Got Owned on CCC

[Shardul]

Well can't say I didn't expect the bad but I expected better. I only got the first question on the damn junior contest which was basic addition and multiplication . I am not stupid or anything (well not really stupid). I got a 98 % in Grade 11 Compsci yet I died on the contest.

My question is what are you basically supposed to know to do good on the damn contest. I know it is pretty general and too abstract for you to help me a lot but in general, what do you need to know to do well on these contests (talking about like >40 score). I know some people haven't written the contest so keep it abstract as possible.

Oh btw: first time writing contest (was sick on contest day in Grade 10)

[nike52]

Practice thinking and coding a solution quickly.
Practice a lot. Start on the J1 questions then master the next ones.

http://access.mmhs.ca/ccc/index.htm

[Euphoracle]

Your mark in your compsci class does reflect how you'll do on the CCC. People who got 95+ in compsci failed the CCC this year, and me, who got an 80 or something, did the best (but still bad, because I failed at comprehending S2, and didn't get to finish S5). Each level usually has a theme to it. Junior is usually about simple math for S1/S2, and recursion in S3/S4, and S5 is usually a mixture of recursion and case-structure problem solving. The senior focuses on graph searching, node trees, dynamic programming, and some more recursion. The senior level one is much harder than the junior one on average, but the final (5) problem has been known to be the same on both.

[Tony]

http://dwite.org/ -- once a month, every month leading up to CCC. Actually, if there is enough interest, we might also have a few bonus rounds in April/May/June.

[A.J]

well, on behalf of everyone in Waterloo Collegiate, I would like to ask you to please go ahead with making the bonus DWITE's

they are fun, and good practice

[SJ]

programming contests is problem solving. a few things you can do in general to improve:

1. do math/logic puzzles. don't just understand the solution, but HOW one goes abut finding the solution.

2. learn algorithms and data structures. There are a lot of online resources (videos, wiki, etc)

3. most importantly, practice! do old contests, online contests, online training, etc.

during the contests, always try to do the problem on paper first, do a sample case manually, lay out each step of how you solved it, then form an algorithm, finally code it up. Once you get used to this you'll be able to get 40+ easily.

you still have time, so work hard and I'm sure you'll do great next year!

[Insectoid]

I find people may do exceptionally well in school but fail in contests because schools focus more on syntax (as far as my experience can tell) while contests are all about algorithms and problem solving. For me, grade 11 was a repeat of grade 10, just in a different language. So much so that in fact I was able to look up my old assignments, convert them to java and hand them in. What I do is think of an interesting problem that provides a challenge, like a calculator that reads in an equation as a string and outputs the answer according to bedmas. Then I do it.

My biggest issue is when I can't understand the question, due to mass variable usage in the question and so much notation that I forget what stands for what and whatnot. Some questions I have to read a dozen times before I find out what I'm supposed to do.

[Tony]

insectoid @ Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:45 pm wrote:

My biggest issue is when I can't understand the question...

If that's even the case for DWITE, you can ask Dan or myself to clarify via IM / email / IRC.

[zero-impact]

For me it is the same as what insectoid said. I basically epic failed at understanding S2 and I am top of my class.

[DanielG]

S2 was weird, my main problem with it wasn't understanding it, but stupid mistakes with my coding (got it right though in the end).... I think.

[jcollins1991]

Euphoracle @ Tue Feb 24, 2009 7:03 pm wrote:

but still bad, because I failed at comprehending S2, and didn't get to finish S5

zero-impact @ Tue Feb 24, 2009 8:54 pm wrote:

For me it is the same as what insectoid said. I basically epic failed at understanding S2 and I am top of my class.

what didn't you get about S2? i think S3 and S4 would have taken me the longest if i had gotten around to them...

[Euphoracle]

S3 and S4 I did in under an hour total, but S2 consumed the majority of my time, I lost track of it, and then I couldn't finish S5 (or get much started on)

[saltpro15]

Compete in the DWITE's, learn algorithms and you will start to recognize patterns to these problems, they are very different than in-class work. but that's the point, they're supposed to make you think

[CodeMonkey2000]

This year's contest was brutal. I answered 4 questions, but I have a bad feeling about all of them.

[chili5]

Okay, that contest was mean. I only got 1 question right. Now that is a bit discouraging. I did rather well on DWITE (I think), and sucked at CCC. I got s2 wrong, and didn't understand the theory behind the last 3.