

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3 months ago, # |
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You just needed an excuse to link your channel here, didn't you? XD

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