Are You Ready For USACO Bronze?

There’s no downside to signing up: the test is free, and you'll know quickly if it's too hard for now.

If you are already comfortable implementing USACO Bronze questions with a few hints and unlimited time, then the answer is yes -- you are very close! See this page for how to get over that final hurdle to actually qualifying for Silver.

If you are generally unfamiliar with USACO, you are probably not ready yet. Keep in mind that USACO has gotten extremely challenging over the past few years, so don't feel bad if you get a zero; that is very normal, even for straight A honors students who have been coding for years. This exam is hard.

To give a sense of the commitment and effort required to qualify for USACO Silver, read this page.

If you're not sure where to start, I endorse the following AlphaStar bundle as the most cost-effective way to go from being a beginner coder to knowing the basic USACO Bronze syllabus: https://alphastar.academy/course-detail/?COURSE=CS2XP. Even if your child already knows some code, I recommend starting the course series at the beginning so that you have a thorough understanding of the material.

Note that while my lectures are featured in parts of this bundle, I don’t receive commission. Still, I welcome letting the AlphaStar team know you came through me. :) If you want more individualized attention, there are also classes with a live teacher (sometimes myself), and I also privately tutor lots of coding students.

For a free consultation to get your student into the right place, feel free to reach out!