Jacob0's blog

Important Topics for ACM ICPC / General issues learning alone
By Jacob0, history, 6 years ago, In English

Hi!

I would like to know, in your experience, which ones are the most important topics in order to perform well the ACM ICPC regionals?

I've been studying basic data structures, ad-hoc problems, greedy, dp, graphs algorithms, etc. But it seems that I'm still to weak, I can't think in any AC solution for mostly problems when I read the worksheets in the live archive. I know that there is no a short way, but I want to use my time wisely.

Also, there is no teacher (in my institute) or friend disposed to give any advise in CP so me and my teammate have been studying always with internet resources. It this ok? I think that this has been a big wall to overcome.

Thanks in advance.

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6 years ago, # |
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Lol. That depends on which region you are in. You can always refer to past samples for that matter.

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6 years ago, # |
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Anyway, it is no use trying to tailor your methods for regionals if your problem solving skills are really weak. Even if you somehow luck it out and get to world finals, you will face competitors who are infinitely more capable than yourself so you will still look bad anyway.

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    6 years ago, # ^ |
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    Going to the finals is not my main objective, at least this year. I really want to improve myself :) .

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      6 years ago, # ^ |
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      Improving yourself can be done at your own expense. When you go for regionals, you are representing your school. Therefore, if you don't do well, Not only do you lose face. You put your school to shame as well.

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        6 years ago, # ^ |
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        I'm not getting your point with the shame issue. The whole problem is:

        If my team classify to the regionals I want to perform well. So I asked for any advice. That will be taken grateful, just like

        You can always refer to past samples for that matter.

        Now, with the shame problem.

        You put your school to shame as well.

        I think that it has not been discussed here. However, I think that in some sense you are rigth.

        I'm not asking for sometime that I don't deserve. Maybe I did not express myself correctly before. Thanks for your advice :).

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          6 years ago, # ^ |
          ← Rev. 3   Vote: I like it -13 Vote: I do not like it

          The reason why I raised the issue about shame is, you seem a little self-centered (sorry if my words are harsh) as you want to go to regionals without a strong desire of advancing to world finals. Thus, you give the impression that you are treating the regionals as a stepping stone for yourself. Please remember, ICPC is an event where you represent your school as you compete with international competitors. You gotta go there with the mindset that you want to win it for your school (and yourself). After all, you want to show your school that they chose the right person right? Perhaps this boils down to personal pride and sense of responsibility.

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            6 years ago, # ^ |
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            I think nobody cares about their university on ICPC. Teams represent themselves, the three teammates, not universities.

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6 years ago, # |
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The problems vary a surprising amount based on region. It would really be helpful if you added which region you are in.

Also, when you say you are "studying" particular algorithms like DP and Graph algorithms, are you just reading about them, or are you actually implementing them and solving problems with them (by solving problems, I mean physically coding and getting AC, not just thinking of the correct solution)?

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6 years ago, # |
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I don't see what is wrong with internet resource, often times I think to myself "damn I wish someone could explain to me ____ it's so difficult to wrap my mind around by myself"

Guess what? Eventually I learned ____ and I think I understood it just as well or probably better than if someone spoon fed me the knowledge. (and discovering/reinventing things yourself feels awesome)

As for topics, I'm not really sure that is what you really want to know because you said yourself your problem was in "problem solving skill" and not topics.

For that I suggest you do past ACM problem of your regionals (obviously) and then go further to do other ACM contests. Also I think most people who I talked to that do ACM-ICPC regularly (weekly is a good idea) do an ACM contest together, but also take time to upsolve it individually to benefit individual problem solving skills as well as improvement as a team.

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