Where can I find practice problems?
The best way to practice is by solving the problems from previous competitions. You can find problems and solution sketches on our archive page. We will use Kattis to run the competition, so all the problems will be given in a similar input/output format to those seen in the Open Kattis Archive.
How many people can be on my team?
We recommend a team size of three, but will allow teams of two or four. Teams of more than four students are not allowed, nor is it allowed to compete individually.
How many teams can we have?
We allow for two teams per school to attend our in-person competition (we may allow more based on registration time and available space) and as many teams as you want virtually.
What languages can we use?
You can use C, C++, Python, Java, JavaScript, or Ruby.
We recommend that everyone on your team know at least one of these languages in common. We additionally recommend that teams practice submitting solutions on Kattis because the input/output is done in a very specific manner that students may not be familiar with.
What editors do the competition computers have?
The competition computers run Linux (Ubuntu's latest distribution) and have the following programs installed:
IDEs: IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, Eclipse, CLion, NetBeans, RubyMine
Editors: Visual Studio Code, Atom, IDLE, emacs, vim
What divison should I register my team in?
The beginner competition assumes knowledge of foundational programming concepts, which we consider to be expressions, conditionals, loops, and lists, as well as nested loops and lists. Some problems may be easily solved with knowledge of more advanced CS concepts, but all can be solved with just foundational concepts. View last year's beginner problems for a good idea of the difficulty of the problems.
The advanced competition assumes knowledge of more advanced CS concepts, including data structures like maps, sets, and trees. Some problems require knowledge of algorithms such as BFS, or advanced data structures such as priority queues. Some simpler problems will also be included to balance the difficulty of the competition. View last year's advanced problems for a good idea of the difficulty of the problems in the advanced competition.
How long is the competition?
The Kattis competition will be open for 4 hours, from 10:00 AM until 2:00 PM Mountain Time. There are opening and closing ceremonies lasting an hour at the start and end of the competition, respectively.
Can I bring my own laptop or tablet?
Yes. However, we find that using less computers benefits team problem solving ability as there is more opportunity for collaboration. See the rules for details.