Hello Codeforces Community,
I’ve been trying to improve my skills and move out of the newbie phase, but I feel stuck. I’ve attempted solving problems that are above my current level, but things often get too complicated, and I end up feeling like I’m back to square one.
Problems in the 1200-1600 range sometimes feel impossible for me, not because they’re too hard conceptually, but because they cover topics I’ve never encountered before. It’s frustrating to keep hitting this wall when all I want is to improve.
I’m not looking for generic advice like “keep practicing” or “just solve more problems.” I’ve been doing that, but it hasn’t been working. I want a clear strategy or actionable steps to break this cycle and start making real progress.
If anyone has been in this situation and managed to overcome it, I’d really appreciate your insights.
Thank you!
practice daily. Thats the only thing. if ur practicing but still not reaching green, then ur doing it wrong.
and practicing 50 days is really not enough
and please google before asking :)
A wise man once said
Go get touch some grass and you will be greenFirst of all, practicing every day is necessary. Before completely focusing on practicing though, ensure you have the basic theory down. To ensure that, I recommend learning basic stuff from the competitive programmer's handbook like basics of graphs, searching and numerical methods, prefix sums, etc. Beyond that, it is simply a matter of being disciplined in the solving process -- do not spend time entertaining random ideas, but instead guide yourself forward through problems by asking questions like "what should I look for next?" or "is this conjecture true?". There isn't always a clear path forward, but just a whole bunch of experience fills in the gaps.