How do I get better at competitive programming?
This is the most frequently asked question about competitive programming. Although people ask about many things, everyone wants to improve. Quora writers have provided hundreds of answers with their advice on getting better, many of which you can find below.
Related FAQs
How did (person) become a top competitive programmer?
Related Quora questions
- What is the best strategy to improve my skills in competitive programming in C++ in 2-3 months?
- How do I become an expert competitive programmer if none of my peers are interested?
- If I am not good at solving the problems on the competitive programming sites like CodeChef or Hackerrank, where am I lagging?
- How do I get good at competitive coding? I have done a lot of coding and solved many problems in online competitive platforms over the past 6 - 7 months.
- What is needed to become good algorithmist like top rankers in Topcoder/Spoj/GCJ?
- How can I quickly improve my programming skills and be like Gennady Korotkevich?
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- I have been solving 4-5 (at max 6) problems in every CodeChef long challenge. What should be my practice and study strategy and what skills should I start working upon to get better (7-8 problems/contest)?
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- What are some fun and interesting ways to get extremely good at algorithms and data structures?
- How can I improve in competitive programming? I solved around 100 basic questions on SPOJ. And around a 100 on CodeChef. But I am still struggling between grey and green on Codeforces. What kind of practice should I do?
- I am really a stupid developer. How should I push myself to the limit in learning algorithms and competitive programming?
- What is the learning path in competitive programming to be in top 100 ranks of competitive programming sites? What topics should be studied and what resources did you follow?
- How does one become good at problem solving?
- What schedule can I follow to get to top ranks in competitive coding websites if I have 6 months and 5-6 hours every day?
- How can I completely utilize one month for competitive programming? Please read question details
- How do I become a 5-star coder from 2 stars in CodeChef within 1 month? I just completed CLRS.
- I want to be a good competitive programmer. Is it possible to achieve a good level (say 2000+ rating on codeforces) in 12 months?
- What is the best way to prepare for competitive programming?
- How can you improve in algorithms, data structures and competitive programming, just for sheer learning as well as placements in top tier companies, in a year?
- I've solved 47 questions on SPOJ and now the level of questions has suddenly gone up. It takes me 4-5 days to solve a single problem. How to proceed?
- How do I improve my performance in CodeChef long challenges. I can't score more than 400. I'm not a beginner. Even after the challenge ended, I couldn't understand the editorials?
- What should I do to improve my CodeForces rating?
- How can I get better at Project Euler type problems and be able to solve them?
- How can I solve hard question on codechef and spoj?
- What is the best way to start to become a better competitive programmer in 30 days?
- How can I get a good (under 100) rank on coding sites like HackerEarth, HackerRank or CodeChef?
Classification notes
This question is about getting better at competitive programming in general, or for a specific online judge/contest. The FAQ has separate questions about getting started, about learning/practicing algorithms, and about how specific people got better.
