tautology's blog

Dilemma about virtual contests
By tautology, history, 13 months ago, In English

Hi all,
I've started doing virtual contests. However, as we know and have experienced this firsthand myself too that not all contests have good problems, some contests have shitty problems. My dilemma is to whether continue VC from a recent missed contest or whether should I pick problems by most solve count and create mashups and do that. For eg. picking up 2 most solved R1200 problems, 2 1400 problems, and 2 R1600 problems and creating a mashup. Do problems with a greater solved count have guaranteed good quality?

Basically, I want to work on my speed for easier problems <= R1500 as well as on my skill/ability to solve R1600+ problems during a live contest and experience the Euphoria!

Please suggest which way to go.

Thanks,
tautology

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Comments Comments (6)
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13 months ago, # |
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Real contests will have shitty problems, too. Just do the virtual contests as they were.

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    13 months ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +8 Vote: I do not like it

    Right, I realized, I should practice solving any kind of problem

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13 months ago, # |
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Do you have recent examples of bad problems?

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    13 months ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +25 Vote: I do not like it

    As a coordinator, I actually care about which problems are considered bad! So please don't downvote :D

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13 months ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +4 Vote: I do not like it

Solve the contests at your level until they don't seem shitty for you and then move on. Sometimes you think problems are shitty because you didn't get used to the type.

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13 months ago, # |
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If you want to get better at live contests, you should definitely consider training in an identical/near-identical setup. This of course entails solving all problems and using the same strategy that you would on an actual contest (experimenting with strategies is reasonable, but abstaining from excessive experimentation is usually a good idea). One of my favourite (though a bit extreme) examples is how very serious students in my country practice for a certain exam: a couple of months before that exam, they fall into the habit of doing a past/similar exam from 9am-12pm and 2pm-5pm on a desk in a classroom/at home, with a power nap/lunch in between that would be feasible in the actual examination centre, and nothing else.

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