Hello everyone,
I’m currently rated around 1200 and mainly code in C++. My main goal right now is to qualify for NERC and eventually make it to the ICPC World Finals.
There’s one problem that has been bothering me for a while.
During contests, I can often figure out the correct idea or math behind a problem. Sometimes I can even explain the solution step by step in my head. But when I start writing the actual code, everything falls apart.
I make silly bugs, miss obvious edge cases, or sometimes get stuck even though I know what I’m supposed to do.
So I wanted to ask people who have gone through this phase:
How did you overcome the gap between understanding a solution and actually implementing it correctly?
What kind of practice helped you the most?
I’d especially appreciate advice from people who have experience with ICPC or similar contests.
I’m not really struggling with understanding every problem. My biggest issue is turning the idea in my head into clean, correct code under contest pressure.
If you had the same problem around the 1000–1300 rating range, what changed things for you?
Thanks in advance!
Same thing for me, I often spend 20 minutes finding the ideas, 5 minutes implementing and 4 hours debugging. Can't get an AC tho.
Hello, I'm pretty sure you can overcome this issue just by solving more problems.
Most of the time it is harder to find the solution idea rather than implementing the solution, so your issue is likely to disappear after some experience.
If you are really struggling with implementing a solution, you can check other contestants' solutions. (Editorial might contain some info about implementation details as well)
You can do virtual contests if you want to code under pressure, you will get used to it after some time.
I have the opposite problem: I am good at implementation, but bad at understanding. It could be because I am an beginner. Any tips?