Preparation for the Olimpiada Informatyczna Juniorów
Olimpiada Informatyczna Juniorów is a genuinely demanding contest. This is not a school computer-science competition — it is a full olympiad for primary-school students, with three stages and a final in Warsaw.
The course list is the same one I use for OI. The topics overlap, but we go into them less deeply: the point is for the student to have solid foundations in each, not to hit the bottom of any of them straight away.
OIJ can be written in either Python or C++. For many students that is a reason to start with Python — the barrier is lower, and at this level the language is not yet the limit.
I put the most weight on the second stage. Reaching the final guarantees free admission to any secondary school in Poland, so that is the moment to be ready for.
OIJ laureates have a much easier path to success in OI later. The material overlaps, but something else matters more: they already know what working on a hard problem feels like, and how you prepare for a contest.
The route
Each row is a step, in order. Where a row is marked “or”, those are alternatives — pick one. Everything else in a row you do.
- 1
- 2
- 3
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4
OIJ — stage 1
- 5
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6
OIJ — stage 2
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7
OIJ — stage 3
Explain, demonstrate, then you solve.
I explain the topic and work a few examples through with you. Then the real work: a set of problems, chosen for where you actually are, and I read every solution you send. Approved, sent back with notes, or worked through together — nothing is marked by a machine.
