USA Computing Olympiad (USACO)

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Overview:

The USA Computing Olympiad (USACO) is a prestigious national-level competition that trains and identifies top high school students in competitive programming. It serves as the primary pathway for selecting the U.S. team for the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI).

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Format:

• Online Contests: Four contests per year (December to April).

• Divisions: Bronze → Silver → Gold → Platinum.

• Students start in Bronze and can advance by solving enough problems.

• Contest Duration: Each round lasts 4–5 hours, usually over a weekend.

• Participation: Individual and free to enter.

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Content Focus:

• Sorting and searching

• Graph algorithms

• Dynamic programming

• Greedy methods

• Data structures (e.g., segment trees, heaps)

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International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI)

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Overview:

The International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) is one of the most prestigious global competitions in computer science for high school students. Founded in 1989, it brings together top young programmers from around the world to compete in algorithmic problem-solving.

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Format:

• Participants: Selected through national contests (e.g., USACO in the U.S.).

• Duration: 1 week, hosted annually in a different country.

• Contest Days: 2 competition days, each with 3 programming problems.

• Scoring: Each problem is worth up to 100 points, for a total of 600 points.

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Content Focus:

• Focus on computational problem-solving using algorithms and data structures.

• Tasks require writing efficient code to solve complex challenges under time and memory constraints.