The UTD Contest on April 12th was a blast.
Dr. Ivor Page runs a tight ship – the contest was smooth and the problems were solvable, but challenging.
Lots of loot was given away at the UTD contest.
UTD will be running quite a few summer camps this year.
Check them out.
The UTD High School Programming Contest is this Saturday the 13th.
Good luck to all competing.
The basic schedule is listed below.
There is still time to register if you are interested.
Contact Dr. Ivor Page if you want in on the fun.
10:40a Practice contest begins
11:30a Pizza and soft drinks for lunch (sponsored by Award Solutions)
12:00p Main Contest Begins
The 2013 UIL Academic season is underway.
UIL provides a great outlet for students with interest in an assortment of academic events.
Check out UIL Academics.
Check out District Meet Scores.
Regional Meets will be held on April 19th and 20th.
The State Meet will be held at UT Austin on May 20th, 21st, and 22nd.
Good luck to all.
The demand for Software Developers will continue to grow and increase 22% by 2020. I hope my students are listening and reading all of these articles I keep posting.
HP CodeWars is just around the corner. It should be a good time. My students have done very well over the last 3 years and we hope to keep that trend going in 2013. If you are not near a HP CodeWars location, consider hosting your own high school programming contest. Students love to crank code in a contest setting.
The 7 Lakes contest at 7 Lakes HS in Katy, Texas was great.
There were tons of teams and schools.
The written results can be viewed at :
http://www.apluscompsci.com/7Lakes_Fin_Results_Adv_Written.pdf
http://www.apluscompsci.com/7Lakes_Fin_Results_Nov_Written.pdf
Check out a sample written test at if you are interested in seeing one.
I have posted the 7 Lakes programming results and some pics on my A+ Computer Science facebook page.
The Computer Science contest season for Texas is underway.
Waller HS hosted the first contest of the 2012-2013 season on Saturday, September 29th.
There were lots of teams and the competition was fierce.
7 Lakes will host the next contest on the 13th of October.
There is still time to join the fun.
Email Paul Stroud at 7 Lakes HS – PaulMStroud@KATYISD.ORG
Check out all of the dates on my contest dates page.
UIL Contests in Texas are underway. Schools will compete in numerous Academic Events over the next 2 weeks to qualify for the UIL Regional meet. Then, they can qualify for the UIL State meet which is held at the University of Texas at Austin campus. State Champions will be crowned on May 21st and 22nd.
Students and teachers all over the state prepare for and look forward to this time of year. The contests are great and they provide a chance for students to test their skills against students from all over the state.
Computer Science is a component of the UIL Academic Program. You can find out more about the Computer Science contest by clicking here – UIL Computer Science. Check out my site to download sample UIL Computer Science tests and programming problems.
I would encourage those in Texas to get involved! If you are in another state that has no contests, you should start a Computer Science contest of your own! It is great way to build your program and get more kids involved.
What are Computer Science Contests?
First, this is a rewrite / update of a prior post related to contests. I needed to include some of this again and update quite a bit as the new CS Contest season is underway here in Texas. Texas has tons of contests and I feel the contests are great ways to recruit more students.
Computer Science contests are huge in Texas and they should be huge everywhere. Basically, you have a contest every two weeks if you live in Houston or the surrounding area.
The 7 Lakes Kick-off Classic took place this past Saturday, October 8th. This contest starts off the statewide contest circuit each year. The season wraps up each year in May with the UIL State Academic Meet Computer Science Contest. This state contest is the culmination of all of the local contests.
Each contest typically has a programming component and a written test component. The programming component consists of a packet of problems that each team must attempt to solve. A standard packet will have 12 problems. A more expanded packet may have 18. Each local contest has the option to create their own packet and set the number of problems.
The UIL Computer Science Contest, a statewide contest in Texas, has 12 problems so that is the number most local contests go with. The written component consists of a 40 question multiple-choice test. Test questions focus on logic, algorithms, data-structures, and language features. All tests used in Texas use Java as the testing language.
Why take teams to contests?
Contests force students into a real team environment with the added pressure of finite time. Most programming contests only last two hours and only allow teams to use one computer. Teams must learn how to work together in a timed environment to solve problems. Students learn valuable teamwork and problem-solving skills in these settings each and every time they compete.
Teamwork is key! Each team of 3 students is allowed to use 1 computer. All 3 students must share time and learn to work together to get things done. This is hard for all students, but especially for Computer Science students which typically try to avoid working with other people at all cost. My students experience tremendous positive growth learning to work in these situations.
Another benefit is that many large software companies use similar problems for interviewing purposes as those often seen in contest packets. A common programming problem often involves determining if an exit from a maze exists. A former student of mine was asked to explain solving this exact problem when interviewing for a Google position.
Winning is contagious! Get a few students to go compete and actually win and your enrollment will spike upwards. All students want to be a part of a winner.
How do I get involved and help my students prepare?
If you are in Texas, check my contest dates page. If you are in another state, find out who hosts contests or host your own. Check out my site for information on hosting your own contest. Send me an email if you have questions or want to get started.
Encourage your students to solve lots and lots of problems. I maintain a contest practice site loaded with tons of live problems. USACO and CodingBat are also great resources for live practice. Get your students to “crank code” as much as possible.
Looking forward to a great year
The 2011-2012 season is underway and it looks like we will have an awesome year! Good luck to all!
What are Computer Science Contests?
Computer Science contests are huge in Texas. Basically, you have a contest every two weeks if you live in Houston or the surrounding area. In the fall, the contest season starts in early October with the 7 Lakes Kick-off Classic which starts the whole contest circuit. The season wraps up each year in May with the UIL State Academic Meet Computer Science Contest. This state contest is the culmination of all of the local contests.
Each contest typically has a programming component and a written test component. The programming component consists of a packet of problems that each team must attempt to solve. A standard packet will have 12 problems. A more expanded packet may have 18. Each local contest has the option to create their own packet and set the number of problems. The UIL Computer Science Contest, a statewide contest in Texas, has 12 problems so that is the number most local contests go with. The written component consists of a 40 question multiple-choice test. Test questions focus on logic, algorithms, data-structures, and language features. All tests used in Texas use Java as the testing language.
Why take teams to contests?
Contests force students into a real team environment with the added pressure of finite time. Most programming contests only last two hours and only allow teams to use one computer. Teams must learn how to share a single computer and work together in a timed environment to solve problems. Students learn valuable teamwork and problem-solving skills in these settings each and every time they compete.
Another benefit is that many large software companies use similar problems for interviewing purposes as those often seen in contest packets. A common programming problem often involves determining if an exit from a maze exists. A former student of mine was asked to explain solving this exact problem when interviewing for a Google position.
Winning is contagious! Get a few students to go compete and actually win and your enrollment will spike upwards. All students want to be a part of a winner.
How do I get involved?
If you are in Texas, check my contest dates page. Several Texas contests are already posted. If you are in another state, find out who hosts contests or host your own. Check out my site for information on hosting your own contest.
Looking forward to next year
The contest season here in Texas just wrapped up. It was a ton of fun and I look forward to what next year holds. Good luck!
What up yo? Well, the Kodu Cup is up yo! 3D game creation for moolah and prizes! Okay, so rapping / slangy stuff is clearly not my forte, but you get the picture. This contest looks very cool and my students are really excited about getting in on the game creation action. I hope to have several projects entered into the contest by my students and may even get my 7 and 9 year old sons into the mix as well. I may eventually put together some Kodu materials and include them with my other curriculum materials.
You can find more information about Kodu at the main Kodu site – Kodu