Jesse_Pinkman_bch's blog

How to Improve in Competitive Programming and Solve More Problems?
By Jesse_Pinkman_bch, history, 25 hours ago, In English

Hi Codeforces community,

I am currently majoring in Computer Science and have solved around 250 questions on LeetCode. However, I am struggling to perform well in Codeforces contests. My performance typically looks like this:

Div 2: I can usually solve 2 problems and occasionally 3 when I am lucky. Div 3 & Div 4: I cap at around 3-4 problems most of the time. My rank generally falls in the 4k–10k range in contests. I am really passionate about improving my competitive programming skills but feel stuck at my current level. I would like to ask for guidance from this amazing community:

Practice Resources: Are there any specific websites, problem lists, or strategies I should follow to practice more effectively? Math Topics: Are there essential math concepts/topics that I should focus on to better understand and solve problems? Weakness Analysis: How do I identify my weaknesses and overcome them efficiently? Contest Strategy: Any tips for managing time during contests and deciding which problems to attempt first? I am committed to working hard and open to any advice you can offer. If you've faced similar struggles or know someone who did, I’d love to hear about how they overcame these hurdles.

Thank you in advance for your help!

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25 hours ago, # |
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im in a very similar situation too, looking for advice

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25 hours ago, # |
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with these no of solves. its a shame , me too.

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23 hours ago, # |
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there's a thing called "google" in case you don't know.

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    23 hours ago, # ^ |
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    I didn't understand your comment. Are you telling me to search this on google ? But I have already done that , I just wanted to hear from some people on codeforces because what can be a better place to ask about codeforces contests than codeforces itself !

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    16 hours ago, # ^ |
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    avg 8 year old kid's advice

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    9 hours ago, # ^ |
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    Who told you, you are funny? there's a thing called silence if you don't have an answer for a question, in case you don't know

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    9 hours ago, # ^ |
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    Oh no.. it's the "use google first" guy again getting bullied lol

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23 hours ago, # |
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You know there are more than 10000 problems available on codeforces till now, one simple question how much % of these questions have you solved till now to achieve rating like 1400, 1600, 1900 etc. ASK YOURSELF and you'll get the answer.

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23 hours ago, # |
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In my experience if you want to get better at codeforces do more codeforces problems, and if you want to get better at leetcode do more leetcode problems.

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23 hours ago, # |
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Hey buddy i have been into same situation not long ago, beleive me its tough though doable task to increase rating from 1200 to 1400,I would suggest few common steps which i followed and following still to reach 1400, Like do problem from cses for implementation of binary search,strings,common logic etc ,also its high time to practise few math tagged question from prev contest and also learn greedy approach and constrcutive algo , this much would generate confidence and then practise more question form problem set anf rthere you see results in contest bingo !!

--C.P. community is always ready to help ,learn and grow

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    23 hours ago, # ^ |
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    Thank you so much for your helpful answer. It really means a lot to me! Not a lot of people go out of their way to help others, especially in a competitive space like this, so I truly appreciate your kindness and guidance.

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23 hours ago, # |
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Hello, I recommend the page Cses for training some clasic problems. Also I recommend you to do all the contest as possible and to upsolve all the problems that you didn't solve in yours contests as possible, because in these problems were where you haven't some tool or some knowledge.

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22 hours ago, # |
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start upsolving all past noi problems

spoiler
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18 hours ago, # |
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Be skilled in binary search.

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10 hours ago, # |
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  1. Practice in the rating range of (CurrentRating, CurrentRating +300) in general. Post solving 30-40 problems you will see improvement for sure.
  2. View editorials only after at least 1hr of intense thinking.
  3. Practice condensed. Personally I observed that solving a lot(Say 5-6 hours daily for 2-3 days straight), and then maybe even taking off days in between to rest, improves critical thinking rapidly.
  4. Workout and be in shape, it definitely helps me a lot.
  5. Have hope, it looks impossible to progress at points of time, but our brains actually get very much stronger with practice, very similar to how our muscles react to workouts.

As for specific topics to learn, you only need basic logic for the maths problems and the greedy problems, and Sorting, Binary Search, Prefix Sums, Bit Manipulation, Basic DP in terms of algorithms, to solve upto div2C

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