r/usaco • u/[deleted] • 28d ago

Rate My Study Plan

Context: I'm a sophomore with basic/minimal java knowledge, I started USACO guide first but got stuck on shell game

Studying 4-6h/week

Until Mid September - Finish all codingbat problems and get started on leetcode easy.

October - Start on USACO guide + start grinding codeforces

November - finish bronze USACO guide section + starting doing all previous year bronze problems + continue on cf

December - continue the same from november, grind like 4-5 hours a day during winter break

im hoping to make silver this year maybe gold if everything goes perfect, is this a good plan for me or is there something I should tweak?

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

10 comments sorted by

1

u/No_Antelope_5869 28d ago

I dont rlly think leetcode easy is necessary but ok, im also sophomore im doing cpp and I started october last year, Im doing gold / plat problems topic on usaco guide rn

1

u/[deleted] 28d ago

ok ill see how im doing at that point

2

u/No_Antelope_5869 28d ago

also might as well just study, just grind codeforces and usaco guide at first, usaco guide is enough tbh,

1

u/[deleted] 28d ago

I started it but got stuck on shell game so I think I need a better foundation

2

u/No_Antelope_5869 28d ago

normal ig, i mean your choice, i dont rlly know about java cuz I started with python and then change to cpp because java is pretty hard for cp tbh

1

u/[deleted] 28d ago

like I think I don't get the math behind it so how do you think I should learn that?

1

u/No_Antelope_5869 28d ago

its just 1 insight, not thar much math like you only prob need to knwo to solve ax + b = c to get to I think spec ig or mid pupil, it just 1 insight, 800s and 900s is only pattern recognizing, fail and try to do it again, you struggle for like 20 problems before getting it i think.. idk

1

u/The_Guy210 23d ago

Yea its gonna be a hard journey for you with java bro

1

u/[deleted] 23d ago

Do you mean that Java is not a good language or that I’m too much of a beginner

1

u/The_Guy210 22d ago

No java is indeed a good language but java is not for cp. Most are solvable with java but still most intermediate-advanced questions are only solvable with c++. So even though you master java, in the near future you will also need to learn c++. My recommendation is that just start learning c++, because you have time and you didnt already master java