I am currently 925 rated on Codeforces.

Not Specialist. Not Pupil with a huge rating. Not someone with hundreds of solved problems.

Just 925.

And honestly, that is exactly why I wanted to write this blog.

I have participated in only 5 rated contests so far, and my rating journey looks like this:

373 → 600 → 809 → 895 → 925

My contest history is probably more interesting than the rating itself: in each of these five contests, I solved exactly one problem.

At first, this looked like a success story.

Now it looks like a problem I need to solve.

The first few contests felt amazing

My first rated contest was Educational Codeforces Round 191.

I finished with a rating change of +373, going from 0 to 373.

Then came Codeforces Round 1103 and I gained another +227, reaching 600.

After that:

+209 → 809

Then:

+86 → 895

And finally:

+30 → 925

When you look only at the rating graph, it looks like I am progressing.

And I am.

But the important pattern is hidden inside those numbers.

My rating gains are getting smaller.

Why?

Because I am still largely relying on solving the first problem correctly.

My biggest weakness is obvious

The numbers are actually giving me a very clear diagnosis.

I have managed to get better at solving the easiest problem in a contest.

But I haven't yet turned that into the ability to consistently solve the second problem under contest pressure.

That is probably the biggest gap between where I am now and where I want to be.

And I think this is something a lot of beginners experience.

You learn a few algorithms.

You solve easy problems.

You feel that you are improving.

Then you enter a contest and suddenly the next problem looks completely different.

You know how to code.

You know basic data structures.

But you don't immediately recognize the idea.

That is where I am right now.

The interesting part: my rating doesn't tell the whole story

There is another side to my profile.

I currently have 60 problems solved, and 7 of those were solved in the last month.

More importantly, my recent submissions show me attempting problems beyond simply stopping after the first easy solve.

I have had compilation errors.

Wrong answers.

Runtime errors.

Time limit issues.

Repeated attempts on the same problem.

And eventually, accepted solutions.

That might sound messy.

I actually think it is a good sign.

Because this is probably what real improvement looks like.

You do not magically go from “I don't understand this” to “Accepted”.

There are a lot of:

WA → think → change approach → WA → debug → Accepted

in between.

And I am starting to experience that process more often.

One thing I have learned: solving is not the same as understanding

This is probably the biggest lesson I have learned from my first few contests.

Getting AC is satisfying.

But AC alone doesn't mean I have learned the technique.

For example, if I solve a problem using an idea I happened to discover, that is useful.

But if I later see a similar problem and immediately recognize the same pattern, that is much more valuable.

So I am trying to change my mindset.

Instead of asking:

“Did I solve this problem?”

I want to ask:

“What did this problem teach me?”

Was it a greedy observation?

A mathematical pattern?

Prefix sums?

Binary search?

A counting trick?

An implementation detail?

Or simply learning how to read the statement more carefully?

The second question matters much more in the long run.

My biggest mistake so far

I think I have been too focused on the rating number.

925 feels like a number that needs to become 1000.

Then 1000 needs to become 1100.

Then 1200.

But that can become a trap.

Because if I think only about the number, every contest becomes:

“Did my rating go up?”

Instead, I want every contest to become:

“What did I fail to recognize this time?”

Because the rating is just the output.

The actual improvement happens somewhere else.

It happens when you finally understand why you got WA.

It happens when you learn to recognize a pattern faster.

It happens when a problem that looked impossible last week suddenly looks obvious today.

What I want to improve next

My immediate target is simple:

Become consistent at solving more than one problem in contests.

I don't want to randomly get lucky with a second solve.

I want to reach the point where I can regularly identify and solve the second problem with confidence.

So my current plan is:

1. Solve more problems around my current level

Not just random hard problems.

I need stronger fundamentals first.

2. Upsolve after contests

If I couldn't solve a problem during the contest, I want to understand it afterward.

Not just read the code.

Understand the observation.

3. Revisit mistakes

A WA is useless if I forget why it happened.

I want to maintain a list of recurring mistakes and patterns.

4. Practice under time pressure

Knowing the solution at home and finding it in a contest are two very different skills.

I need both.

The next milestone

My next goal is Specialist.

But I don't want the green color just for the screenshot.

I want to actually become the kind of programmer who deserves it.

Right now, my profile says:

925 rating

60 problems solved

5 rated contests

For me, this is not the result.

It is the starting point.

There are people on Codeforces with thousands of solved problems and ratings I can't even imagine reaching yet.

I am not trying to compare myself with them.

I am trying to become better than the version of myself who entered the previous contest.

So this is my first blog

I have never written a Codeforces blog before.

Maybe this one gets 10 views.

Maybe 100.

Maybe nobody reads it.

That's okay.

I'm writing it because I want to document the journey before the result.

Not after reaching 1600 and pretending the path was obvious.

Not after becoming Expert and summarizing everything like it was easy.

Right now I'm 925.

I'm still making silly mistakes.

I'm still getting WA.

I'm still struggling with the second problem.

And I'm still learning.

So I am going to leave this here as a timestamp.

925 → ?

Let's see where this goes.

And to everyone else currently stuck around 800–1000:

Don't worry too much about the color.

Keep solving.

Keep failing.

Keep upsolving.

One day the problem that completely destroyed your contest will become the problem you solve first.

Hopefully I'll get there too.

See you at Specialist.