gs15120's blog

Am I too stupid to be red?
By gs15120, history, 2 years ago, In English

I have been at red once when there were more formal problems(ex tree dp) at contests, but now I need more idea, ad-hoc, math, greedy. I tried to solve difficulty 2300~2500 and upsolved for years but cannot solve it well.

I know there is no such secret tip to be red, but I want to ask "Am I too stupid to solve those good idea problems? Or do I need more time? Or am I doing something wrong?"

  • Vote: I like it
  • +106
  • Vote: I do not like it

Comments Comments (30)
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2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +165 Vote: I do not like it

I want to say that I am in the same problem, except that I was not red. Codeforces is changing, and that's fine. Once I was told a very clever thing: If you can't get a higher rank, it doesn't mean that you're standing still. This means that you are just developing at the same speed as the rest of the community)

Also, a lot depends on luck, because it's impossible to know everything. But it seems to me that if you continue working, sooner or later it will work out, so I wish you good luck

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2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +92 Vote: I do not like it

I want to say the same thing but I'm red, so there's probably still some room for you.

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    2 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it -8 Vote: I do not like it

    Lol dude they just upvoted you cuz of that. Actually even me

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      2 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it -8 Vote: I do not like it

      And they Downvoted me for the same reason

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2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -8 Vote: I do not like it

Same feeling here. Not even have a chance to be red, though :(

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

Same but instead of red it is blue.

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2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +18 Vote: I do not like it

Dude, look at your contest history. You reached red then you stopped participating in contests for more than a year. No need to be Sherlock to figure out what happened

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    2 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +11 Vote: I do not like it

    I think I would feel better if I did nothing, but I used virtual contest, kept upsolving and that makes me more tired.

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2 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +31 Vote: I do not like it

(Try AtCoder Regular Contest.) Think and conclude the basic mode of each type of problem.

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    2 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it +6 Vote: I do not like it

    The problem is, I have only few ARC problems left. Is there any more?

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2 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it -42 Vote: I do not like it

,

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2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +60 Vote: I do not like it

I was in the same situation, but I never ask the question. I just gitgut ig

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    2 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

    is that eris-chan.

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      2 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

      Yes it is. Well I'm not a big fan. I just find the pic cute. Now I'm lazy to change my pfp lol.

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2 years ago, # |
← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +31 Vote: I do not like it

Disclaimer: I haven't been red but have been told it is not impossible to reach red if I participated more. I don't think that means anything since I had more or less retired from competing in contests back in 2020/2021 and don't think I could compete well enough under time pressure to be red anyway.

Having seen quite a few people go from being greens to being reds, I don't think it's impossible for anyone to be red. I'd recommend doing AtCoder (especially the last few problems of ARCs and problems after B in AGC) since that worked for some of my friends who are stable GMs. For others it is probably just their math Olympiad experience that helped them (so maybe training on MO combinatorics problems could be a good idea).

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    2 years ago, # ^ |
    ← Rev. 2   Vote: I like it +22 Vote: I do not like it

    I am following you from long time always wondered why are u not red

    1] you are MOer

    2] you have incredible knowledge

    Is it that you have diversified your focus onto multiple interests, as i have seen you in servers or is there some different reason for this.

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      2 years ago, # ^ |
        Vote: I like it +19 Vote: I do not like it

      A change in interests might be one of the reasons, though I haven't abandoned competitive programming for good (yet). I am either just lazy or don't feel like participating in contests that would force me to solve boring/tedious problems, that too at a usually inconvenient time, which is why I prefer upsolving the more interesting problems of contests (that friends recommend) at a more convenient time, or just test rounds. My focus has changed from training to finding new ideas/theory that I haven't seen before. Also, I think that me doing competitive programming to get to a certain rating is a bit childish for me (perfectly fine if others do so, though).

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2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +55 Vote: I do not like it

I have never even been 2300 before, but I think I won't stop dreaming of being red. After years of trying to participate in every contests, now I'm more into doing things systematically, like to write my own docs after learning a topic, write my own code snippets and learn more math.

Yes, I doubted myself a lot after a failed contest, especially after Google Code Jam 2021, I cried like a kid when not getting a T-shirt. But a few months after that, I always told myself to move on, to git gud. We fail when we completely stop it. I'm just an ordinary guy, I accept that it would take long time (It's been 10 years since I created my account) and I won't give up.

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

too unlucky

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2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +1 Vote: I do not like it

Guy from KAIST asking if he is stupid or not. Me thinking what the heck I am then.

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2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -13 Vote: I do not like it

bruh i am not even yellow yet

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2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +9 Vote: I do not like it

Am I too stupid to be nutella?

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2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +60 Vote: I do not like it

If you want some serious advice, I would say that “red” itself doesn’t mean anything. Just do your work. Rating can make you motivated, while it also can eat you. If you are not motivated by rating, find something else. Rating will follow after you.

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2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +43 Vote: I do not like it

Just practice more. In my opinion, 40 problems per month are enough to maintain the rating, but not enough to increase it.

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    2 years ago, # ^ |
      Vote: I like it 0 Vote: I do not like it

    That is good news! I am not only on Codeforces.

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2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it +35 Vote: I do not like it

I'm too stupid to be 2800+ but here I am

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2 years ago, # |
  Vote: I like it -8 Vote: I do not like it

same.

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