There are only about 10 days left before I choke myself to death at Vietnamese OI this year.... At the moment, a part of me is really relaxed, because this year outcome won't affect my future a lot, but the other part of me is being stressful and annoying as hell, because throughout the year of 2018, I learned a lot, and obviously I cannot have the same (or even worse) than last year, right. That part of me keep pondering upon a question for the last 30 days: "What the f--- should I do to prepare for this?" .

(Stressed out. Literally.)

Now, I'm not a type of competitor that work my ass off every hour in every day, aiming for IOI and stuffs. Instead, I tend to spend my time on practicing less than my friends (and more on some unrelated cause ==). That's one of the reason why my knowledge and skill are somewhat inadequate comparing to some other competitors in this VOI. Still for me, that's not something I feel bad about. What I feel bad about is that I don't know optimize my time before contest. Should I spend more time on practicing, or should I spend time on gaming or hanging out with friends to prevent stressing out? And if I practice, what should I do?

I'm writing this blog for two reason. The main reason is to find the answer to my question from the more-experienced competitor. The secondary reason is to share what I know to those who experienced less than me.

<What I don't know?>

(Asking those are more experienced)

Should I spend more time on practicing? If yes, what and where should I practice?

The problem with me currently is that I don't know a good source of problem that is legitimate practicing for OI competition.

Codeforces is nice, and it get even better since they introduce the difficulty system, but its problem are more ACM-styled (and also, way way way too much maths, urrgh). Codechef and SPOJ is good, they have both ACM and OI-styled, but on harder problem and my code gets WA-verdict, I tend to waste too much time debugging it (It doesn't show the tests that I did wrong). Sometimes, I get frustrated and just call it quit on some particular problem.

What should I do in my free time (besides from coding) to keep me motivated and stress-free?

Other tips?

I'm open to anyone who sharing thoughts in the comments. I'd be very thankful. Maybe you could help me discover something new to help me fill in my time, with not much left until VOI.

</What I don't know?>

<What I know?>

(For those who are less experienced)

I may have a lot of "holes" in my range of knowledge, but I'm confident that in these competing things, I am well-experienced.

How to survive?

Firstly: quality >>>>> quantity, especially when we are very close to the competition. Don't try to learn and apply new things or fill a hole which you have never touched it. Instead, try to code as many easy problem as possible, but with a twist: you have only one chance to submit. Find codeforces problem with difficulty not more than your own rating and not less than your own rating-600 (I estimated it :< ) could be a good source of problem.

Secondly, on OI problems: If you cannot think of the final solution immediately, you should try brute-force it to get those first sub-tasks. This is not ACM, and during the competition you should not risk your time finding the full solution! Try practicing brute-force right now so during the competition you can be familiar with it.

Thirdly: ...well, be comfortable. If you feel down and don't want to code, then just don't. Find something or someone that makes you feel better and motivated again.

(Take a nap, you could find a bug in your dreams :3)

How to suicide?

• Waste too much time to code a long and hard problem. This is too inefficient. Anything took you from 1-2 hours of only debugging should be quitted. Inefficiency could kill you.
• Not enough practicing. You won't be familiar enough with coding and die.
• Not enough playing. You will get stressed and tired and die.
• Not enough sleeping. Your code will be full of bug if you coding and yawning at the same time. Bugs will kill you.
• Be careless about your health (eating problems, lack off sleep,...). You might die.
• Stab yourself. You might die.
• Jumping from bridges or high buildings. You'll die.
• Hang yourself. You'll die.
• ...

</What I know?> That's all I have to share. I'd love to hear more tips from anyone in the comments and maybe very thankful for them. For those who competing with me in the VOI in the next few days and for those competing in any OI in the future, wishing you the best of luck (you might need it a lot).

P/s: sorry about death joke for those who feel offended.