With IOI just around the corner, some of you may be wondering: "what should I do after I AK after 3 hours?"
In this post, I'll share some activities that you can do to pass the time!
(Note that some of these may not be applicable for an online IOI)
Level 1 — Built-in software on your computer
The most obvious thing you can do is use the built-in stuff. I'm talking about playing Minesweeper, reading the C++ documentation, or anything similar.
While Minesweeper is quite fun and the C++ documentation is... interesting, Minesweeper quickly becomes boring and you'll look like a huge nerd if you read the documentation (and you don't want that, do you?)
That's why I'll only recommend this if you're a noob and only AK in 4 hours.
Level 2 — Creating software
So you've beaten Minesweeper 10 times already and read through the C++ documentation twice. What next? Well, you've got some mad programming skills — why not put them to good use for once?
You've got (almost) everything you need on your IOI computer to create the next Facebook or Google. Try making some cool software to kill the time! For example, I made this beautiful Japanese flag during the practice contest of IOI 2019. Of course, you can also make something more abstract if you're into that kind of thing.
This is my favourite option, but if you're looking for something spicier...
Level 3 — Entertaining yourself using other contestants
I'm not saying that you have to get up and talk to the other contestants (not that you can anyway), but you can look around and gather some pretty interesting statistics. Who has the loudest keyboard? Who types the fastest? What is the modal shirt colour?
Alternatively, you can imagine what's going on in the other contestants' heads. Did that sleeping Canadian guy also AK or has he just given up? Which problem is that Slovakian guy next to you hammering away at his keyboard working on now? What about that crying Portuguese guy with the group of scientific committee members gathered around his computer, shaking their heads in disbelief? How is his day going?
Level 4 — Implementing your solutions again in other languages
Ok, I get it — you're no fun and only want to do something related to the IOI. That's perfectly fine and I've got just the activity for you!
Try implementing your solutions in another language! Implementing your solutions again but in Java (or C++ if you're one of those people) is a fun (albeit not very rewarding) challenge. But you know what is a rewarding challenge? Implementing your solutions in Scratch, of course!
("But I don't have access to the online Scratch editor!" You have access to a normal text editor, no?)
Conclusion
These are all the potential activities I could think of. Of course, I've never been able to try them out (but maybe some of you will be able to).
I'd love to hear about other potential activities suggested by you in the comments below!
Ahahaha :)
You could leave early and then post a cf blog bragging how early you AKed.
Or even a blog post about what to do after AK...
I suggest to change the constraints of problems and then try to solve them again!
btw, I know what ak means but, what do the A and K stand for?
All Kill
how about making something with your papers!?
I’m not sure but maybe it’s illegal or they think you’re cheating or sth...
That reminds me — some people actually print out their code (because you can do that at the IOI for some reason) to frame or something
This article will also be useful for people like me who are not badasses in Computing Olympiads but don't know what to do after they realize they can't solve more subtasks Imao
Level 0 — Waking up
Write some simple 2-player game (e.g. pong) with AI, have AI you have written control both players, order as many bananas and water through CMS as you can and enjoy the show!
Will it be possible to order bananas through CMS this year?
Imagine ordering a banana and getting sent this...
Yell out loud: "EZ GAME, Y'ALL NOOBS" while leaving like a toxic gamer.
Leave, graph your phone to get the internet access, find every other contestant in Codeforces and send them "gg" in priv.
It looks like someone was doing too many graph problems lately.
Or maybe it's a cipher and there will be a graph problem on IOI? :o
I wonder how Benq spent his 2 hours in IOI19 day1
He read the C++ documentation like a nerd (I saw his computer after the contest)
how??
You can access C++/Java documentation at the IOI
That I know, I did'nt meant that. I wanted to say that where you there in the contest hall as you said you saw Benq's monitor.
We're allowed to walk around and see other contestants' computers after the contest ends. My teammates and I were curious to see how quickly he AKed and that was the first thing we saw on his screen
Also, there's no need to tag him in these comments
Level 5 — Get Free contribution
now we can know what to do by asking Rewinding
I heard that on the second day, after solving all the problems, he wrote a 2048 to play and wrote the famous Chinese ancient poem "Song of Everlasting Regret" from memory lol
Actually, he spent less than 3 hours AK-ing IOI.
Actually, "What to do after you AK a contest" is a well-known problem in China and is classic knowledge for all top contestants. "What to do after AK at IOI" is just a slight modification of the previous problem.
stop stigmatizing a community.. I know you are trying to be funny but sometimes take a moment to have some empathy to think that there are also a lot of Chinese people who are not that good at such things but are working hard and may just get an inferior complex by knowing that there are people who are doing a lot better than I am and pressuring them to fit into some ideal version of a Chinese guy that you want to be.
I think you are overthinking dawg
What does AK mean?
I think it means solve all the problems in a contest.
I see, but what it stands for and where did it come from?
https://mirror.codeforces.com/blog/entry/82136?#comment-689451 you're welcome
perhaps we should ask orzdevinwang what he chose to do after AK-ing today.