2024 ICPC Asia Seoul Regional
I participated in the 2024 ICPC Asia Seoul Regional.
(Someone’s missed balloon..)
Although the contest ended quite a while ago, I’m writing this short review because I had a great time preparing for it with wonderful teammates.
Our team consisted of dlwocks31, diordhd, and daniel604. dlwocks31 and diordhd had participated in ICPC together before, and I joined them this year. I learned a lot from them as they had extensive experience in both team contests and competitive programming. Since we were all Codeforces CM at the time of registration, we participated under the team name BORADAN.
Team Practice
Since I joined a bit late, our first team practice started on October 2nd. We practiced 4 times before the preliminary round and a total of 8 times before the finals.
| Contest | Duration, Solved |
|---|---|
| CERC 2015 | 3 Hours, 4/12 |
| PACNW 2015 | 3 Hours, 3/11 |
| TOPC 2022 | 3 Hours, 5/9 |
| TOPC 2024 | 3 Hours, 8/12 |
| NCPC 2024 | 5 Hours, 6/11 |
| jakarta 2023 | 5 Hours, 7/13 |
| CERC 2020 | 5 Hours, 6/11 |
| CERC 2014 | 5 Hours, 6/12 |
As we practiced more, our idea exchange improved and the process of building upon them became smoother. Every time we put our heads together to solve problems that seemed impossible, it felt like a dopamine rush. Jaechan (dlwocks31) was fast and accurate in implementation, and Donghyun (diordhd) often came up with sharp ideas (I wasn’t particularly strong at either), so I think we had quite a good balance. We solved easy problems individually, and for problems that needed discussion, we thought about ideas together and mainly Jaechan implemented them. Right before the finals, we had gained quite a bit of confidence and headed to Goyang with hope that we might achieve good results. (I’ll skip the online preliminary round)
Finals
We stayed at a hotel near KINTEX the night before the contest and reviewed our team practices after the briefing and dinner. We organized the ideas from the high-rated platinum problems we solved during practice and the problems we upsolved after the sessions. Before sleeping, we discussed a diamond-level problem together and fell asleep.
Perhaps because our expectations were high, the contest results were not satisfying. I don’t remember the timeline well since it’s been a while, but we struggled quite a bit with the early problems. In particular, I remember we had a meltdown when we submitted problem F without properly verifying our incorrect solution. After somehow solving it, we decided to try C and K, but there wasn’t much time left, and knowing we needed to solve both for any chance at a good result, we chose the strategy of tackling both problems together. You can see the results on the scoreboard.
Even after the contest ended, we still had regrets and thought about C and K during the award ceremony, realizing that we were close to the solution during the contest.
Conclusion
This ICPC was the last one for Jaechan and Donghyun as they’re graduating, and we won’t be able to team up anymore. (I can still participate with Donghyun until UCPC 2025!) Since we worked so well together, I feel more regret about not being able to participate in future contests together than about the results of this one. Last semester, I was overwhelmed with assignments and exams from many major courses, but I was able to enjoy it thanks to our weekly team practices. I wish Jaechan and Donghyun all the best in their future endeavors!