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The first official USACO contest is coming up in December. In order to prepare our students training since the summer or earlier, we organized the first ever Breakout Mentors Programming Contest in November.
But we aren’t limiting it to just the dozen students working with Breakout Mentors one-on-one: it is open to all and completely free!
If you know how to code and are curious what a programming contest is like, the Bronze level will be a fun way to give it a shot. Experienced USACO competitors are welcomed too, as we will also have Silver and Gold divisions.
Join a Fun Community
Coding is often a solitary activity, however competitions are a great way to meet other passionate and curious programmers. The official USACO contests are also on your own (explained here), but since the goal of the Breakout Mentors event is to be a fun learning experience, our event is much more interactive.
We will have mentors available to answer questions throughout the contest if you get stuck. There will be opportunities to collaborate with other participants across the United States. We will host a short problem review session at the end, where we go over the solutions and showcase some student code.
There are also prizes based on participation. Every problem for which you make a valid attempt to submit a solution, you will be entered into a raffle for $50 and $25 Amazon gift cards!
The Details
The contest will be held on Sunday, November 15th, and will run from 12:45 pm – 5:30 pm Pacific Time. The actual contest will be from 1 pm – 5 pm, with time before and after for opening and closing ceremonies.
Our goal is to provide problems similar to those that can be expected in the first contest of the USACO season. We will offer three levels, Bronze, Silver, and Gold. Each division will have 5 problems (unlike the actual USACO contests which normally only have 3), including some that are easier. The reason for this is to support a wide range of student experience, even if selecting into a harder division, as well as providing greater time pressure than you’ll likely encounter with USACO.