Frequently Asked Questions
Team Formation
People of all ages may participate, but only teams composed solely of high school/middle school students are eligible for prizes (we may have an additional award for non-eligible participants). Students may form teams of up to three, and are allowed to discuss in-contest, access the internet, and use reference books. However, communication between teams is strictly forbidden during the contest window, and any teams identified as having done so will be disqualified. You can create two separate teams for the Standard and CTF rounds if you have different teammates.
Standard Round
Format
You can complete this round with your team at any time during our contest window. Inspired by guts rounds in math competitions, there will be 10 problems divided into 4 sets. You can only see Set 1 at the start, and your team can choose to “unlock” the next set, but doing so will apply a decay multiplier to any future submissions you make on the previous sets (the points you have before unlocking will remain). The specific point values are as follows:
- Set 1: 4 problems, 100 points each
- Set 2: 3 problems, 150 points each
- Set 3: 2 problems, 200 points each
- Set 4: 1 problem, 250 points (Note: just like how the last set is usually estimation problems in Guts rounds, we will reveal that this problem would be an output only constructive problem with test cases for all skill levels!)
The multiplier is 0.8 if you're submitting to a problem in the set immediately before the current one, 0.6 if you're submitting to a problem two sets before, and 0.4 if you're submitting to a problem three sets before.
Example Scenario: Your team solves 3 out of 4 problems in set 1, yielding 300 points. If your team decides to unlock set 2, future submissions to any problem in set 1 will be multiplied by 0.8, meaning your score on set 1 is capped at 380.
Your score for a problem is determined by the highest-scoring submission (including set decay).
Each problem will have 10 testcases, and each correct testcase will be worth 10% of the points. The submission with the highest amount of points will count towards your total score, and time penalty will be determined by the last score-increasing submission.
Scoring
Participants are allowed to submit their program in the following 3 languages: C++17, Java 11, or Python 3.6.9. After submission, you are immediately given feedback. However, similar to USACO, the specifics on what is incorrect won't be displayed. Instead, the result will be one of the following: C (Correct), W (Wrong Answer), T (Time Limit Exceeded), or R (Runtime Error/Memory Limit Exceed).
In C++, the usage of inline assembly is not allowed. Any submissions using inline assembly will be voided. However, the usage of intrinsics is still allowed.
Disqualifications
The usage of generative AI (e.g. ChatGPT) is strictly prohibited during the Standard Round. Any team found to have used generative AI or having collaborated with other teams will be disqualified. Disqualified teams may also face further penalties.
CTF Round
In CTF, you are given a set of cybersecurity challenges from several topics: Web Exploitation, Reverse Engineering, Cryptography, Binary Exploitation, etc. You will need to solve the challenge to capture a flag, which you submit for points. You can learn more from our CTF Resources. Unlike the Standard Round's 3 hour duration, you can access the CTF Round and submit flags during the entire 3-day contest window. The use of AI is allowed in the CTF round only.