Mistakes I did as a beginner in CP

Hello,

This is the continuation of my previous article on how to start with CP as an absolute beginner.

In This article I will be sharing about Mistakes I did as a beginner also how I overcame them and few Techniques I used which were very helpful to me to progress and be more confident (may or may not be for you). I know I am not the perfect person to write this since I have not reached a great level but I believe I have crossed the beginner stage at least where many are struggling right now.

Mistakes I did as a beginner and how I resolved it: -

(i) Depending too much on others

-???????Initially whenever I used to get stuck while solving a question with the implementation or the logic (mostly due to lack of language knowledge) I used to ask someone instead of looking on the internet myself. This used to solve my problem at the moment but mostly I never used to remember that thing afterward.

-???????Instead of asking for help from someone else I tried exploring how to resolve the doubt on the internet and I have mostly in that way came up with few new concepts also except for what I required for the question.

(ii) Giving Up Early

-???????At the very start sometimes, I used to encounter problems which I mostly couldn’t get AC at the first attempt so I used to leave the question thinking I’ll try this again in future when I’ll gain more knowledge.

-???????This doubt many get that till when should we try a question if we are not able to solve it. I see many saying some specific time like x mins for y type of question. But the most appropriate answer I got to my doubt was – “Until your mind is not out of ideas”. Try to solve that question till your mind says what if I do like this. See hints and editorials once you are out of ideas.

(iii) Doing alone

-???????Say it I was not getting anyone to do programming with or I was too shy to approach anyone but initially, I used to do everything by myself which I regret now a little bit as if earlier I gave my 100% but with someone, I would have given my 200% (Healthy competition) which would have led to faster progress.

-???????I made a group of only a few people 3-4 who were of my level or above me. So, seeing students of my age doing much more than me motivated and pushed me to do more and more, to be honest, there was a specific difficulty range which I used to fear and my mind didn’t even want to try the question but seeing them do above make me feel why not me. Which also gave me the confidence to try harder problems.

(iv) Thinking too much about Wrong Submission (Might be a mistake I only Do)

-???????I used to think a lot about my profile that how it looks which led me to not implement my ideas for a question as I used to fear giving the wrong submission because others would judge and think about it. (don’t know what exactly they would think??).

-???????I realized that I use to limit myself learning and trying due to that fear so I stopped caring about other's opinions though I use to get positive only from those who know my details.

(v) Not Writing things Down

-???????Whenever I used to encounter a new concept, I mostly use to practice more questions on the same concept thinking it will help m remember. I do remember most things but what’s the odd that I’ll remember at the correct time (during the contest)?

-???????Writing down things helps to remember plus if you ever forget that thing you can always revise it this will save you months of effort that you have to do again to learn the concept.

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Mistakes I see others Doing: -

Not giving contests frequently

• I see people of my age or even a year above me who started CP approximately at the same time when I did but they don’t participate in much contest but only practice. Why they don’t participate? Cause most (not all) don’t perform well during the contest. I can’t tell how to perform well in a contest as the ultimate solution to it is Practice and a fresh mind during the contest. But yeah, you should give regular contests as this will help you gain confidence, to perform during the contest and solving a question above your league during a contest is a really big motivation.

Following someone blindly

• If someone can achieve something doesn’t really guarantee that the path, they followed will help you as well yeah do see how they did but ultimately you have to choose how things will work for you. Why am I saying that because following someone will limit your thoughts. I have seen it many times.

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Things I did that I think helped me progress more

Watched Others doing it

-???????I used to watch people giving contests and analyze how they approach problems in a contest. There are many people you will find uploading their contest screencast like Priyansh, and many others as well. This really helped me to gain confidence on easy problems seeing them doing that with so ease.

Always checked out top submission

-???????Well, this is the most efficient way in which I learned 50-60% of things that is after the contest or while practicing. After solving I always check the top submission as we all know the top people submit easy to medium level problems in 1-5 mins. How do they do that? It's because they use things we don’t know. So, seeing their solution did help me a lot to learn new ways to implement and many inbuilt functions.

?Started reading blogs

-???????Many things can’t be learned by searching all over the internet. People many times write blogs on topics they encounter and how they managed to understand that easily. These blogs gave me an insight into the topic I felt harder.

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Now lastly Somethings which I found many struggling on I also many times (Just a way) that is

If you are struggling with practicing random problems and doing topic wise how to manage both.

What I do in that case is that I alternatively divide day that one day random next day topic wise. But since I had my holidays going on for the last 3 months, I used to do that in the morning randomly and at night I learned and practice topic-wise. Find what suits your mind.

Thanx for Reading

Goodluck??

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