zeyd1234's blog

Why China dominates IOI year after year (and why CTS is harder than IOI itself)
By zeyd1234, 6 weeks ago, In English

Honestly, China getting 4 golds every single IOI is just insane at this point. Half the time the fight for #1 individual spot is just between teammates!

People meme about secret routines, but looking at their actual setup, it totally makes sense:

Internal competition is brutal:

Out of tens of thousands of participants, only 50 make the national team gathering (集训队), and then just 4 go to IOI. There are easily 20+ Chinese coders every year who didn't make the top 4 but would easily get a high gold if they represented almost any other country!

Gaokao bypass:

Top 50 in NOI means automatic admission to Tsinghua (like Yao Class) or PKU, completely skipping the Gaokao nightmare. That’s a life-changing reward, so kids start grinding full-time from middle school.

Actual infrastructure:

Places like Changjun or Hangzhou No. 2 are practically CP academies with full-time coaches, and platforms like Luogu make high-quality problems and editorials super accessible.

A few questions for the Chinese CPers here:

  • What does the daily routine actually look like when preparing for NOI / CTS? How many hours a day are spent solving problems vs theory?

  • Do you feel the 4-person country cap hides just how deep the talent pool actually is?

Would love to hear your thoughts or stories from the CTS grind!

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6 weeks ago, hide # |
 
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it's hard to beat a country with a BILLION people. there are only two countries that populous, and one has a massive $$$IQ$$$ advantage over the other

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    6 weeks ago, hide # ^ |
     
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    IQ is a lie, Education is the truth, Practice is the source, Community is the goat.

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    6 weeks ago, hide # ^ |
     
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    Thats true! If even, only 0.1% of chinese kids(0-17 y.o.) will learn CP, this is: 270200 people. :skull:

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    6 weeks ago, hide # ^ |
     
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    IQ gap isn't that bad, as per this link India's average IQ is ~98 and China's is 106. If you want to cite any other studies then this study found that Nepal's average IQ is 43, so it's hard to trust it (also I don't know a single person who took an offline IQ test except children suspected to have autism). Moreover India lacks centralized support for olympiads and yet we placed top-10 in the last 3 IMOs. And yes, most of the team is almost always from well-off urban families, so who knows how much talent we are missing out on. Moreover China has very little advantage from India when it comes to winning Nobels or Field Medals so whatever you want to think lil bro. Your obsession with IQ Is frankly laughable, are you rage baiting or do you actually believe in this shit?

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      6 weeks ago, hide # ^ |
       
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      do you actually believe in this shit?

      many people do find it hard to believe, but the Truth is that Jesus Christ did die for our sins over $$$2000$$$ years ago so that we may be saved from death. John 3:16

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        6 weeks ago, hide # ^ |
         
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        what was bro's IQ score? do you think he could have won gold had he prepared for IOI?

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          6 weeks ago, hide # ^ |
           
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          the guy did create the universe, so with enough prep, probably

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            6 weeks ago, hide # ^ |
             
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            He could’ve also just created the universe such that he was the greatest informatics Olympiad solver instead of prepping

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            6 weeks ago, hide # ^ |
             
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            i thought in the story book his daddy created the universe

            “Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.” John 14:28

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        6 weeks ago, hide # ^ |
         
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        Bro threw in a fun fact

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6 weeks ago, hide # |
 
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I believe the dominant reason is NOI gold medalists can directly go to the top2 universities of China(Tsinghua U and Peking U). Then students can suspend their studies in high school, and only prepare for OI. (And most good high schools also recommend this behavior)

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    Isn't it a big gamble to focus in NOI and ignore school? NOI gold is pretty competitive and hard, rather than getting into NOI itself from local competitions.

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      6 weeks ago, hide # ^ |
       
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      To be honest, most coaches won't allow you to neglect other studies and learn OI

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      6 weeks ago, hide # ^ |
       
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      That's true. If you cannot win the gold medal, you have only one year to prepare for the Gaokao. So, only students who have shown their talent would try to do this. And these students are usually good at studying. Then, if they have only one year, they can still get good grades. (But it still has some effect.)

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    Wow! I always tried to think like this:

    School should be No. 1. OI should be No. 2.

    But if it's true, it's good strategy!

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Essentially, China isn’t competing against the world; they are competing against their own insane internal system. By the time they reach the international stage, the IOI feels like a walk in the park for them

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I am a Chinese OIer, But I an too weak to get into that CTS camp.

But I have to say something.We first participate in CSP-S, then we can participate in NOIP, then in NOI, then we can get the chance to participate in CTS and go to IOI.And actually, the Chinese OIer Shenghao Zhao who Aked IOI day 1 didn't AK NOIP, so we can suppose that NOIP is harder than IOI day 1.

I only competed 15 rounds and am rated 1526 in AtCoder.Because Codeforces rounds are at night in china, I somewhat dont like to participate in CF rounds, but my Atcoder rating proves i am at least a specialist, and probably an expert.And I got 93/400 score in NOIP. That proves how difficult it is.

Due to China's insane system of training, the ones who can go to IOI are indeed the top coders.IOI Au is just so easy for them, i think NOI Au is harder than IOI Au.

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