- Program Overview
- USACO System
- Why AlphaStar Computer Science Program?
- Distinguished Features of AlphaStar CS Program
- AlphaStar CS Curriculum
- Levels
- Course Flowchart
- Course Descriptions
- Introduction to Programming Courses
- USACO Bronze Courses
- USACO Silver Courses
- USACO Gold Courses
- USACO Platinum Courses
- Master Classes
- AlphStar CS Curriculum vs School CS Curriculum
- Online Self-Study Courses
- Provided Services in Online Courses
- Diagnostic Exams
Program Overview
AlphaStar Computer Science Program has year-round courses and winter / summer camps. This Computer Science competition training program aims to train students towards USA Computing Olympiad (USACO) which is the most prestigious pre-college Computer Science competition in the States.
USACO System
The USACO holds periodic web-based contests during the academic year, and in the late Spring conducts the US Open, our “national championship” exam. Contests generally run for three to five continuous hours in length, although for maximum flexibility, you are free to schedule this block of time anywhere within a Friday-to-Monday contest weekend — your timer starts when you log into the contest and download the problems. Contest tasks are presented on the web, and you submit your final solutions through a simple web interface. Participation is free and open to all.
Contests are offered in four divisions:
- Bronze: for students who have recently learned to program, but who have no training in algorithms beyond basic concepts like sorting and binary search.
- Silver: for students who are beginning to learn fundamental problem-solving techniques (e.g., recursive search, greedy algorithms) and fundamental data structures.
- Gold: where students encounter more standard algorithms of a more complex nature (e.g., shortest paths, dynamic programming) and more advanced data structures.
- Platinum: for advanced students who are well grounded in algorithmic problem-solving techniques, who wish to challenge themselves with sophisticated and more open-ended problems.
All participants start in the bronze division, and those who score particularly well in a contest will be promoted to the next division. Contestants scoring particularly highly will be automatically promoted to the next division while a contest is running; others will need to wait until results are announced at the end of the contest to see if they meet the (contest-dependent) cutoff for promotion.
[*] Retrieved from USACO website. See http://www.usaco.org/ for further information on USACO.Why AlphaStar Computer Science Program?
AlphaStar Computer Science Program has benefits to students in various portions of their lives.
Some of the crucial ones can be summarized as follows:
- Problem solving skills: AlphaStar CS program helps students develop and improve problem solving skills substantially as a lifelong skill.
- AP CS Courses: AlphaStar CS courses have substantial overlap with AP Computer Science courses. A successful AlphaStar student can accomplish AP CS courses easily without much extra effort.
- College applications: Top colleges such as MIT, Harvard, Stanford, UC Berkeley care about distinguished skills of students since almost all their applicants have already outstanding scores in regular application items. USACO training track is one of the credible ones especially if a student is in Gold division or above.
- Engineering career: AlphaStar CS Program provides a strong foundation for college CS courses. In addition, one can observe the similarities between software engineering algorithmic interview questions of hi-tech companies and problem sets of AlphaStar CS Courses.
Distinguished Features of AlphaStar CS Program
The distinguished features AlphaStar CS Program can be summarized as follows:
- It is flexible for fast paced students by providing an acceleration track in basic courses
- Based on both C++ and Java programming languages in Silver and above courses
- Code submissions for problem sets are graded by an automated system with instant feedback mechanism
- More than 90% of the problems in the courses are former USACO problems
- Provides master courses for exceptionally advanced students
AlphaStar CS Curriculum
Levels
AlphaStar CS Program has 5 levels some of which has basic and advanced courses. Levels, course and corresponding topics can be summarized as follows:
| Introduction to Programming | |||
| Topics | Courses | ||
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Fall Semester Topics:
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Fall
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Summer
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Spring Semester Topics:
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Spring
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| USACO Bronze | |||
| Topics | Courses | ||
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Fall Semester Topics:
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Fall
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Summer
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Winter
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Spring Semester Topics:
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Spring
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| USACO Silver | |||
| Topics | Courses | ||
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Fall Semester Topics:
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Fall
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Summer
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Winter
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Spring Semester Topics:
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Spring
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| USACO Gold | |||
| Topics | Courses | ||
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Fall Semester Topics:
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Fall
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Summer
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Winter
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Spring Semester Topics:
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Spring
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| USACO Platinum | |||
| Topics | Courses | ||
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Fall Semester Topics:
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Fall
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Summer
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Winter
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Spring Semester Topics:
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Spring
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Course Flowchart
The following flowchart summarizes AlphaStar CS Courses in terms of year-round (fall and spring) / summer / winter courses:
Explanations
Year-round courses: are composed of fall and spring terms. They’re indicated as separate courses since each term requires separate registration. For instance CS201A only covers the first part of the AlphaStar USACO Bronze curriculum. It covers the whole curriculum together with CS201B course. A year-round course is composed of 2 hours per week for 12 weeks per term, in total 48 class hours plus 48 hours for homework is required on the average.
Summer courses: 6 hours per day for 15 days, in total, 90 class hours. A summer course corresponds to a year-round course. The course code also indicates the idea. For instance, USACO Bronze year-round course is composed of CS201A and CS201B whereas the summer course has code CS201AB. Note that there is no homework in summer camps; average practice time is included in the camp. Intro to Programming and USACO Bronze courses are same in year-round and in summer. On the other hand, although summer USACO Silver and above courses have the same curriculum with year-round courses they have different problem sets.
Winter courses: 6 hours per day for 5 days, 30 class hours. There is no winter course for Introduction to Programming level. Winter camp serves as a booster camp for USACO Silver and upper levels. Courses are composed of problem solving and implementation sessions; they don’t include teaching topics. Students are assumed to have basic foundation of that level. For only USACO Bronze level, CS201A course is offered during winter program as a makeup course for the students who missed the fall course. That gives the opportunity to continue USACO Bronze course CS201B in spring.
Basic vs. advanced courses: Intro to Programming, USACO Silver and Gold levels have basic and advanced courses. Basic and advanced courses have the same topics but different structures. Basics courses are more lecture oriented and problems are easy to medium former USACO problems. On the other hand, students are assumed to know topics or that level. There is not much lecturing and the problems are medium to hard former USACO problems. We can summarize the difference between basic and advanced courses in general as follows:
| Basic Courses | Advanced Courses | |
| Objectives |
– understand the concepts in that level and be able to implement them – be able solve easy/medium USACO problems in that level |
– be able to solve hard USACO problems in that level – comfortably implement solutions of that level – get ready for next level |
| Content |
– considerable amount of lectures – easier problem sets / projects |
– brief lectures when necessary – much harder problem sets / projects |
Accelerated track: To make it more convenient for our extra motivated fast paced students, we have accelerated track as a feature in basic courses. if a student finishes solving the problems of the current week in two weeks, the advanced problem set appears and s/he will be eligible to solve them. That advanced problem set is the same problem set appears in the advanced course. In that way, fast paced students can skip advanced courses.
Course Sequence: Arrows indicate the recommended sequence of the courses for different paces:
—-> Faster pace: a student who finishes at least 90% of the problems in the course
—-> Regular pace: a student who finishes at least 60% of the problems in the course
Pre-requisites
- A student at 4th grade or above can start at Intro to Programming course in fall (CS101A) or in summer (CS101AB) without any programming background.
- A student who took Algebra 1 course can start USACO Bronze course in fall (CS201A) or in summer (CS201AB) without any programming background.
- A student who took AP Computer Science A course can start with USACO Silver Basic course in spring (CS301B) or can start with USACO Silver Advanced course in fall (CS302A) if the student knows the topics, can solve the problems and implement them well. As the level, AP Computer Science A course fits in the middle of USACO Silver Basic course. The fall course (CS301A) is easier whereas the spring course (CS301B) is harder than the AP course.
Course Descriptions
Introduction to Programming Courses
These courses are intended for students in 4-6 grades. Students will learn fundamentals of programming while they are working on projects and having fun using Scratch programming language. Note that the focus of the courses is not the language itself but the programming concept fundamentals and problem solving skills.
Scratch is a programming language and an online community where children can program and share interactive media such as stories, games, and animation with people from all over the world. As children create with Scratch, they learn to think creatively, work collaboratively, and reason systematically. Scratch is designed and maintained by the Lifelong Kindergarten group at the MIT Media Lab.
Related courses are CS101A (basic) and CS102A (advanced) in fall, CS101B (basic) and CS102B (advanced) in spring and CS101AB in summer.
CS101A: Introduction to Programming Basic (Fall)
Objectives:
- finish the first part of AlphaStar Introduction to Programming Basic curriculum
- provide initial programming experience
- understand the fundamental programming concepts and be able to implement them
- boost problem solving skills
Prerequisites:
Following prerequisites have to be satisfied
- for grades 4-6
- no background in programming is necessary
- robust math background is strongly recommended
Topics:
- Variables
- Conditions
- Loops
- Lists (Arrays)
- String processing
CS101B: Introduction to Programming Basic (Spring)
Objectives:
- finish the second part of AlphaStar Introduction to Programming Basic curriculum
- understand the fundamental programming concepts and be able to implement them
- boost problem solving skills
Prerequisites:
Following prerequisites have to be satisfied:
- for grades 4-6
- successfully completed CS101A course by finishing more than 60% of the problem sets
Topics:
- String processing review
- Nested conditions
- Nested loops
- Multi-threading
- Matrices
- Functions
CS101AB: Introduction to Programming (Summer)
This course is equivalent to take both the year-round courses CS101A and CS101B
Objectives:
- finish AlphaStar Introduction to Programming Basic curriculum
- provide initial programming experience
- understand the fundamental programming concepts and be able to implement them
- boost problem solving skills
Prerequisites:
Following prerequisites have to be satisfied:
- for grades 4-6 (who finished 4th grade)
- no background in programming is necessary
- robust math background is strongly recommended
Topics:
- Variables
- Conditions
- Loops
- Lists (Arrays)
- String processing
- Nested conditions
- Nested loops
- Multi-threading
- Matrices
- Functions
CS102A: Introduction to Programming Advanced (Fall)
Objectives:
- finish the first part of AlphaStar Introduction to Programming Advanced curriculum
- learn to deal with more challenging algorithmic problems
- comfortably implement solutions
- get ready for USACO Bronze level courses
Prerequisites:
Following prerequisites have to be satisfied:
- for grades 4-6
- successfully completed CS101B course by finishing more than 60% of the problem sets or strong programming background in Scratch
- robust math background is strongly recommended
Topics:
- Variables
- Conditions
- Loops
- Lists (Arrays)
- String processing
CS102B: Introduction to Programming Advanced (Spring)
Objectives:
- finish the second part of AlphaStar Introduction to Programming Advanced curriculum
- learn to deal with more challenging algorithmic problems
- comfortably implement solutions
- get ready for USACO Bronze level courses
Prerequisites:
Following prerequisites have to be satisfied:
- for grades 4-6
- successfully completed CS102A course by finishing more than 60% of the problem sets
- robust math background is strongly recommended
Topics:
- String processing review
- Nested conditions
- Nested loops
- Multi-threading
- Matrices
- Functions
Intro to Programming Basic vs Intro to Programming Advanced Courses
The following table provides the comparison between courses:
| Introduction to Programming Basic | Introduction to Programming Advanced | |
| Objectives |
– provide initial programming experience – understand the fundamental programming concepts and be able to implement them – boost problem solving skills |
– learn to deal with harder algorithmic problems – comfortably implements solutions – get ready for USACO Bronze course |
| Prerequisites |
– for grades 4-6 – no background in programming is necessary – robust math background is strongly recommended |
– for grades 4-6 – finish Intro to Programming Basic course successfully or strong programming background on Scratch – robust math background is strongly recommended |
| Content |
– considerable amount of lectures – easier problem sets / projects |
– very brief lectures when necessary – much harder problem sets / projects |
| Sample project |
The following project requires problem solving skills using loops. |
The following project requires problem solving skills using matrices (2D arrays). |
USACO Bronze Courses
These courses are for students with very little or no programming background. The language used is C++. The focus is the fundamentals of programming and problem solving hence object oriented part of the language and other details will not be taught. At the end of the course, the goal is to finish AlphaStar USACO Bronze Curriculum and to be comfortable in solving USACO Bronze division problems. Programming background is not required whereas strong Math background is required.
Related courses are CS201A in fall, CS201B in spring and CS201AB in summer.
CS201A: USACO Bronze (Fall / Winter)
Objectives:
- finish the first part of AlphaStar USACO Bronze curriculum
- provide initial programming experience in C++
- understand the fundamental programming concepts and be able to implement them
- boost problem solving skills
Prerequisites:
At least one of the following requirements has to be satisfied:
-
- finished Algebra I
- qualified for MathCounts State Competition
- successfully completed CS102B course by finishing more than 60% of the problem sets
- USACO Bronze contestant
- Accelerated track:
- successfully completed CS101AB course by finishing more than 90% of the problem sets or
- successfully completed CS101A and CS101B courses by finishing more than 90% of the problem sets
Note that no background in programming is necessary for this course
Topics:
- Variables
- Conditions
- Loops
- Arrays
- Strings
CS201B: USACO Bronze (Spring)
Objectives:
- finish the second part of AlphaStar USACO Bronze curriculum
- understand the fundamental programming concepts and be able to implement them
- boost problem solving skills
Prerequisites:
Following prerequisite have to be satisfied:
- successfully completed CS201A course by finishing more than 60% of the problem sets
Topics:
- Strings review
- Nested conditions
- Nested loops
- Matrices
- Functions
- Introductory USACO Silver problems
CS201AB: USACO Bronze (Summer)
This course is equivalent to take both the year-round courses CS201A and CS201B
Objectives:
- finish AlphStar USACO Bronze curriculum
- provide initial programming experience
- understand the fundamental programming concepts and be able to implement them
- boost problem solving skills
Prerequisites:
At least one of the following requirements has to be satisfied:
-
- finished Algebra I
- qualified for MathCounts State Competition
- USACO Bronze contestant
- successfully completed CS102B course by finishing more than 60% of the problem sets
- Accelerated track:
- successfully completed CS101AB course by finishing more than 90% of the problem sets or
- successfully completed CS101A and CS101B courses by finishing more than 90% of the problem sets
Note that no background in programming is necessary for this course
Topics:
- Variables
- Conditions
- Loops
- Arrays
- Strings
- Strings review
- Nested conditions
- Nested loops
- Matrices
- Functions
- Introductory USACO Silver problems
USACO Silver Courses
These courses are for students who have programming background or compete in USACO Silver division. Students who know C++ or Java are welcome.
Related courses are CS301A (basic) and CS302A (advanced) in fall, CS301B (basic) and CS302B (advanced) in spring and CS301AB in summer.
CS301A: USACO Silver Basic (Fall)
Objectives:
- finish the first part of AlphaStar USACO Silver Basic curriculum
- understand the concepts in USACO Silver level and be able to implement them
- be able solve easy/medium USACO Silver problems
Prerequisites:
At least one of the following requirements has to be satisfied:
- scored more than 600 points in a USACO Bronze contest
- USACO Silver level contestant
- successfully completed CS201B or CS201AB course by finishing more than 60% of the problem sets
Topics:
- Introductory USACO Silver problems
- Sorting and Searching
- Simple string processing
- Non-recursive floodfill
- Simulation problems
- Greedy methods
CS301B: USACO Silver Basic (Spring)
Objectives:
- finish the second part of AlphaStar USACO Silver Basic curriculum
- understand the concepts in USACO Silver level and be able to implement them
- be able solve easy/medium USACO Silver problems
Prerequisites:
At least one of the following requirements has to be satisfied:
- USACO Silver level contestant
- successfully completed AP Computer Science A course
- successfully completed CS301A course by finishing more than 60% of the problem sets
Topics:
- Recursion
- Simple data structures
- Depth first search
- Breadth first search
- Hard implementation problems
CS301AB: USACO Silver (Summer)
This course is equivalent to take both the year-round courses CS301A and CS301B. Note that although the topics are the same, the problem sets mostly different.
Objectives:
- finish AlphStar USACO Silver Basic curriculum
- understand the concepts in USACO Silver level and be able to implement them
- be able solve easy/medium/hard USACO Silver problems
Prerequisites:
At least one of the following requirements has to be satisfied:
- scored more than 600 points in a USACO Bronze contest
- USACO Silver level contestant
- successfully completed CS201B or CS201AB course by finishing more than 60% of the problem sets
Topics:
- Introductory USACO Silver problems
- Sorting and Searching
- Simple string processing
- Non-recursive floodfill
- Simulation problems
- Greedy methods
- Recursion
- Data structures
- Depth first search
- Breadth first search
- Hard implementation problems
CS301P: USACO Silver Problem Solving (Winter)
The course is for students who already know USACO Silver concepts and want to improve problem solving skills. Students will intensively work on former USACO Silver problems and their analysis. There is no lecturing other than short reviews in class.
Objectives:
- comfortably implement USACO Silver level solutions and pass USACO Silver contest
Prerequisites:
At least one of the following requirements has to be satisfied:
- scored more than 400 points in a USACO Silver contest
- successfully completed AP Computer Science A course
- successfully completed CS301B or CS301AB course by finishing more than 60% of the problem sets
Topics:
- Sorting and Searching
- Recursion
- Depth first search
- Breadth first search
CS302A: USACO Silver Advanced (Fall)
Objectives:
- finish the first part of AlphaStar USACO Silver Advanced curriculum
- be able to solve hard USACO Silver problems
- comfortably implement USACO Silver level solutions
- get ready for USACO Gold course
Prerequisites:
At least one of the following requirements has to be satisfied:
- scored more than 400 points in a USACO Silver contest
- successfully completed AP Computer Science A course
- successfully completed CS301B or CS301AB course by finishing more than 60% of the problem sets
Topics:
- Introductory USACO Silver problems
- Sorting and Searching
- Simple string processing
- Non-recursive floodfill
- Simulation problems
- Greedy methods
CS302B: USACO Silver Advanced (Spring)
Objectives:
- finish the second part of AlphaStar USACO Silver Advanced curriculum
- be able to solve hard USACO Silver problems
- comfortably implement USACO Silver level solutions
- get ready for USACO Gold course
Prerequisites:
At least one of the following requirements has to be satisfied:
- scored more than 400 points in a USACO Silver contest
- successfully completed AP Computer Science A course
- successfully completed CS301B or CS301AB course by finishing more than 60% of the problem sets
Note that CS302A is not a prerequisite of this course. They can be taken in any order.
Topics:
- Recursion
- Simple data structures
- Depth first search
- Breadth first search
- Hard implementation problems
USACO Gold Courses
These courses are for students who are competing in USACO Gold division. Students who know C++ or Java are welcome.
Related courses are CS401A (basic) and CS402A (advanced) in fall, CS401B (basic) and CS402B (advanced) in spring and CS401AB in summer.
CS401A: USACO Gold Basic (Fall)
Objectives:
- finish the first part of AlphaStar USACO Gold Basic curriculum
- understand the concepts in USACO Gold level and be able to implement them
- be able solve easy/medium USACO Gold problems
Prerequisites:
At least one of the following requirements has to be satisfied:
-
- scored more than 600 points in a USACO Silver contest
- USACO Gold level contestant
- successfully completed CS302B course by finishing more than 60% of the problem sets
- Accelerated track:
- successfully completed CS301AB course by finishing more than 90% of the problem sets or
- successfully completed CS301A and CS301B courses by finishing more than 90% of the problem sets
Topics:
- Searching techniques
- Data structures
- Graph algorithms
CS401B: USACO Gold Basic (Spring)
Objectives:
- finish the second part of AlphaStar USACO Gold Basic curriculum
- understand the concepts in USACO Gold level and be able to implement them
- be able solve easy/medium USACO Gold problems
Prerequisites:
At least one of the following requirements has to be satisfied:
-
- scored more than 600 points in a USACO Silver contest
- USACO Gold level contestant
- successfully completed CS302B course by finishing more than 60% of the problem sets
- Accelerated track:
- successfully completed CS301AB course by finishing more than 90% of the problem sets or
- successfully completed CS301A and CS301B courses by finishing more than 90% of the problem sets
Note that CS401A is not a prerequisite of this course. They can be taken in any order.
Topics:
- Dynamic programming
- Greedy methods
- Elementary geometric algorithms
CS401AB: USACO Gold (Summer)
This course is equivalent to take both the year-round courses CS401A and CS401B. Note that although the topics are the same, the problem sets mostly different.
Objectives:
- finish AlphaStar USACO Gold Basic curriculum
- understand the concepts in USACO Gold level and be able to implement them
- be able solve easy/medium/hard USACO Gold problems
Prerequisites:
At least one of the following requirements has to be satisfied:
-
- scored more than 600 points in a USACO Silver contest
- USACO Gold level contestant
- successfully completed CS302B course by finishing more than 60% of the problem sets
- Accelerated track:
- successfully completed CS301AB course by finishing more than 90% of the problem sets or
- successfully completed CS301A and CS301B courses by finishing more than 90% of the problem sets
Topics:
- Searching techniques
- Data structures
- Graph algorithms
- Dynamic programming
- Greedy methods
- Elementary geometric algorithms
CS401P: USACO Gold (Winter)
This course is for students who already know USACO Gold concepts and have some experience in standard algorithms. Students will intensively work on former USACO Silver problems and their analysis. There is no lecturing other than short reviews in class.
Objectives:
- comfortably implement USACO Gold level solutions and pass USACO Gold contest
Prerequisites:
At least one of the following requirements has to be satisfied:
- scored more than 400 points in a USACO Gold contest
- successfully completed CS401B or CS401AB course by finishing more than 60% of the problem sets
Topics:
- Graph algorithms
- Dynamic programming
CS402A: USACO Gold Advanced (Fall)
Objectives:
- finish the first part of AlphaStar USACO Gold Advanced curriculum
- be able to solve hard USACO Gold problems
- comfortably implement USACO Gold level solutions
- get ready for USACO Platinum course
Prerequisites:
At least one of the following requirements has to be satisfied:
- scored more than 400 points in a USACO Gold contest
- successfully completed CS401B or CS401AB course by finishing more than 60% of the problem sets
Topics:
- Searching techniques
- Data structures
- Graph algorithms
CS402B: USACO Gold Advanced (Spring)
Objectives:
- finish the second part of AlphaStar USACO Gold Advanced curriculum
- be able to solve hard USACO Gold problems
- comfortably implement USACO Gold level solutions
- get ready for USACO Platinum course
Prerequisites:
At least one of the following requirements has to be satisfied:
- scored more than 400 points in a USACO Gold contest
- successfully completed CS401B or CS401AB course by finishing more than 60% of the problem sets
Note that CS402A is not a prerequisite of this course. They can be taken in any order.
Topics:
- Dynamic programming
- Greedy methods
- Elementary geometric algorithms
USACO Platinum Courses
These courses are for students who are competing in USACO Platinum division. Students who know C++ or Java are welcome.
Related courses are CS501A in fall, CS501B in spring and CS501AB in summer.
CS501A: USACO Platinum (Fall)
Objectives:
- finish the first part of AlphaStar USACO Platinum curriculum
- understand the concepts in USACO Platinum level and be able to implement them
- be able solve USACO Platinum problems
Prerequisites:
At least one of the following requirements has to be satisfied:
-
- scored more than 600 points in a USACO Gold contest
- USACO Platinum level contestant
- successfully completed CS402B course by finishing more than 60% of the problem sets
- Accelerated track:
- successfully completed CS401AB course by finishing more than 90% of the problem sets or
- successfully completed CS401A and CS401B courses by finishing more than 90% of the problem sets
Topics:
- Dynamic programming
- Advanced data structures
- Advanced searching techniques
CS501B: USACO Platinum (Spring)
Objectives:
- finish the second part of AlphaStar USACO Platinum curriculum
- understand the concepts in USACO Platinum level and be able to implement them
- be able solve USACO Platinum problems
Prerequisites:
At least one of the following requirements has to be satisfied:
-
- scored more than 600 points in a USACO Gold contest
- USACO Platinum level contestant
- successfully completed CS402B course by finishing more than 60% of the problem sets
- Accelerated track:
- successfully completed CS401AB course by finishing more than 90% of the problem sets or
- successfully completed CS401A and CS401B courses by finishing more than 90% of the problem sets
Note that CS501A is not a prerequisite of this course. They can be taken in any order.
Topics:
- Advanced dynamic programming
- Advanced graph algorithms
- Geometric algorithms
CS501AB: USACO Platinum (Summer)
This course is equivalent to take both the year-round courses CS501A and CS501B. Note that although the topics are the same, the problem sets are mostly different.
Objectives:
- finish AlphaStar USACO Platinum curriculum
- understand the concepts in USACO Platinum level and be able to implement them
- be able solve USACO Platinum problems
Prerequisites:
At least one of the following requirements has to be satisfied:
-
- scored more than 600 points in a USACO Gold contest
- USACO Platinum level contestant
- successfully completed CS402B course by finishing more than 60% of the problem sets
- Accelerated track:
- successfully completed CS401AB course by finishing more than 90% of the problem sets or
- successfully completed CS401A and CS401B courses by finishing more than 90% of the problem sets
Topics:
- Dynamic programming
- Advanced data structures
- Advanced searching techniques
- Advanced dynamic programming
- Advanced graph algorithms
- Geometric algorithms
CS501P: USACO Platinum (Winter)
The course is for students who mastered standard algorithms and capable of working on complex tasks. Students will intensively work on former USACO Platinum problems and their analysis. There is no lecturing other than short reviews in class. It is assumed that students already know the USACO Platinum topics.
Objectives:
- comfortably implement USACO Gold Platinum level solutions and become one of the USACO finalists.
Prerequisites:
At least one of the following requirements has to be satisfied:
- USACO Platinum level contestant
- successfully completed CS501A or CS501AB course by finishing more than 60% of the problem sets
Topics:
- Range searching
- Advanced dynamic programming
- Advanced graph algorithms
Master Classes
Master classes are for students
CS503M: Turing Master Course
This course prepares individuals and teams for prestigious high school computer science competitions such as USACO National Camp, ACM High School Programming Contests, Stanford ProCo, Codeforces, and Top Coder.
The course is composed of 10 sessions in total year-round. It is focused on solving contest problems, contest strategies and teamwork.
Prerequisites:
This course is only for USACO Platinum Division or above contestants.
AlphStar CS Curriculum vs School CS Curriculum
AlphaStar CS Courses are different than the CS courses in school curriculum. The major difference is the perspective. AlphaStar CS Program focuses on acquiring the skills of using the topics to solve problems whereas school curriculum mostly focuses on teaching the topic itself and language details.
AlphaStar CS Courses correspond the following portions of the K-16 CS curriculum:
| School course | AlphaStar course | Comments |
| Middle school Introduction to Programming | AlphaStar Introduction to Programming Basic | School course is more language oriented whereas AlphaStar course is more focused on problem solving |
| High school Introduction to Programming / Java / C++ | USACO Bronze | School course teaches object oriented part of the language whereas in depth problems are solved in AlphStar course |
| AP CS A | USACO Silver Basic | USACO Silver is much harder in terms of problem sets but doesn’t include object-oriented and software engineering topics |
| College Junior year Algorithms | USACO Gold Basic | |
| Graduate level Advanced Data Structures and Algorithms | USACO Platinum |
Online Self-Study Courses
AlphaStar offers online computer science courses in self-study format. Currently, courses don’t have live lectures or video recordings. All courses other than Introduction to Programming courses are available online.
Provided Services in Online Courses
The following services will be provided to the enrolled students:
- the curriculum and the course materials are the same as the onsite courses
- lecture notes will be provided in print in advance as a booklet in all courses except advanced ones (since advanced courses doesn’t have lectures but only problem sets)
- each student will have an AlphaStar e-learning account
- students will solve the exercises / problem sets in their accounts at home
- students will submit their solutions for the weekly problems which will be graded by the automated grader
- almost all the problems are former USACO contest problems
- quizzes / exams will be taken online
- solutions of a problem set will be available after two weeks the problem set is provided
- students can post their questions to the course discussion forum
Diagnostic Exams
The following table provides guidelines for selecting the right A-Star Computer Science course. To take an exam, you need a USACO account (if you don't have, you can easily sign up free at usaco.org). Click on the exam link provided below and find the right exam on the page. Try to solve the problems - unlimited time and trials. You can determine the right course based on your results and the recommendations provided below.| Level | Diagnostic Exam | Recommendation |
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| USACO Bronze | USACO December'16: Bronze contest problems:
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| USACO Silver | USACO March'13: Bronze contest problems:
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| USACO Gold | USACO February'14: Silver contest problems:
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| USACO Platinum | USACO US Open'14: Silver contest problems:
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