My team (me + [user:flashmt,2016-05-20] + [user:nguyenhungtam,2016-05-20]) was probably never noticed by anyone, but we were actually aiming for medal. And I think we performed ok in the final, ending up at #15, still need some more luck & brain to win a medal. Anw, I decided to share my story. Btw if you are Vietnamese, you can also read [this](https://www.facebook.com/notes/thanh-trung-nguyen/t%C3%B3m-t%E1%BA%AFt-acm-world-final-2016/1157851804228014?pnref=story).↵
↵
↵
Back story↵
==========↵
↵
In the ACM history, a Vietnamese team has never won any WF medal. 5 years ago, team of [user:ktuan,2016-05-20] (only Vietnamese red target on Topcoder) had high hope, but ended up at #17. 4 years ago, team of [user:ConanKudo,2016-05-20] also had high hope, but messed up in the first 3 hours and ended up at #17.↵
↵
So I really wanted to win medal. And I've been planning for this World Final for several years..↵
↵
↵
Team formation↵
==============↵
↵
I've chosen [user:flashmt,2016-05-20] as teammates for several years, but were not able to choose any third member. Since I only want to select Vietnamese, we have only few good options ([user:darknstd,2016-05-20], [user:infrmtcs,2016-05-20] — both IOI silver medalist). After the WF 2015, I read [this comment](http://codeforces.com/blog/entry/17906#comment-228504) by [user:fhlasek,2016-05-20] about the story of his team, and decided to pick an IMO guy instead. Thus, I picked [user:nguyenhungtam,2016-05-20] who was IMO medalist but has very few experience with programming / algorithm and I trained him from that. It was a good choice, I had a lot of fun watching/trying to understand problem solving from Math people perspective, and we did much better with better mathematical imagination.↵
↵
Regionals↵
=========↵
↵
At regionals, [user:nguyenhungtam,2016-05-20] has few experience, so I was really afraid of losing ticket to WF. Anw, we won in Jakarta regional which guaranteed a ticket. We were #3 at Singapore regional, but I always believe we can do much better as [user:nguyenhungtam,2016-05-20] improved very fast towards WF.↵
↵
Strategy↵
========↵
↵
Our strategy is [user:flashmt,2016-05-20] will code mostly all problems while [user:nguyenhungtam,2016-05-20] and I solve all the problems on paper. This is mainly because I usually fail to code simple things in important competitions (anw during this WF I implemented B & K, both had 1 wrong submission, but I think it is ok considering my current standard). And we also believe that the WF problemset requires more thinking, so 2/3 team time thinking is good.↵
↵
And indeed, there are many positive side on this strategy:↵
↵
- I think I had much more time solving problems.↵
- The algorithm needs to be very clear before we start implementing them.↵
- Since [user:flashmt,2016-05-20]'s coding skill is very good, leaving him the only one coding is definitely good enough.↵
↵
↵
My take on the WF problemset↵
============================↵
↵
I think the easier problems are ok, but maybe too many of them (8 easy problems..). I liked K. The judge solution for B is nice, but I think they are not very familiar with Divide & conquer DP optimization, thus this problem became copy-paste divide & conquer DP from our notebook. (I publicized our notebook [here](https://github.com/ngthanhtrung23/ACM_Notebook_New) — you can use it at your own risk)↵
↵
There were 5 hard problems F H I J M. I think H I J are too hard, M is hard to implement, so my team only had one choice of solving F: either we solve F and get medal or we don't solve F and don't get medal. I think the choice is very limited this year. Maybe if there was 1 medium problem instead of easy problem, there would be some choice for teams after solving easy problems.↵
↵
Anw, my team strategy worked well. We always have something to code until we finished the 8th problem. And [user:flashmt,2016-05-20] did not have too hard-to-debug bugs, so we were solving problems quite fast considering our level.↵
↵
↵
After this WF, probably I'll partially retired (probably still participate in CF rounds & big contests but mostly no training). If you have questions for me in comments, I'll gladly answer.↵
↵
**UPD**: Special thanks to my girlfriend, [user:ktuan,2016-05-20], [user:ConanKudo,2016-05-20] and [user:tutanjokersharp,2016-05-20]. I inherited the spirit from [user:ktuan,2016-05-20] by hearing stories about him, and [user:ConanKudo,2016-05-20] and [user:tutanjokersharp,2016-05-20] trained me to this level :)
↵
↵
Back story↵
==========↵
↵
In the ACM history, a Vietnamese team has never won any WF medal. 5 years ago, team of [user:ktuan,2016-05-20] (only Vietnamese red target on Topcoder) had high hope, but ended up at #17. 4 years ago, team of [user:ConanKudo,2016-05-20] also had high hope, but messed up in the first 3 hours and ended up at #17.↵
↵
So I really wanted to win medal. And I've been planning for this World Final for several years..↵
↵
↵
Team formation↵
==============↵
↵
I've chosen [user:flashmt,2016-05-20] as teammates for several years, but were not able to choose any third member. Since I only want to select Vietnamese, we have only few good options ([user:darknstd,2016-05-20], [user:infrmtcs,2016-05-20] — both IOI silver medalist). After the WF 2015, I read [this comment](http://codeforces.com/blog/entry/17906#comment-228504) by [user:fhlasek,2016-05-20] about the story of his team, and decided to pick an IMO guy instead. Thus, I picked [user:nguyenhungtam,2016-05-20] who was IMO medalist but has very few experience with programming / algorithm and I trained him from that. It was a good choice, I had a lot of fun watching/trying to understand problem solving from Math people perspective, and we did much better with better mathematical imagination.↵
↵
Regionals↵
=========↵
↵
At regionals, [user:nguyenhungtam,2016-05-20] has few experience, so I was really afraid of losing ticket to WF. Anw, we won in Jakarta regional which guaranteed a ticket. We were #3 at Singapore regional, but I always believe we can do much better as [user:nguyenhungtam,2016-05-20] improved very fast towards WF.↵
↵
Strategy↵
========↵
↵
Our strategy is [user:flashmt,2016-05-20] will code mostly all problems while [user:nguyenhungtam,2016-05-20] and I solve all the problems on paper. This is mainly because I usually fail to code simple things in important competitions (anw during this WF I implemented B & K, both had 1 wrong submission, but I think it is ok considering my current standard). And we also believe that the WF problemset requires more thinking, so 2/3 team time thinking is good.↵
↵
And indeed, there are many positive side on this strategy:↵
↵
- I think I had much more time solving problems.↵
- The algorithm needs to be very clear before we start implementing them.↵
- Since [user:flashmt,2016-05-20]'s coding skill is very good, leaving him the only one coding is definitely good enough.↵
↵
↵
My take on the WF problemset↵
============================↵
↵
I think the easier problems are ok, but maybe too many of them (8 easy problems..). I liked K. The judge solution for B is nice, but I think they are not very familiar with Divide & conquer DP optimization, thus this problem became copy-paste divide & conquer DP from our notebook. (I publicized our notebook [here](https://github.com/ngthanhtrung23/ACM_Notebook_New) — you can use it at your own risk)↵
↵
There were 5 hard problems F H I J M. I think H I J are too hard, M is hard to implement, so my team only had one choice of solving F: either we solve F and get medal or we don't solve F and don't get medal. I think the choice is very limited this year. Maybe if there was 1 medium problem instead of easy problem, there would be some choice for teams after solving easy problems.↵
↵
Anw, my team strategy worked well. We always have something to code until we finished the 8th problem. And [user:flashmt,2016-05-20] did not have too hard-to-debug bugs, so we were solving problems quite fast considering our level.↵
↵
↵
After this WF, probably I'll partially retired (probably still participate in CF rounds & big contests but mostly no training). If you have questions for me in comments, I'll gladly answer.↵
↵
**UPD**: Special thanks to my girlfriend, [user:ktuan,2016-05-20], [user:ConanKudo,2016-05-20] and [user:tutanjokersharp,2016-05-20]. I inherited the spirit from [user:ktuan,2016-05-20] by hearing stories about him, and [user:ConanKudo,2016-05-20] and [user:tutanjokersharp,2016-05-20] trained me to this level :)
