Computer Science contests are a lot of fun to enter, but they can also be frustrating. Don’t get me wrong: I love entering all sorts of contests. I never pass any of them with flying colors. But I have a confession to make: I got so frustrated with some of the entries that I didn’t finish any of them. (Sorry, students! I’ve been hit by the flu bug this year.)
The first problem with most computer contests is the simple matter of keeping track of your progress. Most are designed so that the people administering the contest can see your level of expertise as well as the title you are writing under. That makes it easy for you to enter and track your performance. But if you forget to enter the contest, you can’t see your stats. And if you don’t enter enough, no one will know what your talent level is!
Computer contests are a great way to show off what you’ve got. They are also a great way to learn about computer science and an impressive amount of the entries show off this talent. But there is one major problem with entering computer science competitions. It’s easy to lose track of your competition. If you can’t find out who your competition is or even if they exist, you might never get the chance to show off what you’ve got.
One of the major goals of these contests is to award students with a title at the end of the year that says “I was the best! “. A software engineer winning the national competition in the state-level contest may be a pretty impressive feat. But only a software engineer who knows how to use the building blocks of the computer program language on his Mac or Windows PC can claim that title.
So how do you win a student competition? There are some simple rules that you should follow when entering a contest. Follow them religiously and you should be fine. Here are a few tips to help you do just that:
* Level Set: Entering student competitions means that you have to master at least one level of the software used for the contest. The most common level is” Apprentice” or” Developer”. You also need to master one programming language (for either your Mac or Windows PC) and one database (for Microsoft SQL Server). Usually, you are not allowed to enter more than one software or database. These are the basic criteria that will determine additional info the level of your competition.
* Know Your Competition: There is no such thing as an automatic win when entering a student competition. It’s important to study the competition carefully to see what levels are available and what you need to do to be able to beat the other contestants. Look at the types of programs that the other students are using and the programming languages that they are using. You also have to study your opponents to determine which skill sets they are using and to know what their weaknesses are. Competing against someone with years of experience in a particular program may be difficult but knowing the level of experience they have will give you an idea of what to expect from them.
* Get Off on Each Round: Sometimes, the first round of competition gets you excited and you win a few games. However, you should realize that your opponents are using the same techniques in all their games and you should not let your excitement overcome your strategy. Keep looking at the board and studying your opponent’s moves so that you can develop strategies for each game. Also, remember to take a break after winning a round, no matter how long it took you to win that game.