newbie_forever_at_cp's blog

Where am I lacking ?
By newbie_forever_at_cp, history, 2 years ago, In English

Hi, Sorry for another boring & asked multiple times blog. But I seriously want to know where I am lacking. I have been coding for the past five years. But still cant cross Expert — candidate master. I have solved much more than 2,5K problems (yes including multiple hard problems ( > 2100 Rating)). (code_kit is also my account although now i am not using it) . But still I seem to suck. And not sure why, but for the past 3 months my solvability is continuously decreasing ( I had 2090+ rating in september) but dropped to 1800 range now. Similarly in April I had 2080+ rating but again dropped for some time to ~1800. Could you guys explain me why this happens and the last 3 months is the longest amount of time I am in 1700 — 1800 range. I am not able to solve a problem unless i have seen an extremely similar one before. How to improve this skill ?

Plus I see so many people who solves very less problems like < 1000 but become master. Could you guys give me tips ?. Surely eager to know where i am lacking. I have read most of the tutorials blog on how to become CM / master and They are telling to practice very less than what i did. Any tips would be highly appreciated. Also will playing video games like for 3 — 5 hours a day negatively affect problem solving ? Thanks.

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2 years ago, # |
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Although I am not a master, according to my experience, long-term training on codeforces may not be effective. You can try to practice on another platform, which may change your current problem-solving thinking. Hope this helps you.

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2 years ago, # |
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i think you see many people, who become master and solves < 1000 problems on cf, because they don't solve cf problems only. it can be atcoder and so on. for example in russia, we have it classes, so we can solve porblems there

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    2 years ago, # ^ |
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    Yes, but i dont think there are many who solved 2.5K+ problems of varying difficulty but still struck in 1800 range.

    Anyhow, back to the main part, do you see any area where i am lacking ? And for the past 3 months why my rating / solving jumped from a cliff ?

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      2 years ago, # ^ |
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      i don't really know, but if you look at your submissions at your last rounds, you spend 2-3 attempts to submit problems C or D. maybe you should try to write code with minimum bugs.

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    2 years ago, # ^ |
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    Most of my solved problems are on cf

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2 years ago, # |
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I think a rule applies that if you want to get to rating $$$X$$$, you should (or atleast have the ability to) solve $$$100$$$+ problems of rating $$$X+200$$$ yourself (without consulting the editorial). Solving that many problems ensures that you won't have much difficulty in solving problems of rating $$$X$$$ during the contest time, as you can solve problems of rating $$$200$$$ more during practice on your own. [BTW this doesn't mean you should stop seeing editorials: see them when you get stuck, but expect to get to rating $$$X$$$ only when you can comfortably solve problems of rating around $$$200$$$ higher than that during practice yourself].

The numbers I quoted may seem arbitrary but I guess the general rule applies: keep solving harder and harder problems and you are bound to improve. Also, don't get disappointed by contest performances: they are a bit based on luck. As you skill up by practicing harder problems, the probability of your failure in contest decreases. So in my opinion the only way to improve is to keep solving hard problems.

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    2 years ago, # ^ |
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    And what if I am not able to solve problems of rating X+200 by myself. How to improve that!

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      2 years ago, # ^ |
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      Try with editorial. Ask yourself: Why I didn't solve this problem? Was that because lack of knowledge? Or maybe because I didn't notice something? What I can do to do better next time? It may help if you write your answers down, so you can come back to them later. Maybe you will notice that you make some mistakes over and over again.

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2 years ago, # |
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I think a rule applies that if you want to get to rating $$$X$$$, you should (or atleast have the ability to) solve 100+ problems of rating $$$X+1000$$$ yourself.

For me, I solve 200 problems of rating 3000+.

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    2 years ago, # ^ |
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    I think if you want to make a progress, you need to be adventurous.

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2 years ago, # |
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I think a rule applies that if you want to get to rating X, you should (or at least have the ability to) solve 3700000+ problems of rating X+3500 yourself.

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    2 years ago, # ^ |
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    I have the ability to create and solve 3700000+ problems of rating 6500 in a span of a billion years, but I am not lgm yet. Someone help me!

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2 years ago, # |
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Why do you oddly look like me in a few years ):

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2 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it -28 Vote: I do not like it

Try to solve another 2.5k problems and then ask again... as well as there are people that solved less problems than you and they have more rating, there are others that solved more problems than you and have less rating... in the end, the solution is always the same... "solve more problems"

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2 years ago, # |
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You are on a higher level than most people ever reach. I think we must consider that there is an individual upper bound where it becomes more and more hard to increase the rating.

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2 years ago, # |
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watch this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JdXl6IYaEE&t=662s , i think u r in somewhat same situation sorry if I am wrong.

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2 years ago, # |
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My current hypothesis is we lack short-term memory (working memory) https://qr.ae/pGzZtL. Its seems like that's the main factor, but there could also be other brain-related disadvantages that we have.

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    2 years ago, # ^ |
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    IQ and short-term memory are very correlated (according to JBP). So no wonder it is IQ that we lack.

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2 years ago, # |
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Also will playing video games like for 3 — 5 hours a day negatively affect problem solving ? Which game do you play ?

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    2 years ago, # ^ |
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    A lot, but mostly FPS, sometimes TPS. Eg Enlisted — which i currently play, GTA online, sometimes CSGO, rarely survival horror like DBD etc... RPG in the sense I Bioshock. When I was CM like few months back I was playing RTS games like COH2, Dragon age origins and then RPG games like TR, Metro at that time. I forgot the rest...

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2 years ago, # |
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There are maybe many reasons for your lack of progress. (But honestly you are still pretty good, not everyone can achieve your level in codeforces). One reason that I think some people may lack is the hability/patience to understand complex mathematical proofs that appear in competitive programming. Once I solve a problem I think it was instructive I write it down and spend some time with it to digest the ideia/proof. Solving a problem is not an binary measurement of how much you learnt with it.

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    2 years ago, # ^ |
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    Hmm Ok, Ill try that. Thanks for comment. When I was CM, whenever i come across any problem of rating 2200 — 2400, I wont look at the editorial for at least for a day or will only look at the 1st hint of the editorial and then will start to think on that problem as almost always i know all the concepts behind that editorial. But now i look just after 1 — 2 hours. Maybe that might also be a reason.

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2 years ago, # |
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Who is tourist after all this

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2 years ago, # |
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I think I am in a very similar situation right now. I have been doing virtual contests for a long time, but my rating graph does not show any notable improvement yet. Perhaps we should still keep working hard, and paticient.

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