Suggestion: Make Div2As easier

Hi everyone! I've noticed that the difficulty of Div2As has slightly increased. In my opinion, this creates a skewed result, as people who intend to join may not be able to solve the first problem. Then, they may end up leaving without submitting anything. As a result, the difficulty rating of Div2As largely depends on the number of fakesolves; i.e. those who fail main tests or end up FSTing.

A harder Div2A also gives a slight disadvantage to those who join and only get A, as the pool of people competing are the ones who are more likely to solve A.

In addition, a hard Div2A scares lower rated coders away from Div2, which shouldn't be the case as the competition is also for them.

Therefore, I humbly suggest problemsetters to make simpler Div2As for more inclusive participation.

• 3 weeks ago, # ^ | Or we can just use the Atcoder rated / unrated registration system :)

  • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | Best! Because people leave the problems without solving them, which leads to a decrease in problem rating, now 1000 rated problems become 800 because only those who submit are included while calculating the rate.

  • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | Yeh, many people (including myself) may not fulfill the contest after seeing Problem A too hard (even if it isn't as hard as we thought), and it may cause the rating unreal.

• 3 weeks ago, # ^ | I agree with Div2A not Div1A. Div1A difficulty doesn't need to be changed.

• 3 weeks ago, # ^ | ← Rev. 2 →   +87 I think there is a negligible amount of people who do that.

  • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | ← Rev. 2 →   0 In cf this will work against you, every minute you hold submission for A you lose points. Not a feasible approach I have been doing that on leetcode for some time, only submitting when I passed samples for 3 problems out of 4, if I can’t pass a 3rd problem I don’t submit at all

• 3 weeks ago, # ^ | ← Rev. 2 →   0 I understand the rated/unrated thing on Atcoder, but why should it be on Codeforces? You will lose points already if you submit late in contest, unlike Atcoder where the points were fixed no matter when you submitted. The late strategy is even worse for cf style educational rounds. So the late submission thing may only favor you on Codeforces, when you can also solve harder problems. That being said, I think the only thing that makes sense is reducing the difficulty of the first problem, which may also result in the server slowing down in the first couple of minutes of the contest. pigmike

  • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | When you mark beforehand that the contest is rated for you, you won't skip the round because A/B took you too long to solve.

    • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | ← Rev. 2 →   0 Idk, but whatever time leverage given to choose rated/unrated (e.g. 5 minutes used on Atcoder, which may be increased since cf has more users) should be enough time to determine if you won't be able to solve Div2A, or if you should skip.

      • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | It's also the case for div 1. And I think you would need to choose whether it's rated/unrated for you before the start. I don't know for sure how it's on AtCoder, but that's how I think it would be good on Codeforces.

• 3 weeks ago, # ^ | What if you decide you can't make it to the contest, after having thought previously that you were going to be able to? Then solving no problems would leave you with a rating that doesn't represent your skill

  • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | You can unregister, at least on Codeforces.

    • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | Is that a thing? How does one do that?

      • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | You open the list of participants in the contest you registered, and find yourself. There is an 'X' button to unregister. You can select the 'friends' tab to find yourself easily.

  • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | I register 10 mins before contest on atcoder

• 3 weeks ago, # ^ | Problem is when you can solve, not when you cannot

  • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | The comment is hidden because of too negative feedback, click here to view it

• 3 weeks ago, # ^ | Exactly, the difficulty of Div1A should not change.

• 3 weeks ago, # ^ | I expect Div 1 A not to be a 1900 problem so that people can have more time to solve other problems.

  • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | The comment is hidden because of too negative feedback, click here to view it

    • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | The comment is hidden because of too negative feedback, click here to view it

      • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | ← Rev. 2 →   0 Nobody asked yours. lis05

        • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | Nobody asked yours too. BlindingKnight

          • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | nobody asked yours too too. bleahbleah

  • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | OK. Let's take a look at some recent div2A over the past 4 months. 1900 1500 1600 1300 1600 1100 1600 1300 I see no other problems harder than 1600, do you? I guess, that 1900pts problem was just an "accident" that happens sometimes. There are no reasons to make div1A easier.

    • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | We don’t say all div1 As should be made easier, we say that this accidents shouldn’t happen.

      • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | It was just 1 problem in the last 4 months, these "accidents" are very rare. Honestly, your Div1A argument is totally pointless.

        • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | From the things I noticed while testing rounds these accidents are made on purpose, and I think it's wrong. Also even 1600 may be too much

          • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | 1600 is too much? You do realize most/all Div1 rounds have Div2 rounds in parallel, and reducing the difficulty of Div1A/Div2C just makes the first few problems in Div2 too easy, which may result in "speedforces".

            • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | Last three(with already rated problem) div2-only rounds have C difficulties of 1400, 1100 and 1200.

              • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | and do those seem right to you? why should a Div2C problem be 1100 rated? it doesn't make sense to me

              • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | You say it will cause a disaster, i give an example that we have those all the time and somehow live. 1100 may be too little, but it's <1600

              • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | ← Rev. 2 →   -6 Rounds with C>=1600 rated have balanced solves distribution. In those rounds doesn't happen thing like C has 5000 solves and D has 200. In rounds with too easy C always happens that many CMs or high experts appear to be below pupils and specialists. Yes, it happens in rounds with >=1600 C, but way less and less frequently.

• 3 weeks ago, # ^ | The biggest problem I see is telling people participating in div2 contests to move to div3 contests when a) div3 contests are less frequent, b) people who only solve div2A are still at a disadvantage when more people back out, c) people are still discouraged when they are unable to solve a single problem from a div2 contest (at least people know div1 contests are hard, people come into div2 contests thinking they're just average), and most importantly, d) it's one problem that's already meant to be rated 800, there's literally no consequence to making it an easier 800. I agree that div 1A is probably fine as is, I do disagree with the 1900 div1A but that's just an exception to what's generally been in the right difficulty range most contests.

• 3 weeks ago, # ^ | ← Rev. 2 →   0 It is ridiculous that 1712B is only 800 It matches the number of solvers though. But it only makes me question this number as well

• 3 weeks ago, # ^ | Everybody would check problems without logging in

  • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | I meant something where you can't see the problems unless you are logged in and enter the contest page.

    • 3 weeks ago, # ^ | Just use an alt..

• 3 weeks ago, # ^ | The way atcoder does it solves most issues. There you decide some minutes before the contest to be rated by registering for rated participation. You can also choose to be not rated.

• 3 weeks ago, # ^ | I don't agree. I have set round for codeforces, the coordinator requires 2a to be a little difficult and interesting, if the sample is not strong, it is almost impossible. A complete sample is an effective way to reduce the difficulty value. Generally speaking, I am used to designing samples to ensure that almost everyone can slove 2a smoothly.

• 3 weeks ago, # ^ | I agree, but not only div 2 A-s. A lot of easy problems try to be "clever" and "simple once you see it", but the consequence is that a lot of these problems are in practice guessed by most participants who don't have any idea why their solution works. At this rate I'm worried that we are teaching beginners that CP is about guessing. After all, there are already plenty of greys who tell other greys that an "observation" means "looking at input/output pairs and noticing an apparent pattern".

• 8 days ago, # ^ | ← Rev. 2 →   +1 He is Candidate Master, U r expert, U r so weak, just stop solving problems already.

  • 40 minutes ago, # ^ | ← Rev. 2 →   0 his real handle is igm