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Jun 2024

Hello everyone, :hugs:

I am new here and I am not sure this category is good for my query so any mistake please forgive me
I am participating in an upcoming SPOJ contest and I want advice on how to prepare effectively. This will be my first serious attempt at competitive programming,
can you share your any tips and advice on the following?

  • What are some effective problem solving strategies witch I can adopt?
  • Could you recommend resources or platforms where I can practice specific problem types commonly found on
    SPOJ?
  • How should I organize my time leading up to the contest?
  • What are some lesser known features of SPOJ that could be useful during the contest?

I want to know your experiences and appreciate for your any guidance you can provide.:grinning:
Thank you in advance for your help.

Restfully member:slightly_smiling_face:
Bamo

  • created

    Jun '24
  • last reply

    Jun '24
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Every contest has its own specific so I would recommend to focus on previous editions of it. For SPOJ you can find tasks from previous editions. You should check them first.

Regarding time its good to try to solve easier problem first. Its a good warm up, its has motivational aspect and allows you to get al least some points (depending on the score system).

Regarding hidden features, hard to say. SPOJ is quite cruel and doesnt give you to much insight about your invalid submission. Good to know that you can assert some condition in your code and you will see that exception in the submission result. This is good way to check if your code meets specific scenario (which you didnt cover for example).