Hey, fellow coders.
I have been participating in Code-chef challenges for like 2 years now, trying not to miss a single contest. And it has been long since i have been solving 4-5( at max 6) problems every long challenge.
I wanted to ask , that what should be my practice and study strategy to take this count of solved problems per contest, to somewhere like 7-8 problems per contest. I usually find these 5 or 6 problems pretty much under control with a bit of hard work, but the 7th problem and beyond , seems to me, out of reach ,and i can not think of any efficient method to solve them , in general.
What skills should i start working upon to get better. Should i first go through classic texts and then start working upon complex problems?
Thanks in Advance.
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My condition is pretty much same like u…on improvement my intution is that
- learn all the general algorithms used in programming contests
- always try to solve (practice ) the problems which is of little bit harder for u
- solve 200+ medium problem on codechef or (Div-1 500 or Div-2 1000 problems on Topcoder ) .
- Dynamic programming is the most frequently used algorithm in programming contests(Topcoder problems and editorials are the best for that)
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would any of the other experienced ones please care to answer. It would be really helpful
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Same…I am stuck at [7] and I see no way to get to 8-9-10. Please help 
Any specific topics I need to focus on?
Any specific algorithms I need to study ?
Or just practice like mad man?
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Well there are no shortcuts. Am also on the same page as yours. And i would suggest you to just keep working hard on your approach. You should make sure you understand the Editorials and solve the questions after the challenge gets over. Plus you can always discuss your queries here! I have learnt a lot through the questions that get posted daily!
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