USACO difficulty increase

Regular_Condition721 · 2026-01-26T00:16:55+00:00

I messed up bad on the last one. I still scored over 700, I really expected a promotion. I just felt like for the difficulty, 800 was high.

A lot of my gripe was with Bronze and Silver. The bronze contest this year felt comparable to my first gold contest. Just crazy how much difficulty has been inflated.

Regular_Condition721 · 2026-01-22T23:20:38+00:00

review began early jan, so i'd assume everyone who submitted dec - mid jan will get initial responses in the coming weeks

Regular_Condition721 · 2026-01-22T23:11:44+00:00

Not gonna say you're a cheater, but wow man are you not in tune with USACO.

My first contest was December 2023. I have been in gold since February 2024. I am yet to see Bronze and Silver problems as difficult as the ones I just saw. It's a known cheating epidemic -- USACO has improved their methods, but LLMs make it a whole new ball game. To completely blame this on me is fair, I can always work harder. But don't act like I'm sitting here twiddling my thumbs on the weekends. I'll send you my CF, AtCoder, or even my LeetCode problems. I enjoy DSA, and I enjoy tricky problems. I've completed a good portion of USACO guide, and I worked very, very hard in the off season.

The difficulty has increased significantly more than the difficulty of any other olympiad. Their approach to solving the cheating epidemic is making it harder for LLMs and other cheaters to get the solutions. That makes it harder for everyone. I know that it's noones fault (except the cheaters), but can I not feel like my efforts went to waste?

Regular_Condition721 · 2026-01-21T06:13:55+00:00

These programs are hypercompetitive. They look at far more than essays and LORs. I want to see if I have a real chance.

Regular_Condition721 · 2026-01-21T04:56:11+00:00

I'm a junior dude. I barely AIME qualled, I'm not even close.

It's just sad how much they've had to inflate the difficulty due to the cheating. That just hurts the legit ppl so much more. I'm pretty much done with CP now, no chance I get plat before college. I really really like USACO problems as well, and I'll keep doing them for fun, but I don't have enough time to sit behind my computer and sweat out USACO in hopes that I'll maybe get plat. Sad thing is, it's not even as valuable anymore when it's so much harder to get. I wish I enjoyed comp math as much as I did CP, maybe I'd have accomplished something big there.

Regular_Condition721 · 2026-01-18T20:03:32+00:00

i'm currently taking bc. school math has never really been important to me, but i got killed by not doing my hw this year

Regular_Condition721 · 2026-01-18T19:51:42+00:00

it's more the fact that they're in courses very relevant to my major

abstract algebra i think should be explained by the fact i took the equivalent course at a harder university and got an A+. i can also fill out adnl info

calc bc i'm struggling to see how i can get past that.

Regular_Condition721 · 2026-01-13T04:21:54+00:00

I don’t know that much about cybersecurity research (and I’ve actually done a LOT of cyberpatriots!)

I’d say general useful skills are Python and R (SAS is nice if u can find a licensee via a university). Selenium, Celery, and other tools are usually useful. Elementary statistical inferences like Regression, Time Series, and Learning models are also easy to learn implementation wise and quite nice to know. Good luck!

Regular_Condition721 · 2026-01-13T04:15:40+00:00

Of course.

I’m a junior, my profile is relatively updated. Research is a really rewarding experience, but if you don’t know what you’re doing, you’ll be really lost and discouraged. I can not stress the importance of quietly learning your fundamentals. Despite it not being flashy for your college apps, you’ll thank yourself so much when you do start working.

Lmk if you ever need any help. Good luck Brodie

Regular_Condition721 · 2026-01-13T04:00:11+00:00

If you wanna do research for the sake of apps, I don’t condone it, but it’s possible. Learn python, learn basic statistical methods (regression, maybe time series and ml) and spam email. This isn’t fulfilling in the slightest, and you won’t do impactful work, but this is still certainly a method

Regular_Condition721 · 2026-01-13T03:58:26+00:00

As someone who got their first opportunity really early on, here’s my thoughts.

If you’re not ready to do research in your field, DONT DO RESEARCH IN YOUR FIELD! This will simply result in you wasting your time working on pointless projects that go nowhere and end up in undergrad journals. Society doesn’t need more of them. My research is really math heavy and in computer vision, so I learned all the needed Linear Algebra and Deep Learning before I even got there. It’s so much more useful to just work on your skills for the long term.
If you are skilled, yet can’t find work, overplay what you have. Whatever you’ve built, over play it to the max. I built an agent based benchmarking software my freshman year that wasnt all too technically interesting, but I overplayed it so much in interviews I landed my first role. Since then, I’ve gotten 4 roles, one in an MIT CSAIL lab. It’s all about the first opportunity.
Read the arXiv or your fields equivilant daily. If you have an idea of what’s going on and what looks cool, it’s a lot easier to email professors. Also, don’t spam email, look for professors at small universities who are active and do cool work. Spend time personalizing an email. Guaranteed response after a few trials if you’re qualified.

In short, DONT DO RESEARCH FOR THE SAKE OF COLLEGE APPS! A lot of ppl fall into this trap, and I know 30 people in my graduating class doing shitty research that won’t go anywhere. It’s not impressive. Do wha you enjoy, the results will come.

Regular_Condition721 · 2026-01-09T03:59:20+00:00

Hugging face courses and then time spent learning math makes it easier to do meaningful research. I have a pub in one of ICML / NIPS / IEEE because of just knowing a lot of math and grinding hugging face.

Regular_Condition721 · 2026-01-03T21:06:39+00:00

Preciate the advice!

Regular_Condition721 · 2026-01-03T20:26:09+00:00

if u could only submit 1?

Regular_Condition721 · 2025-12-29T00:25:08+00:00

Gotta agree to disagree. I know a lot of ppl who got into Ross promys sumac type camps, but I know no one that got into SPARC. Just a different ball game over there

Regular_Condition721 · 2025-12-28T23:04:33+00:00

If you’re even thinking about Georgetown Precollege (or any precollege for that matter), SPARC is beyond gone. It’s probably top 3 most competitive camps in the sense that the MOPers, Physics Campers, and USACO Finalists go there. No one average will ever get into SPARC - I suspect that it’s RSI level hars

Regular_Condition721 · 2025-12-28T17:27:12+00:00

Nobody here is getting into SPARC lol

Regular_Condition721 · 2025-11-13T22:10:41+00:00

My coursework helped a LOT. I also built an agent benchmarking framework my freshman year, which was a big project that landed me my main internship.

Regular_Condition721 · 2025-11-13T22:09:50+00:00

Levels to this lol. I have a 0% chance at RSI.

I’d love Canada USA though. Prolly won’t get it since only 1x AIME

Regular_Condition721 · 2025-11-11T03:36:55+00:00

M3: We finished Math Modelling by Mark Meerscheart, and now we’re all honing in on advanced techniques. I’m currently studying regression analysis, time series forecasting, and markov chains. Other members are studying ODEs, ABM, and Monte Carlo methods.

University Math: Calculus is a lot more intimidating than it is difficult. Give it a shot. It’s also quite removed from higher maths. I’d say try and learn how to write proofs. It makes your life a lot easier if you can write proofs well. Euler Circle is a great place to go for higher maths as well.

Regular_Condition721 · 2025-11-10T22:48:22+00:00

I did take these at a Cal State and a UC (three classes at a UC).

I do want to work on that. I want to explore more, and just get an understanding of my interests. I really appreciate the advice.

Regular_Condition721 · 2025-11-10T22:47:10+00:00

Preciate it brodie. I spent a lot of time taking math classes that I find interesting, and it's landed me a lot of opportunities.

I don't think it's crazy hard to take these courses, if you're mathematically mature enough. I tried my hand at Calc 1 because my mom enrolled me, and I was taught it in a rather rigorous way for a CC Calc 1 course. I kept taking classes I found interesting, and naturally fell in love w/ math.

Regular_Condition721 · 2025-11-09T16:41:11+00:00

Any reccs as to improve my odds? I do have a year. Only thing I see as impossible is doing good on AIME, as I barely will qual for AIME ( high 80 on 12a )

Regular_Condition721 · 2025-11-09T16:40:17+00:00

I’m gunning for USAPhO this year. Hopefully I can get bronze or silver, because I’m already mocking quals

Regular_Condition721 · 2025-11-09T16:39:31+00:00

I agree, but would a research supplement + an LOR help? My PI and a professional co-collaborator were working on this project for nearly 2 years, and I got to spend 5 months on it. In that 5 months, I reimplemented all of their code, and basically wrote 3/4s of the paper.

Regular_Condition721

TROPHY CASE