I have been doing Competitive Programming for a while now and have solved a good number of problems (mostly 800–1200 rated ones). I try to be consistent, and I’ve also participated in 25+ contests, but I still find myself stuck in the newbie range. Sometimes I get stuck on problems even after solving similar ones before, and during contests(div-2), I am not able to solve B problem regularly. I really want to improve and reach Pupil soon, but I feel I might be missing something important in my learning process.
What should I do to get out of newbie and improve my ratings?








bro I become pupil in my 67th contest
I just saw the ratings of the problems you’ve been solving. Practicing only 1200 and 1300 rated problems might not be enough—you should focus on solving more in the 1200–1400 range to get exposed to new ideas and problem-solving techniques.
Also, make sure you’re learning a few more fundamental concepts like binary search, prefix/suffix sums, two pointers, and greedy strategies. In addition, try to cover the basics of graph algorithms (BFS/DFS, shortest paths) and introductory dynamic programming. These topics often show up in Div. 2 B/C problems and can really help you improve.
Another important habit is to upsolve after contests. For Div. 2 contests, aim to upsolve at least 3 problems, and for Div. 3 contests, at least 4 problems. Upsolving is where you’ll pick up patterns you might have missed during the contest and build long-term intuition.
With steady practice in the 1200–1400 range, consistent upsolving, and gradual learning of new concepts, you’ll start noticing significant improvements in both contests and practice.
Thank you for your guidance
I just checked your profile, to be able to solve Div2B regularly, specially today's ones, you should be able to solve upto 1300 (but no graph problems or DP) and just be a bit fast solving these two
TLE CP-31 Problem Solving Sheet here you can find many good problems at these ratings, you can try to finish from 1000 to 1300 there (but you can ignore graphs and dp, if you want)
USACO Silver here you can solve topic-wise problems which is also a good thing to do in this level, but u can only finish the EZ ones there for now
Also, try to use an extension or make urself a custom contest where it only for example contain two 1100 problems and u should solve them in 30 mins or so, you might find this useful: Custom CF contests Extension
Note that being comfortable in a range doesn't guarantee you will always solve it, but it gives you a good probability like 8 out of 10 or so, also try to let until 1300 all 50 solved problems or higher and once you are 1100, you can start looking at graphs as you will need it many times to solve Div2C, which you will find practice on it in USACO silver, and u may also need DP and DSU for Div2C you will find it in USACO gold.
Thank you so much for your guidance
Thanks Mostafa
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How about me? :)
Hi there!