death_bringer's blog

Coincidence in Div 2 official winners.
By death_bringer, history, 3 years ago, In English

I checked the winner list of the Codeforces Round 729 (Div. 2) for motivation and how much they practiced to get the top rank. I noticed something peculiar about the winning accounts that almost none of them have given more than 10 contests. Then I checked some past Div 2 winners and it is almost the same in every contest eg Codeforces Round 728 (Div. 2) and Codeforces Round 721 (Div. 2). Then I check some top-rated coders and even they started with the almost 1-2k standing/ranking. Why do you think that now the newcomers to CP are this good from the very start? or is it just my confirmation biases?

P.S: I don't want to tag the people I'm talking about as it may waste their time. You can check the winners from contest announcements if you want.

  • Vote: I like it
  • -17
  • Vote: I do not like it

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3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +44 Vote: I do not like it

CP != CF

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3 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +64 Vote: I do not like it

It's kind of well-known that some of these accounts are alts of high-rated people (not to take away from people who win using their main accounts).

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3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +20 Vote: I do not like it

They're "SIMPLY NOT NEWBIES". Either they've practiced well on another OJ, or they already have another account on CodeForces

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3 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +8 Vote: I do not like it

When you are gradually improving over many contests, Div 2 will simply be unrated for you long before you can solve the hardest Div 2 problem fast enough or even consider winning a contest. Instead of looking at winners look at people who become Master

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