Hi ! to whoever is reading this . I know this is another post crying out for some help to reach Pupil or Grandmaster but please , I really need some guidance . I had been practising CP from last 1.5 years on various platforms ( CP , not DSA or core concepts ) and initially I could solve Div 2A , 2B in half and hour and 2C after the Contest :( but I was never admant to reach an appreciable level on the platform.
But , SInce last 20-30 days , I have been toiling hard and practising and studying DSA and all the core concepts of CP on various platforms , solving problems , reading solutions and again repeating the cycle and this time , after a very large gap , I decided to again take the challenge and reach atleast reach green in 2-3 Contests ( too much overconfidence ) but , to my shock , I rarely cross Div 2A these days and Div 2B also seems undoable . I don't know what went wrong in that large gap .
SO , this is just a request if some experienced people can guide me — has the margin of Codeforces Problems risen up ? And even if they did , where am I lacking , do I need to solve more DSA and do contests regularly or be more focused on problems (since the DSA problems I did were of Easy to Hard but with proper problem tags and highlighted the concepts to use) or do I need to solely focus on Problemset of CF ? Please , this a gentle request from my side , I would be really grateful .
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I would suggest you to do neetcode 150.Although it might not be directly related to cp but it gives a good insight to commonly used data structures and algorithms. I am no expert in cp though, i started a like a month ago so i might be completely wrong.
Upsolve to Upskill!!
First thing that you should understand is getting good ranks in CF directly depends on how do you perform in easy questions, i.e., first A, B, C problems as they are generally <= 1200 — 1400 ratings. Make sure you practice them well. The faster you submit first 3 problems, you will be in a good place to solve remaining questions, hence getting you good ranks.
Not sure if it could help directly, but during the time I used to practice I divided my practice in 2 different parts:
Free practice: Practice problems with rating +200 of your current CF rank, this will ensure that you get acquaint with the problems that are more challenging to you as you are not at par. This might take a lot of time to solve but it is worth it to learn something new. Example: if you are at 1000, you should try solving 1200 rating questions
Virtual contest: This is a good source to test your self against a time boundation. How to use it effectively is give yourself contest_length — 30 minutes to solve questions, and then read / upsolve the remaining questions in next 30 mins by seeing hints/ editorials. This is a good way.
The above 2 combinations has been a killer-combo for me during my practice days.
You can follow this channel :
xAlpha — Hard Algorithms
thanks bro
I would suggest neetcode 150 / 540 also. Maybe CSES it problem set.
The problem is from your Div 4 you might just be lacking a good base. You did not solve F, and G. H1 is doable.
read every meta post in the catalog you will find answer for your questions here