Merry Christmas and happy new year for you all
2019 is almost over now, I am sure you all had ups and downs this year, I spent most of the year as a Candidate master and now here I am again, back to expert :D
Through the year I have seen many posts of users setting up challenges, cheering up when they achieve it :D and getting sad and desperate when they fail :( For me I set one challenge and luckily I was able to succeed in it. My challenge was to reach +2000 rating before the start of May. I have done it in 29 April, in Codeforces Round 556 (Div. 2) it was the last rated round before my deadline :D
If you have set yourself any challenge in 2019 share it with us in the comments below, perhaps your story will inspire someone else, even if you failed in it.
Now reaching +2000 rating was a nice thing, but this time I will set myself a higher challenge, If I can't reach international master (+2300) before next year ACM regional contest ( usually held in November ) then I won't attend the regional contest, although this will be my last regional contest, and my last chance of reaching WF.
If you want to set your self any challenge for the next year, share it with us in the comments below. It would be nice by the end of 2020 to read all these stories.
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Well, you haven't submitted a problem in almost a year. So, good luck trying to gain 700 points. All hope is not lost though. :)
I applaud you for setting an ambitious goal and for encouraging others to share their own. Can't speak from personal experience, but I think you can definitely shoot even further to reach Red by the end of 2020 if you drill on your weaknesses and become comfortable with not knowing certain topics and then become open to learning them inside out. Why are you holding back?
I am not qualified to offer you any knowledge-based advice, as you probably notice from my current rating, and I would be a fool to do so. All I am saying is, we don't know what's possible. Many times we think we know what our limits are when the reality is we haven't tried nearly enough. We haven't exahusted all our resources and we haven't tried to think in ways we have never thought before. We are stuck in patterns and routines and resort to our favorite go-to methods which result in the same oucome. Statistics and probability are reliable indicators only for the majority, not for the exceptional. Few people understand what it takes to become exceptional.
I am trying my best to reach LGM by the end of 2020. This is not to show off or to downplay anyone else's goals. In fact, I think more people should strive for such "impossible" goals. If people have showed that it's possible, then it's possible. It will take time, there will be setbacks, but such is the nature of acquiring peak performance. It's a struggle but the mind is a learning machine if trained strategically, not by simply banging your head against the wall. They key is to trust your intelligence long enough until difficult things start to feel natural and unconscious. But few people have such patience because the rest always think they know better. If more people stopped judging themselves and stopped getting in their own way, learning becomes natural and more people would reach higher levels in any field. Competitive programming cannot be an exception.
That's where vision and belief comes in. 100% Believe in yourself and your training and nothing can stop you. All the best.
(Pretty bold of a cyan coder to throw such claims? Of course if you judge this comment based on my current rating, you are missing the essence of the message)
So placeaboo effect?
There is a reason why Legendary Grandmaster has the word "Legendary" in it, its clearly not easy to attain. I think in 1 year, LGM is almost truly impossible even if one trains really hard... I think in 2 years with a lot of hard-work and studying mathematics as well, LGM may be possible is one is really, really dedicated, but 1 year seems impossible.
There is no reason. What's the reason behind blue=expert? It's laughable, I was an "expert" after my first round (thresholds changed since), I had maybe around 200 problems solved, expert in what area I was? "Legendary grandmaster" is just some name that was created to sound cooler than international grandmaster.
So, Um_nik are you saying it is possible to be LGM in 1 year?
(Actually, from India no one has ever reached that level, so I thought it must be impossible in a time-span of 1 year otherwise out of the thousands of Indian programmers, someone would definitely have done it.) If, you do say it is possible, please explain also why...
I agree, the names of titles are random and meaningless as at 1400 one is called "specialist".
So if no one from India has reached that level, have you come to the conclusion that it's not possible for you? Statistics are only useful for making decisions upto a certain extent, beyond that it's speculation and corelation at best. If you want to become exceptional, you can't rely on statistics. You have to become the outlier. And statistics don't capture outliers. LGMs are outliers.
Before someone became LGM for the first time, it's clear that they had never become LGM before that point. So should they have hastily come to the conclusion that it wasn't possible for them long before it finally happened? The world would have one less LGM if they had given up early.
Just because no one from India has made it yet, that doesn't mean no one from India, or any unprecedented part of the world for that matter, has the potential to reach that level in the future.
I believe people can reach that level, just not in 1 year from scratch. In India usually people give about 2-3 years at max to cp during their college days, and have hardly any exposure during school days... So with such less time devoted, attaining a very high level becomes tough.
I agree it's not possible from scratch, if you mean print("Hello World") kind of scratch that is. In my case, I've had some programming experience beforehand, so it's not that kind of scratch. But I do believe I am learning at least the competitive programming side of things from scratch i.e. the standard algorithms and mathematics.
Also, I don't think it's primarily an issue of time. Many people have given years and are still at the same level, if not worse. It's also about opening up one's mind to new ways of thinking, trying new things in different ways, coding the same solution in multiple ways, picking up tricks by reading the solution, learning from experienced users' coding style to improve your own, targetted practice, etc. Many people simply repeat what they are used to doing and expect improvement or believe they have hit their limit. Sometimes people can get lucky and hit the bull's eye with the "right" practice method, but even then they are prone to quick stagnation. The key is continuous learning and just never stopping. Even after reaching LGM or whatever highest title is up for grabs. At least that's what I've found out based on my own experiences elsewhere and in conversation with top-rated users on Codeforces.
Yeah, I meant "Hello World" kind of scratch
I said nothing like this, can you even read?
Your logic is insane, you know? No one from India has ever reached LGM, so it is impossible to do in 1 year? What is this about 1 year cut-off all of a sudden? There would be some (flawed) logic to assume if no one from India has reached LGM, then it is impossible at all, but this conclusion is not true, so you switched to different conclusion?
DearMargaret has become LGM "in 2 month". It is believed that they are the fake of someone (or not one), but there weren't a definitive proof.
Sorry, Um_nik if I wasn't clear, I meant that India is a country where people do serious competitive programming for 2-3 years, usually during their college degrees. You won't usually see any Indian active for 8 — 10 years etc on codeforces or any site. Usually after they get a job after their undergraduate degree, they leave competitive programming.
So, what I meant was that generally Indians give 2-3 years time approximately to competitive programming, and in this time no one has ever reached LGM.
So, out of the thousands of people in India, a few must be very hard-working and have a close to optimal practice strategy etc...
But even these people couldn't make it in spite of 3 years of practice.
That is why I said it seems impossible, because out of a big enough sample of people there must be some who are working as hard as possible, if even they couldn't attain that level, it seems impossible. Sorry if my earlier post wasn't clear.
Also, DearMargaret is clearly a fake account (of course it can't be proved, but we can have strong suspicions), his early contest results are nowhere near that of a newcomer. When I refer to reaching LGM in 1 year, I mean reaching it in 1 year from scratch.
I never said it's easy to attain. People who have reached that level have given their life to acquiring the skill and I am simply trying to emulate what others have shown to be possible.
I think we should stop having ideas of what it might take to be red or reach the peak of any field. Most of the time, we are wrong, and we only get in our way. The path is much more counter-intuitive and full of surprises. It's better to simply not know what the future holds and believe in your training. As soon as you say "LGM is not possible in one year", you shut down the possibility no matter how slim the chances are.
But, is being blindly optimistic the best thing? What if you are disappointed because you thought you would become LGM but couldn't become?
To be honest, I am not terribly attached with reaching LGM specifically so I won't feel the least bit disappointed if I don't reach it. Reaching LGM itself is more likely to be a byproduct if I continuously focus on strengthening my weaknesses. It might seem like I'm casually throwing around these claims but I am not being blindly optimistic. I am adhering to a rigorous training regimen and even if I fall short, I will not have regretted it one bit. If it DOES turn out that reaching LGM IS THAT HARD, then so be it. That's just the way it is and I can't change it. But until I personally don't experience it, that is my goal, no matter how blinded it might seem. And if I don't reach it, it's likely that I will be needing more time but it's more likely that I didn't practice in the most efficient manner (doing easy problems, repeating same mistakes, not internalizing topics deeply, not letting go of favorite methods to learn new and better techniques/ ways of problem solving, etc.)
Nice goal then, Best Of Luck!!
Keep on massaging your egos with more "downvotes". That's much easier for you to do than train to become grandmaster, let alone even encourage someone to become one because they then might go on to realize something which you never could even dream of. Do you seriously think it affects me one bit or makes me reconsider my own goals? If anything, it actually strengthens my convictions 10x more because now I have more to prove.
Actually, I really wanted to GENUINELY motivate people to strive for more than what they have set out to achieve next year. But this is precisely the attitude that confirms the statistics. I feel sorry for you all. At least there's less competition so that helps but what a waste of the human brain's potential.
To sum up this "downvote" epidemic — "In individuals, insanity is rare; but in groups, it is the rule" as a wise man once said.
I see
You are so much talk, that's why you get such amounts of downvotes. Everybody can get your point from the first message, you don't need to spam. Basing on your messages and your first contest performance(if it was not intended to have such bad performance) I highly doubt that you even reach candidate till the end of 2020.
Keep on massaging your ego with more messagesToo bad it will not help you to increase your rating.
I frankly don't care about the downvotes because I know how hard I am working these days to reach my goal. I was just trying to tell people to work extra hard and believe that they too can become red with an insane amount of effort and the BELIEF that they can reach that level — the most important part which people seem to have missed.
I am sorry if it feels like I am spamming too much, that wasn't my intention. I am just being vocal and trying to communicate my message clearly and it's fine if few people "get it". This is my final comment for at least the next few months because, honestly, I am also tired of commenting so much. There is a lot of practice to do.
Please check back at the end of 2020 to see if your prediction turns out to be true. I'm afraid it won't by a big margin.
This didn't age well. A good lesson for everyone to not talk before the walk lol.
My goal for next year is to win a bronze medal at the IOI QAQ
You can do it, good luck!
All the best, I hope you have an awesome experience.
My goal is my rating will be 2000+ before I graduate in Oct 2020.
Challenge:
If I don't become candidate master before 2020(hugh, only two contests), I'll drop my rating to 1000 intentionally.
Check my graph, in my last 6 rounds ( before last round ) in dropped 286 rating points, if I performed bad in my last round, I was going to do the same dropping points until I become newbie.
Oh No
Goodbye 1800+ rating :(
Too sad :( you were close today of doing it.
This is the competitive-programming-related part of my 2019 Resolution:
Read Graph and Matrices
While I have read the first few chapters, I did not finish the book because this book turned out to be unrelated to Competitive Programming.
2100+ rating on Codeforces before June (I later postpone it to before November)
I failed this one. I once fell back to Expert and had to fight hard to be a Candidate Master again.
Become the ICPC NCNA Regional 2019 Champion
My teammates and I did it, but I think it was something predictable (i. e. it would be a surprise if my team failed)
I also have several other targets in the year 2019. I failed most of them mainly because I forgot about it and not because I could not do it.
In short, I failed to achieve my 2019 Resolution.
A moral of the story is that I should set short-term targets instead of long-term targets. By setting short-term targets, I had the chance to evaluate whether a target is worth to achieve. For example, after spending a week reading Graph and Matrices, I would know that I did not have the real motivation to complete the book.
Another one is that do not set your target based on a number (like Codeforces rating) but based on your actual skills instead. Because I was too focused on breaking the 2100 mark, I trained for speed and accuracy instead of learning new techniques and solving hard problems. It was not until october that I realized that my skills might not be enough to be a Master.
Edit: It is OK if you use Codeforces rating as a target. However, I think your target should be more specific, say what you would learn, problems you would solve to achieve that rating.
This year, I'm setting a one-month resolution and several one-day resolutions, and they are better than a huge one-year resolution so far.
I agree with you about short term resolutions as they really highlight your progress, I will be doing it too, My current short term one is to finish Chapter 5 "Mathematics" in Competitve Programming 3 book and solve 75% of its problems. However I think it's also good to have some long term one to try to finish.
Best of luck
Well since this years' july I was aiming to welcome the new year and I'm pupil (I had already reached It from a while but I felt back to newbie after 1 round :'D) so I still have 3 chances left and I should make them count
AND YES !! I did it in the last contest in this year today and finally reached pupil, hope I can reach specialist soon :D
Congrats :D
Reaching CM before April 2020. I have 4 months and a 200 rating rise to cover, so it will be very hard, but I hope that I can make it.
My targets are: 1) to be a platinium at USACO 2) get a bronze medal at APIO 3) get a gold medal at IZHO2020 4) to be candidate master until april at CF 5) to learn some other languages such as PHP, Python 6) get a silver medal at info1cup 7) get a bronze medal at IOI2020 8) and also start to watch ANIME
I believe this targets are enough for me and I wanna say to everybody GL and HF at NEW YEAR.
How much time I've slept?))
Oh wait, it's just numeration...
Ps: use two spaces in the end of line
I will also give my best this year. I hope to reach Master or above ranks in 2020. My 2019 was sad for the competitive side because of the decline in progress due to development related stuff. I will learn and learn more algorithms and data structures along with my backend development.
Candidate Master by the end of 2020. :D
I want to be orange so bad... I got to purple this year January and practise hard since then... I wanted to become orange this year but failed... But that's ok, many of my friends spend >=2 years to get from purple to orange... So most likely I'll become orange in 2021...
Congrats Ayumu!
My goal is to reach 2100+ rating && solve 1300+ problems before next ICPC Southern California Regional Contest. I'm so grateful that I have so many friends in cp supporting me and practicing with me. Big thanks to Shimatsukaze flpt0x AsleepAdhyyan
Fight on!
Achieving stable IGM and setting a max rating of >= 2700 before the end of 2020.
Expert before TishreenCPC (April) (if I don't make it I'm not attending)
Candidate Master before next year.
My goal is to become red before the end of the century.
Congratz!
I have taken up two challenges - Make it to IOI ( Done ) - Get a good score at IOI ( not done ) - become +1600 on CF ( not done ) I hope I can Achieve them by the end of 2020
My challenge is to become master before ICPC2020 WF
My challenge is to become Candidate Master before my next birthday (19 April)
My challenge is to become Candidate Master before my graduation!
In 2019 I wanted to take part in every CF round rated for me, but unfortunately failed, missing #606 and #539. Of course I intend to try again next year. My other goal is to pass _h_ in max. rating again as Finland losing to Sweden is not acceptable >8)
Good luck :-)
Hey guys, let me tell you my story: I started programming in February when i decided i wanted to study Computer Science in my university. When I started, my goal was simple, to become as good as those kids that were in the Informatic Olympiad.I learnt C++ from zero , and trained a lot in my free time. Before I realized how much i had improved, I had the opportunity to summer camp with a group of really good programmers. There I realized that I was at the same level as the people that once i admired. So i changed my goal into qualifying in the ICPC Mexico finals. My team barely qualified, but i still wanted to challenge me more, and decided to become purple before the end of the year (I have maybe 2 contests more to achieve it). Even though i could fail my next goal, when i reflect about this year i think that i had a lot of fun.
P.D my 2020 goal is to get upvoted by Um_nik
cool i'll be atleast 2020 by may2020
I would like to host another CF round before I go to army.
In TOP-100 among Indian Coders by the end of 2020
Have > 2000 rating by the end of 2020.
Find a gf
Thats why we shouldn't become red :(
Become a stable candidate master and get a gf
My goal for 2020 is to reach expert level on Codeforces (+1600). I want to achieve this by June. Let's see if I can do it. I'll try my best.
Finally reached my goal on 26th March,2020. Now the goal is to become Candidate Master before 2021 ! Let's go !
Rating over 2100 and become yellow one is my dream.
Hello. I've set myself a goal to reach Candidate Master until the end of 2019. And I managed to it just recently. I had been stuck on Expert rank, until once realized that I don't work had enough. Since that I had to change my entire lifestyle. Everybody have some daily affair like work, study or anime binging... Somеtimes it is really hard to find a time to practice, and another time you're too lazy to force yourself to train. Therefore I came up with an idea of pushing my time limits. To sleep less and get enough. By the end of November I had improved my sleep pattern. Going to bed at 11pm and waking up at 4am was enough to feel good during the day. After waking up I do sports because it helps to be fresh. After that I'm solving a tasks from contest for 2-3 hours. After a month of such training I've managed to do better. I have no especial talent . My math skills are pretty poor. But only thanks to regular training, I achieved my goal. I hope that my little story will inspire somebody to try harder to achieve what they want. In 2020 I'm going to try even harder to become stronger, to improve my math and learn how to solve advanced graph tasks. And maybe I'm lucky enough to even reach 2100 rating.
in 2020 i want to have a Medal in Pcpc and get a good place in Acpc and on codeforces i want my rate to be to be more than 1500
1500 done
I set a challenge to reach candidate master before 2020.
And here I'm.
I've done it in the last contest for me before 2020 :D
2500 by the end of February, that makes ~430 points to go.
If there are really competition-driven people with similar ratings and goals, we could make some bets/competitions to keep being motivated.
Oh how naive I was...
1600+ on CF and typing 70+ wpm ̶c̶u̶r̶r̶e̶n̶t̶l̶y̶ ̶5̶5̶.̶7̶8̶ ̶w̶p̶m̶ before the end of 2020 :P
Here comes the end of a terrible year, I almost stopped doing CP currently after getting a job and my wpm now is 63 ʕノ•ᴥ•ʔノ ︵ ┻━┻
Let's read other's stories ※\(^o^)/※
I set myself the challenge to become Master (+2100) on Codeforces this year. However, it seems to be impossible now because my rating has dropped down to 1944. (you can see that my rating changed to 2091 through Codeforces Round #680 (Div. 1, based on Moscow Team Olympiad) but then dropped) Although there are going to be at least 3 contests before the new year, I cannot participate in them because of the time. (at most I can only participate in Codeforces Round #691 (Div. 1) )
Anyway, I will work harder to achieve my dreams and hope all of you can make it, too!
Although the article was written down 1 year ago, it is still meaningful now.
my goal was to reach expert before 2020 ends. Gotta postpone my dreams.
My goal is to become a Candidate Master in 4 months <3