Hello all,
A couple months ago, I decided to do the junior CCC and that didn't go so well. (I got 58/75, didn't get anything for J5)
Since then, I improved a bit and now I can get some J5 questions down. I would like to get some advice as to how to most effectively prepare for the CCC/CCO, as I only have about 9 months before next CCC. My goal is that next year, I can do well enough on the Senior CCC to be able to qualify for CCO (and maybe IOI but I don't think I can in the span of 9 months).
However, I also have some questions:
How closely related is CCC/CCO to Codeforces contests? I ask this because in the CCC/CCO, the time it takes you to solve a question doesn't affect how many points you get, but it definitely does in Codeforces. This makes me think that speed is a much more important factor in Codeforces, which is why I am hesitant on relying on Codeforces contests to prepare.
Should I try to improve rating on CF if my end goal is to do well on CCC? Would doing CF contests help me prepare for CCC? Should I participate in contests or just spend my time learning topics that would be used in CCC, like dp, graph theory, etc?
How should I practice for a computing competition? Currently, I am going through this spreadsheet and just going through all of the problems in order, and I'd just use the editorial when stuck. Is this a good way of practicing? I've seen advice where you should just solve random problems that are just above your rating and search up concepts that you come across while doing these problems. Would that strategy be more effective than the one I'm using right now? Or does it not even matter and I should just shut up and just go keep solving problems?
UPD 03/16/2022: after two years, i finally made cco!!!!! I ended up not following the spreadsheet and instead just did a mix of random Codeforces problems, USACO (using USACO guide) and past senior CCC problems on dmoj.
Any advice would be appreciated, and thank you for taking the time to read this blog post.
Auto comment: topic has been updated by bill_lin (previous revision, new revision, compare).
Here's a really good link that contains a variety of things: https://github.com/bqi343/USACO/tree/master/Resources
Of course, competing in contests is also important, so doing regular Codeforces contests is good. However, you should also compete in more OI-style contests such as USACO as the questions are a bit different (namely, most OIs have subtasks while CF does not). The most important part is to practice and read editorials when you cant solve them to improve.
PS: here is a list of all the CCC problems: https://dmoj.ca/problems/?search=ccc
PPS: https://github.com/cheran-senthil/TLE can be used to fetch random CF problems to do if you have none on your todo list already.
Lastly, doing well on CCC should never be your end goal in competitive programming (:
Can you tell me what the source for that image is? Thanks for your response, I'll be sure to continue doing CF contests and try some OI-style ones as well.
Spreadsheet
I definitely recommend problems from other OIs. You can find them here: OI Checklist
Based on my personal experience, I would recommend against following the spreadsheet you referenced in your question. The reason is that you will spend far too much time on easy questions. A better approach would be to simply participate (virtual or otherwise) in as many CF contests as possible and upsolve from there. You could also try solving problems say 200 points higher than your rating or problems on specific topics for extra practice.
Thank you for your response. I can only really do A, sometimes B from CF Div2 and up to C/D for Div3/4, should I just upsolve the problems that I tried and couldn't solve or should I try like question C for example with the help of an editorial if I had no idea how to do it during the contest?
Yes definitely, you must first try to upsolve problems that you tried but couldn't solve during a contest (whether B/C from Div 2 or D/E/F from Div 3/4) because you have already invested some time and effort into these problems. You could also search YouTube for video tutorials on recent CF contests — sometimes, these video tutorials are easier to understand than the editorials.
ORZZZZ Congratz on CCO!
ty :D