MisakiShokuhou's blog

By MisakiShokuhou, history, 2 years ago, In English

Note:this might not work for the one that has rating beyond specialist.

Most Poeple will say that you should solve problems that are harder than your current skill.I feel like this advice is really bad.In fact,it is one of the worst advice i have ever heard(for newbies).Why? because i have tried and i just ended in a loop of desperation like other people that post blogs about how to get rating X.

Whenever you do not understand a problem,you read the editorials.This is good,you know what the solution is.However,does your intuition improve? Most editorials will just present you with the actual solution,rather than actually triggering your brain to think into the correct way.This is very crucial and i feel like without this,people will just see editorials again and again and they will just want their time and eventually quit or cheat every contest.

So,my advice is only 1.Find a mentor.A mentor that can help you to think not like editorials.I found a trainer and you won't believe how much i improved.I am able to solve 3 problems for the first time.Before getting a mentor,i just see editorial and understand.My thinking skill does not develop.

For those who want to get a better rating,stop trying.You will not be better if you continue to just solving problems that will overwhelm you.You may be able to solve a problem in a specific rating,but you are not guaranteed to solve other problems with similar rating even though you have tried other problems before.You need a proper guidance that is professional enough to stimulate your brain by helping you solve problems live.

  • Vote: I like it
  • +3
  • Vote: I do not like it

| Write comment?
»
2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

There's a typo in the link. XcQ is visible though

»
2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +7 Vote: I do not like it

There is a reason why people (including myself) give this advice. A lot of the time people get accomodated at a certain range of difficulty and just solve problems relatively easy to them, and because of that they dont learn anything knew, neither as you said "stimulate their brain".

Of course you shouldnt do problems that are too much above your level because youll get overwhelmed, but by doing problems that are hard to you, you can learn new tricks and ideas that you can apply in similar problems, and improve your problemsolving little by little. That's how everyone gets better.

Of course getting a tutor can help, but they will try to make exactly that, pose you with problems that are challenging and/or new for you and show how you could solve them.

Cp is hard for everyone so its understandable to get frustrated, but the adcice itself is not bad. I have seen people climb by doing that. The problem is regulating how to approach it.