Mike_Mirzayanov_Is_Pussy's blog

By Mike_Mirzayanov_Is_Pussy, 3 years ago, In English

Suppose i have rating x , then is practicing problem in rating range [x-300,x+300] better compared to practicing problems in range [x-300,x+600] ?

I can solve problems which are very difficult than my current rating during practice , but sometimes in contests in stuck on problems very below my rating ,

So what is most optimal way of practicing ? Practicing problems too difficult than your current rating or problems just around 300 above your rating ?

You can answer this from perspective of any level .

Any suggestions from your side will help me a lot .

Thanks

»
3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

I don't know.

»
3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

The 3rd result if you searched it up, like kumaraditya1999 said. https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-best-strategy-to-improve-my-skills-in-competitive-programming-in-C++-in-2-3-months

A great site to learn new algs and practice them is usaco.guide.

What I think the best way to improve is just like the quora user said, you should start easy, but if it's too easy, skip those ones and go to the next page.

Another thing you should be aware of is that there are 2 main parts of solving a CP problem. Figuring out the solution (by working things out on paper), and coding the solution/debugging it. The latter shouldn't take over about 15 minutes, for the coding part, and maybe 10 minutes for the debugging. If coding it takes too long, perhaps if you need to search up documentation, then more practice is probably the best route. You can search up problems with certain tags and solve those, or you can try to find some way to integrate that algorithm/ data structure (or something else) into something fun, which is the better option if you can find something you would like to do.

The solution part almost always takes the longest. I remember watching/reading something from one of the best coders on cf (don't remember who, maybe William Lin or Errichto), and they said that figuring out the solution takes almost the whole time in the contest, and coding it only takes a few minutes. To figure out the solution more effectively, more practice, again, is the best thing to do. The thing is, though, that when people see that they should practice, they go and solve the easiest problems, all of them, in that order. This is NOT the best course of action. Solve the problems that challenge you, maybe taking about 30–40 minutes to solve.

Of course, this is just my opinion, so take it with a grain of salt.