Competitive programming for beginners

The three most important things in competitive programming: Learn and know your programming language. (~3 months - all the time) Learn algorithms/data structures and implement. (~9 months - all the time) Practice coding every day. Do contests. (all the time) (Doesn’t just apply to competitive programming) Have fun! (all the time) Thus, that’ll be how you break up your schedule. The time it takes for each person will differ, depending on if you already know algorithms, if you know programming or not, etc. The following is a more detailed how: #1 Learn and know your programming language. Pick a programming language and stick with it. Learn the basic syntax and start solving beginner problems. People always ask “how do you learn a programming language?” Search Google and find out; there are so many resources online. (If you really can’t find a resource, message me.) Try out USACO training pages. Or if you don't you can use the CodeChef beginner track: beginner | CodeChe...

The number of problems solved means little. I sometimes mention it to show passion for programming (2000+ means a lot of time spent), but it says nothing about the difficulty of the problems you’ve solved. You have read a lot of problem statements and are should be comfortable in coding up solutions. Since you haven’t been progressing, you need to work smarter than you have till now. I can go to Codeforces or another online judge and solve a few hundred Div2-like problems in little time. Yet, I won’t learn anything. By now, you must know the kinds of problems you struggle with. You need to work on those. Since you’re not in Div1, my guess is that you’re not consistently solving Div2D and E problems. Focus on them. Then, move up to Div1 up to problem C. When you struggle with a problem, say graph theory, try to study up the theory behind the key ideas and consolidate your knowledge and understanding of it. Qualifying for ICPC WF is much trickier. Some regionals are way easier...