Recently I've hit Specialist twice but I'm having a hard time maintaining it. I can't get consistent in contests. My recent performances say it all. (Global round was a troll by the way)

I'm currently practicing 1500's and I plan to solve atleast 100 of them because I don't feel much comfortable while solving 1500's. I also feel very pressurized when I see standings during contest or if I get anything but Accepted verdict on speeforces problems. Any tips on how to maintain consistency?

today I wanted to log back into google foobar(I had access) but I can't find the website. I was wondering if is it also closed like other google competitions? Please someone tell if you know.

after having only 3 contests in 11 days, codeforces has given the treat of busy contest schedule. Thank you so much MikeMirzayanov and the problem setters.

Wishing good luck to everyone!

Yesterday was the best day of short 4-month competitive programming journey. I'm very very happy so decided to share it with you guys. I have been grinding from start of January. I won the best non-university participant award (with 7th overall position) back in PROCOM'24 held in Fast Uni, Karachi. After that, I kept on griding and down came yesterday. There were 2 contests, which is usually the case on Saturdays (Super SATURDAYS). Atcoder Beginner Contest 349 and Codeforces Round 939 (Div 2). I was already struck by something bad in atcoder. In the last-to-last ABC, I registered but couldn't participate because my sister got ill all of a sudden and I had to go to hospital, and they gave me -53 for that. So, I had in mind to get back that rating and perform well and alas! I managed to solve 4 problems for the first time in atcoder beginner contest and also got my best ever rank in atcoder beginner contest i.e. 2649th. Then codeforces round started. I was a bit nervous, idk why. Lengthy statements for a and b increased that for me. A was easy but implementation was tricky. I did something dirty and used vec.erase() and stuff but still took me 11 minutes which wasn't that good. Then came problem B. I read the problem and to be honest, I didn't get anything apart from observing that it's the count of double digits in the array. I implemented that but wasted 2 minutes thinking that, no way! problem B in a div. 2 can't be this easy and at last I submitted, and it worked. Then came problem C. it was tricky at first, which is obvious by the number of solves. I even did 2 incorrect submissions. At first, I thought that a square like following is not possible to make:

1 2 3 4
2 2 3 4
3 3 3 4
4 4 4 4

But during the contest, I got a click of a head and noted that we could construct this backwards, and it worked. Even after a 100 points penalty, I finished 2275th and am very very happy. I have no words to explain the happiness right now.

is it only me or codeforces queues, recently, have been huge for others as well?

UPD: its officially been an hour since my submission

UPD2: My solution has been judged now.

UPD: Queue again :\

UPD: I hope that MikeMirzayanov can look into it. It's the 3rd consecutive day that this is happening.

Hello. If there's someone who knows a better way of explaining the second paragraph of induction part of this problem's editorial then please do it. I'm having a hard time understanding it.

Problem 1604-C Di-Visible Confusion

Thanks in advance.

Can someone help me with the following problem?

We are given an integer $$$n$$$. There's an $$$ n \times n $$$ multiplication table as well.

We have to find the $$$MEX$$$ of the multiplication table. It can be easily solved in $$$ O({n}^2) $$$ but the constraints of the problem won't allow this. Therefore, can someone help me with an $$$ O(n) $$$ solution of this problem?

I've solved 9 problems from atcoder dp contest but still I can't even solve basic knapsack problems on my own. I will be really thankful if someone can tell me about any resource from where I can practice dp right from basic to medium difficulty.

Another thing to mention, Most of easy dp problems (1000 +- 200) on codeforces are solvable with other things so I will be very thankful if some problems are told or any resource is told where there is only dp.

Thanks in advance

For the last two days, I have been going to FAST, National Institute of computing and emerging sciences, Karachi for Procom '24 which had several competitions, including competitive programming. It was ICPC format and teams were allowed but I went solo as I didn't have any homie. I finished 1st in non-university participants.

As a letter of gratitude, I would really like to thank everyone who helped me by any means during my journey. Namely, h_squared, my great mentor and teacher, ttmasoi, another of great teachers. Moreover, I would also like to thank the following people for being with me and supporting me and motivating me,

1. smil3x_r3turns
2. ahmadexe

Another great mention is of blaze who gave me advice on my blog of disappointment. Thank you so much sir.

Another person I should not forget is M.UmairAhmadMirza. If he wouldn't be there, I would've never known about PROCOM '24.

Thank you so much my friends and teachers.

Again, I would really like to thank all of above-mentioned people. What I've achieved yesterday couldn't have been possible if you guys weren't there.

Today, I got a message from System saying the following:

"Attention! **** Your solution 247902293 for the problem 1923A significantly coincides with solutions Wasif_Shahzad/247902293, Ruk_NemJki/247976061. Such a coincidence is a clear rules violation. Note that unintentional leakage is also a violation. For example, do not use ideone.com with the default settings (public access to your code). If you have conclusive evidence that a coincidence has occurred due to the use of a common source published before the competition, write a comment to post about the round with all the details. More information can be found at http://codeforces.net/blog/entry/8790. Such violation of the rules may be the reason for blocking your account or other penalties. In case of repeated violations, your account may be blocked."

I don't know where to appeal but I've gotten proof against this message. MikeMirzayanov Here are my IDE cache files in a zip file. Link.

I know screenshot will be kinda useless but here's that as well:

I hope that appropriate action is taken and I'm proved innocent out of it. I repeat I don't know where to appeal so that's why I'm writing this BLOG. If anyone knows the correct place to appeal then please tell me in dm or comments. It would be highly appreciated.

I hope everyone reading this is doing good and may god bless you.

BACKGROUND:

Recently in Codeforces round 928(Div. 4), I struggled a lot. In fact, it was my worst ever contest. Moreover, it was also the first round of selection for IOI in my country. somehow miraculously, I am through to the 2nd round and that with 22nd position as well. But after this contest, I was utterly disappointed on myself. How could I NOT solve at least 5 problems from a div 4 contest! It was because of problem C. I thought of finding a way to express a number as sum of some arithmetic progressions but wasted a lot of time on it. Moreover, this contest was onsite as well so I panicked a lot. I have been as high as 7th in the country. The panic struck me hard, I was unable to think of anything. I thought of O(n) but because of time limit I was afraid to implement it. After the contest, I came to know that it was a very easy DP problem.

How I Practice:

With all above being said, I would first like to tell my practice schedule and how am I preparing for national olympiad. I made codeforces account on 1st January and I have solved 230+ problems since then. I want to make IOI for my country so hard that I spend entire days at Codeforces except some gaming hours. (Gaming is a big distraction which is poured like cancer into my body. I'm trying my best to get out of it.) Another big problem is AI distraction. My practice strategy is as follows: 1. From Problemset, I am currently solving 1500 problems. 2. Upsolving past contests which I've not seen.

What HELP do I need?

In the moments of utter disappointment, I ask you guys for help and motivation. I need help in setting up my schedule in a way that I can practice as well as learn. I am a quick learner by the way. I've at least 2 month, I believe,for final selection of IOI. (Max rank in my country is Candidate Master.) Not only that, I also need some motivation. I am in a moment where I will cry anytime. Even while writing this, I'm kind of crying from inside. so please! Think of me as a little brother and please help me. I'll never forget your kindness.