Alternative name: "Road to Master when you don't have time".
Episode 1: link
Episode 2: September 2024
See you in a month when I'm purple.
Just unlucky?:) Two months of grinding Codeforces and I'm still not purple. It might seem like a failure, but if I look closely, I can see significant improvement compared to my performance in August.
Practice results
I feel like in the second half of the month, I've lost my ability to think properly, feel so dumb. Maybe it's just an illusion because I’m solving 2200-2400 rated problems instead of 1800, but still, it feels strange. I motivate myself by reminding that this must be a transitional stage, after which I'll see a big boost.
University has started, and while it hasn’t taken up much of my time yet, I already spend full saturday for it. Plus, I spend a few hours a week chilling on social media, so compared to August, I probably have only about 70% of that time now.
I started to notice that my desire to code has dropped a bit. My mood for solving problems feels more like a sin(x) function compared to const in last month. Pretty self-explanatory. "The discipline is the most difficult thing" (CR7).
Solved problems:
| R | 1800 | 1900 | 2000 | 2100 | 2200 | 2300 | 2400 | 2500 | 2600 | 2700 | 2800 | 2900 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Count | 5 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 15 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 39 |
Contest results
| CF | Standings | Pos | Delta | Solved | Few notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Codeforces Round 972 (Div. 2) | link | 740 | +82 | 4/7 | If I hadn't failed one particular line of code, I'd have solved E1 and gotten +160. Speed solving was on decent level. |
| Codeforces Round 973 (Div. 2) | link | 988 | +30 | 4/7 | I wrote some crazy sh*t for problem D, which is actually quite easy if you think outside of the contest. I didn't have time for problem E, which is trivial, because these "gcd-like" problems have been pretty common during last two month on cf. |
| Codeforces Round 975 (Div. 2) | link | 2224 | -43 | 3/6 | I thought problem C (the card problem) was harder than D, so I fully focused on D and spent 90 minutes without success. After that, I solved C but didn’t have time for anything else. When I analyzed this contest later, I realized I could have improved a lot if I had checked the standings and noticed that people were solving E more than D. Instead, I chose D over C or E, bruh. But I have feeling that checking the standings during a live contest could hurt me. Either I'll see myself ranked high and stop thinking as hard, or I'll tilt if I'm not doing well. Btw, for problem D, I also wrote some crazy stuff that is theoretically correct, but it would have been better if I had just taken 5 minutes to think more about my solution instead of diving into coding right away. |
| Codeforces Round 976 (Div. 2) | link | 428 | +92 | 5/6 | Finally, I’m seeing the performance I expect from myself. It's the first time I solved 5 problems. Ofc, I took advantage of problem E by writing O(1024^2) instead of O(n*logn^2), which a lot of others did too. It’s pretty funny knowing my solution could time out, yet I submitted it and got Passed (4s). I ended up spending 2 more attempts optimizing my code to be 100% sure it would pass the system tests. Being in the top 450 isn't "master" performance, but the potential is definitely there. |
| Result | link | Avg. 1095 | +161 | Avg. 4/6.5 | Max solved in live: 2000. Just comparing this month with the previous one, and the difference in "contest success" is huge. I improved from avg of 3.2/6.8 to 4/6.5 solved problems, avg pos jumped from 3847 to 1095. My rating delta went from -72 to +161. For me, this statistics clearly show that I've become better. Even though I feel dumber. Practice makes perfect |
Mini achievements
- Fully upsolved 8 div2.
- Carried the team solo to the round2 of icpc (and based on the results, I might even make it to the semifinals, though I might fall because only 3 teams from the same uni are allowed).
- +161 rating (which is quite good, though I was a 1650 before).
- Top230 in a Div3 contest (speed-solving is here).
- Twice nearly completed live div3 (the first time I didn't know Mo's algorithm, and the second time I needed just 3 more minutes).
- New topics: MO's (I love this one), color coding, DnQ.
Conclusion
Less time, less patience and desire, but I am still in the village and want to return to the city, because winter are going to be cold. So I have to continue)
What a disappointment, I didn't become CM and didn't have a "master" performance (top 200) at least once. Probably fate just wants to leave some content for future articles :|
Keep pushing.
Random comment to be in "recent actions". I forgot to mark a checkbox.
Well you were slightly off, but congratulations!
This is not good. Now I can't be top1000 and still recieve positive delta :|
I really appreciate you remembered this post. Thanks
I'm in a similar phase as yours, I've started working as an SWE and have moved to a new city, so I find it very difficult to find time for CP, but I'm doing what I can to be regular as I really enjoy CP a lot (definitely way more than SWE lol :P). I also hope to get to master, it'll be like a huge achievement for me.
Very heartwarming blog, you show consistency and method, I hope you'll reach this glorious milestone very soon !
Also, remember to have a good time ! I'm also learning to take breaks, don't spend too long on the same problem, and more generally make sure I'm enjoying doing CP !