How to become better in short contests

hi everyone!!

I was doing CP from last 10 months and I learn lots and lots of things about data structures, algo, etc…

And I also perform really well in long challenges held on hackerEarth, and codechef…

But the problem is that I can perform well only in long contests i.e. contest which have minimum time limit of 1-2 days

And when I try some short contest I don’t able to focus on one problem… as many times
some very easy problem become headache to me…which demotivates me too much that sometimes I feel that how I become 5* coder in codechef…

so what should I do to perform better in short contests??

should I quit competing in Long Challenges??

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I’ve observed your performance on Codeforces bro. I gave a contest for the first time and was ranked something 500+ in div.-2 and I saw you with 2500+ rank, I was a bit disappointed but then I realized that:-
1)You do well in Long Problems cuz they give you ample of time to think.
2)Pattern of short contest-problems is different. Questions are easy, but if you don’t get idea fast+if you miss the accuracy, you’ll end up screwing it. And Speed comes with practice
3)Typing Speed matters.
4)You can only improve by practicing lot of problems of short contests in a fixed amount of time.
5)To get better at short contests, solve tons of problems of short contests. Thats it.

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You deserve your rating,don’t worry. I’ve seen many 6-starers on Codechef screwing up in codeforces contests :slight_smile:

thanks for the suggestion bro, I know I need to keep practicing in short contest to improve my rank there…but it is too much demotivating sometimes…BTW thanks for the reply :slight_smile:

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Bro, never check the ranklist of codeforces and you’ll never improve in codeforces if u check the rank cuz in codeforces, ppl solve 1st-3 problems in 10 minutes and get top-100 ranks. We guys solve 3-problems in 1-hour cuz we like slow speed and hence we get - 1000+ rank.

We both can create a strategy to perform good in short contests. What do you think?

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Yes, that what I wonder that how they are soo fast, that I’m not able to load the problem webpage and someone already solved that problem

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See, to get good in codeforces , all we need is:-Be awesome at implementation problems+be awesome at dp.
In short contest, the good thing is questions are always based on simple topics.
So I guess just being exceptionally well at dp+implementation is enough(most of the times) to be in div-1 of codeforces :slight_smile:

I sometimes think I need to quit from long challenges …but than realize about the learnings from long challenges that I never get in short one

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Yes, you are right, but the world only recognizes programmers who can solve problems in 2-3 hours, if you dont get good in short contests, you’ll always feel bad and perform bad at GCJ, Hackercup and ACM-ICPC which are the most important type of contests :slight_smile:

yes, I know and I also competing this time in GCJ…

I qualify the qualification round just because it held for 27 hour window…

and then I screwed in Round 1A, 1B, 1C just because of short time limit to think

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i have seen your profile and just have a curosity to ask on which platform you ( other also with same case) practice to improve yourself in cp as i can see there are very less problems you have solved on codechef . i am also doing cp from last 6 months and most of the time i practice only on codechef . pls tell me if there is some advantage to do practice on other platforms like solving topicwise problem etc . ( i know comment is offtopic but really want to knoe this :stuck_out_tongue:).

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This guy has solved 700+ problems on Hackerearth. He is my friend+a legend :sunglasses::wink:

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I mainly don’t do continueous practice in any platform but I try to compete in every possible contest held on codechef, hackerearth, hackerrank, topcoder, leetcode, techgig, codeforces , etc

yes I learn more about DS and algo from hackerearth practice section …It has very good and easy editorial about DS and algos in c++ (bad for coders other than c++ :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:)

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thanks for the complement but I’m far away from being Legend…

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Humble you!!!

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What is your handle on Codeforces Karan? Would be great to add you in my friends.

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I participated only once in Codeforces using some new account and I forgot the password :stuck_out_tongue:
I’ll make a new account, participate in 2-3 more contests and send you the link here only :slight_smile:

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It’s way sexier to be good at long contests and hard problems requiring hard thinking.
Some frauds like me are sometime doing fine results in short contest just because they rushed some easy problems, got stuck in hard ones and were lucky enough to be in a “hacking” contest (giving easy points on hacks to people giving up early in problems) or “very-easy / very-hard problems” (high variance in difficulty).

Speed comes easily with practice. But logic and reasoning needs harder work, and is more rewarding in long term (especially in personal projects, work and stuff…).

So yeah, just be patient, and you will quickly destroy frauds like me (or higher ones, I don’t know your short contest maximum rating).

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@anon55659401 Are you still in college?? And how do you manage time for other things like projects and all while being in college