Promotion Cutoff Scores

Promotion Cutoff and Competition Schedule

Students from China and other countries can participate in the first three monthly contests and the USACO Open without a specific physical location requirement. Competitions are conducted online.

However, to obtain official Gold or Platinum level certification scores, participants must begin the contest at the unified start time of Saturday 12:00 AM Eastern Time.

USACO Winter Training Program

A new USACO Winter Training Program is now open for enrollment.

Program Highlights

  • Instruction led by experienced competition mentors

  • In-depth explanation of key algorithmic concepts

  • Intensive training designed to improve problem-solving ability in a short period of time

Suitable Students

This course is suitable for students who already have some programming background or strong learning ability. It is especially beneficial for students who are interested in computer programming or plan to apply for computer science majors.

Students can significantly improve their algorithmic thinking and competitive programming skills within a relatively short period.

Course Features

  • Systematic learning of competition-related knowledge and algorithms

  • Focused preparation for USACO awards and advancement

  • Intensive curriculum emphasizing core concepts and problem-solving techniques

  • Exposure to advanced computer science knowledge beyond typical IB, AP, or A-Level computer science courses

Practice Course Experience

Introductory problem-solving practice classes are available for different competition levels:

Course Type Price
USACO Bronze Practice Class $9.9
USACO Silver Practice Class $9.9
USACO Gold Practice Class $9.9

Outstanding Results in IOI and EGOI

2024 Results

The United States team achieved outstanding results at the 2024 International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) held in Alexandria.

Congratulations to the following U.S. team members:

  • Rain Jiang — Gold Medal (5th overall)

  • Agastya Goel — Gold Medal (4th overall)

  • Rohin Garg — Silver Medal

  • Brian Xue — Gold Medal (3rd overall)

The U.S. team also achieved excellent results at the 2024 European Girls’ Olympiad in Informatics (EGOI) in the Netherlands:

  • Grace Li — Gold Medal (8th overall)

  • Yeyin (Eva) Zhu — Gold Medal (2nd overall)

  • Michelle Wei — Silver Medal

  • Aurora Huang — Silver Medal

2023 Results

The U.S. team earned four gold medals at the 2023 International Olympiad in Informatics in Szeged, Hungary.

Team members included:

  • Austin Geng

  • Agastya Goel

  • Rohin Garg

  • Rain Jiang

At the 2023 European Girls’ Olympiad in Informatics in Lund, Sweden, the U.S. team also performed strongly:

  • Tina Wang — Gold Medal

  • Yeyin Zhu — Gold Medal

  • Maria Chrysafis — Silver Medal

  • Luoluo Li — Bronze Medal

Competition Timeline

Typical annual milestones include:

  • December 13–16 — First Contest

  • January 24–27 — Second Contest

  • February 21–24 — Third Contest

  • March 21–24 — USACO Open

  • Late May – Early June — USACO Training Camp (USA)

Future international competitions:

  • EGOI 2025 (Germany) — To be announced

  • IOI 2025 (Bolivia) — To be announced

2022 Results

At the 2022 IOI in Indonesia, the U.S. team achieved strong results:

  • Benjamin Chen — Gold Medal

  • Timothy Feng — Gold Medal

  • Hankai (Sam) Zhang — Gold Medal

  • Rain Jiang — Silver Medal

At the 2022 EGOI in Turkey:

  • Claire Zhang — Gold Medal

  • Luoluo (Christina) Li — Silver Medal

  • Vivian Han — Silver Medal

  • Katherine Li — Silver Medal

2021 Results

At the 2021 IOI hosted by Singapore:

  • Timothy Feng — Gold Medal

  • Siyong Huang — Gold Medal

  • Rain Jiang — Gold Medal

  • Richard Qi — Silver Medal

At the 2021 EGOI hosted by Switzerland:

  • Claire Zhang — Gold Medal

  • Rayna Arora — Silver Medal

  • Tarushii Goel — Silver Medal

  • Vivian Han — Bronze Medal

2020 Results

The U.S. team achieved an exceptional result at IOI 2020, ranking first overall for the third consecutive year.

Team members included:

  • Walden Yan — Gold Medal

  • Xinyang (Alan) Chen — Gold Medal

  • William Lin — Gold Medal (1st overall)

  • Danny Mittal — Silver Medal

2019 Results

At IOI 2019 in Baku, Azerbaijan:

  • Eric Zhang — Gold Medal

  • Benjamin Qi — Gold Medal (1st overall)

  • Daniel Zhang — Gold Medal

  • William Lin — Silver Medal

2018 Results

At IOI 2018 in Tsukuba, Japan, the U.S. team again delivered an outstanding performance:

  • Spencer Compton — Gold Medal

  • Eric Zhang — Gold Medal

  • Benjamin Qi — Gold Medal (1st overall)

  • William Hu — Bronze Medal

USACO Competition Structure

USACO hosts online competitions throughout the academic year, followed by the USACO Open, which serves as the national championship contest.

Each competition typically lasts 3–5 hours, but students may start at any time within the official contest window (usually between Friday and Monday).

Once participants start the contest and download the problems, their personal timer begins.

Participation is free and open to students worldwide.

USACO Competition Levels

USACO competitions are divided into four levels:

Bronze

For students who have recently started programming and have limited algorithm training beyond basic concepts such as sorting and binary search.

Silver

For students learning fundamental problem-solving strategies, such as:

  • Recursive search

  • Greedy algorithms

  • Basic data structures

Gold

Students encounter more advanced algorithms, including:

  • Shortest path algorithms

  • Dynamic programming

  • Advanced data structures

Platinum

Designed for highly advanced students with strong algorithmic foundations who want to tackle complex and open-ended problems.

All participants begin in the Bronze division. Students who perform exceptionally well during contests can be promoted to higher divisions.

Contest Format

Each contest usually includes 3–4 algorithmic problems.

Participants submit solutions using:

  • C

  • C++

  • Java

  • Python

Solutions are evaluated based on how many test cases they solve within the time limit.

Typical time limits per test case:

  • C/C++ — about 2 seconds

  • Java/Python — about 4 seconds

Feedback is provided after submission:

  • Green — Correct

  • Red — Incorrect

Error indicators include:

  • X — Wrong answer

  • T — Time limit exceeded

  • ! — Runtime or memory error

  • E — Empty output

  • M — Missing output

Academic Integrity and Contest Rules

USACO strongly emphasizes academic honesty.

Participants must follow strict policies:

  • Work independently (no teamwork)

  • Do not use generative AI tools such as Copilot or ChatGPT during contests

  • Do not hide your IP address using VPNs

  • Do not discuss contest problems with anyone except the contest director

  • Do not share code or technical details during the contest

Participants must write all code from scratch during the contest. Only references describing programming language syntax or standard library functions are allowed.

Violating these rules may result in permanent disqualification from all USACO activities.

Technical Requirements

Key technical requirements include:

  • Program size must be under 100,000 bytes

  • Compilation must complete within 30 seconds

  • Memory usage is typically limited to 256 MB

Programs must be deterministic and produce the same output for the same input.

In recent contests, input and output are handled using standard input and output rather than file-based systems.

For large input data, contestants may benefit from fast input/output techniques, such as optimized C++ or Java input methods.

Online Consultation
Online Consultation