Claire’s main tip for getting better at USACO is practice— it’s crucial for learning and getting exposed to a diverse range of algorithms. In particular, she recommends the websites Usaco Guide, Codeforces, atcoder, and past USACO problems. When working on problems, she highlights the importance of not doubting your abilities but also recognizing when to move on from a problem. Maintaining consistency in solving USACO problems is a crucial yet often difficult practice, so Claire suggests time-blocking to set an amount of time aside for USACO.
When approaching a new problem, she advises testing smaller test cases first, saying “I immediately like to solve some small, easy cases, and consider extreme cases as well”. Relating the current problem to previous problems you’ve solved can also be helpful, as it provides some possible optimization options. When faced with issues such as time limit exceptions, Claire finds it helpful to find any small optimizations she can do first, before deconstructing her solution to potentially make it better or even just start over from scratch. When debugging, she notes that it can be really easy to just stare at your code and not make progress, so she suggests writing down the whole algorithm to catch small details, as well as printing variables and testing in between different methods in her code.
Outside of the competition, Claire has found USACO to be useful in many ways, as it taught her a lot about problem-solving and general coding skills. In addition, USACO is a great way to learn and apply many fundamental algorithms such as search and sort.
For young girls hoping to get involved in USACO, Claire has a couple of main tips. Firstly, don’t doubt yourself! She’s often noticed that it’s a very common thing to give up on working on USACO problems, and many girls might be afraid to start through fears of not doing well. Therefore, it’s essential to change your mindset and approach to problems and to stay persistent, even when your code’s not working or you’re stuck on a solution to a problem.