Yan Yongze of South China Normal University received a perfect score in the 33rd CSP certification exam, and the 34th CSP certification exam will be held on June 2, and registration is underway. Every year, candidates with high scores (200 points and above) can register for the CCSP competition, and CCF invites CSP high scores and CCSP winners from time to time to share their experiences, hoping to help students make greater progress.
More outstanding CSP students are very welcome to share their valuable experience, contact: [email protected]
First acquaintance with arithmetic competition
When I first started college, I heard about algorithm competitions and was fascinated by the format of these competitions. In this case, I started to learn C++ syntax and some basic data structures and algorithms. Since I didn't have any exposure to programming before college, my progress was relatively slow. Compared to those who had been exposed to relevant knowledge in high school or even junior high school, I realized the gap with them.
Later, in the second semester of my freshman year, my school organized a unified registration for the CSP certification exam, but at that time, my level was limited and I didn't dare to sign up, so I planned to wait until my sophomore level improved before signing up for the exam. In retrospect, there was no need to do this, as the opportunities in college were very limited and were quickly missed. Then, in April of the same year, our school held the annual Programming Algorithm Competition. At that time, I didn't have any teammates, so I took two classmates in the same class to participate in the competition. Towards the end of the competition, we are still debugging a question. Eventually, I was able to pass the question a few minutes before the end, and I still remember the excitement of high-five my teammates when I saw the word "Correct" on the screen.
Later, perhaps because of the unforgettable experience of the school competition, or perhaps because of my love for algorithm competitions, I continued to devote my time and energy to it. With the continuous improvement of my level, the team of two seniors and I ushered in our team's first ICPC trip - Hefei. However, it is a pity that we struck the iron.
2023 ICPC Hefei Station on-site picture
After realizing my shortcomings, I put even harder into my daily training. During this time, my Codeforces Rating has also been increasing. Soon after, the school issued an enrollment notice for the 33rd CSP certification. With the mindset that taking the CSP certification for the first time was also likely to be the only time I did it in college, I signed up for the certification and was very fortunate to achieve a perfect 500 points in this certification. This result gives me a lot of confidence and allows me to be more determined to prepare for the next season.
Screenshot of the transcript of the 33rd CSP certification exam
How to prepare for the CSP exam
The CSP certification consists of 5 questions, each question has a full score of 100 points, and a total score of 500 points.
The first two questions generally test the basic code ability, do not involve very complex algorithms, and if you are proficient in STL, you will be able to write easily. Usually aim to complete the first two questions within half an hour to allow enough time for the later questions. The third question is generally a big simulation, which is the watershed of the candidate's score, not only the question is 1~2 pages long, but the code amount is also relatively large, which is a great test of the candidate's code skills. In a stressful exam environment, it is difficult for most people to fully understand the meaning of the question and achieve a perfect score in the third question.
The third question of the 33rd CSP certification is a question with the background of "chemical equation trimming + linear algebra Gaussian elimination", candidates need to simulate the steps of Gaussian elimination, and finally find the rank of the matrix.
The fourth and fifth questions require an understanding of some commonly used algorithms in competitions before they can be solved. These test points include, but are not limited to: data structures, graph theory, DP, etc. However, if you only want to score 20~50 points, you don't need to fully master these algorithms, you only need to master some common optimization methods, and be able to skillfully use STL to solve problems for small data volumes.
For daily practice, you can go to the official mock test to find some real questions to do. If you are looking for a higher score, you can find some questions in algorithm competitions to do and learn some common algorithms, which will help improve your algorithm ability and problem-solving skills.
Website of the mock test (https://cspro.org/).
At the same time, we need to be good at making use of the exam mechanism, which allows multiple submissions and instant feedback on scores. I remember that the last question I handed in at the beginning of the code returned a memory overrun, and then I made multiple commits to determine the problem, and then I made a slight change to the code before I passed that problem. This mechanic gave me the opportunity to correct bugs and improve the code, which was very helpful in overcoming challenges.
epilogue
I am very grateful to CCF for giving me this opportunity to share my experience and insights, and at the same time, I would like to sincerely thank CCF for organizing such a fair and standardized certification exam. I sincerely wish CSP to do better and better and make greater contributions to the development of computer education in China.