USACO Guide

A free collection of curated, high-quality resources to take you from Bronze to Platinum and beyond.

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Created by the CP Initiative

Learn USACO. Efficiently.

Stop wasting time searching for problems and tutorials. The USACO Guide provides a comprehensive, organized roadmap carefully designed and crafted for USACO contestants – available to everyone, for free.

Curated Resources

Learn new topics from a vetted list of high-quality resources. If one resource doesn't click, look at another!

Extensive Problemsets

Practice each topic with extensive problemsets and solutions covering a wide range of difficulties.

Progress Tracking

Use our progress-tracking tools to track your progress in the Guide and stay motivated.

Help when you need it

Get help from other community members in the USACO Forum.View Forum →

Trusted by thousands

This guide is written by top USACO contestants, including two-time IOI winner and USACO Problemsetter Benjamin Qi.

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Frequently asked questions

What is the USACO?

USACO stands for the USA Computing Olympiad. Check out the USACO FAQ Page for more information.

Is this an official syllabus?

No, USACO does not have an official syllabus. This guide merely lists topics that have historically appeared in USACO contests; it makes no guarantees about the topics in future USACO contests.

How do I report a problem or ask a question?

If you encounter an issue while using the guide (website bug, typo, broken link, unclear explanation, etc), use the "Contact Us" button. Alternatively, email us at [email protected].

I'm looking for classes, club curriculum...

Check out the Competitive Programming Initiative!

Is this guide for non-USACO competitive programmers?

Of course! While we structure our content around USACO, feel free to use this guide even if you don't do USACO. You will still learn a lot from it!

How can I get help?

If you get stuck, head over to the USACO Forum for help.

How can I contribute?

To learn more about contributing, please visit this page. We appreciate any and all contributions!

Is this open source?

Yes! Check out our GitHub Repository.

Contributors

By the Community, for the Community.

Comprised of USACO Finalists and top USACO competitors, our team is committed to increasing participation in competitive programming.

  • Benjamin Qi

    Benjamin Qi

  • Kevin Sheng

    Kevin Sheng

  • Ryan Chou

    Ryan Chou

  • Nathan Wang

    Nathan Wang

  • Melody Yu

    Melody Yu

  • Bing-Dong Liu

    Bing-Dong Liu

  • Evan Zhao

    Evan Zhao

  • Justin Ji

    Justin Ji

  • Tatha Pandey

    Tatha Pandey

  • Daniel Zhu

    Daniel Zhu

  • Justin Huang

    Justin Huang

  • Trisha Sabadra

    Trisha Sabadra

  • Aakash Gokhale

    Aakash Gokhale

  • Alex Wang

    Alex Wang

  • Andrew Xu

    Andrew Xu

  • Chongtian Ma

    Chongtian Ma

  • Peng Bai

    Peng Bai

  • Rameez Parwez

    Rameez Parwez

Former Team Members

  • Jesse Choe

    Jesse Choe

  • Amy Chang

    Amy Chang

  • Arpan Banerjee

    Arpan Banerjee

  • Daniel Guan

    Daniel Guan

  • Jay Fu

    Jay Fu

  • Maggie Liu

    Maggie Liu

  • Nathan Chen

    Nathan Chen

  • Neo Wang

    Neo Wang

  • Nikhil Chatterjee

    Nikhil Chatterjee

  • Varun Ragunath

    Varun Ragunath

  • Albert Zhu

    Albert Zhu

  • Amogha Pokkulandra

    Amogha Pokkulandra

  • Andrew Wang

    Andrew Wang

  • Atharv Jain

    Atharv Jain

  • Darren Yao

    Darren Yao

  • David Li

    David Li

  • David Zhang

    David Zhang

  • Dustin Miao

    Dustin Miao

  • Faris Raza

    Faris Raza

  • Harry Wang

    Harry Wang

  • Jeffrey Meng

    Jeffrey Meng

  • Juheon Rhee

    Juheon Rhee

  • Michael Cao

    Michael Cao

  • Nathan Gong

    Nathan Gong

  • Pranav Jadhav

    Pranav Jadhav

  • Vikas Thoutam

    Vikas Thoutam

  • Aadit Ambadkar

    Aadit Ambadkar

  • Adham Ibrahim

    Adham Ibrahim

  • Aditya Gupta

    Aditya Gupta

  • Advay Bajpai

    Advay Bajpai

  • Akshar Yeccherla

    Akshar Yeccherla

  • Albert Jiang

    Albert Jiang

  • Alex Chen

    Alex Chen

  • Alex Du

    Alex Du

  • Andi Qu

    Andi Qu

  • Arnan Bawa

    Arnan Bawa

  • Arnav Adhikari

    Arnav Adhikari

  • Ben Dodge

    Ben Dodge

  • Chuyang Wang

    Chuyang Wang

  • Daniel Ge

    Daniel Ge

  • Eric Xu

    Eric Xu

  • Frank Xiao

    Frank Xiao

  • Harsh Akunuri

    Harsh Akunuri

  • Ian Zhang

    Ian Zhang

  • Jaiman Pandya

    Jaiman Pandya

  • Jason Antwi-Appah

    Jason Antwi-Appah

  • Jeffrey Zhang

    Jeffrey Zhang

  • John Tian

    John Tian

  • Jonathan Paulson

    Jonathan Paulson

  • Lokesh Pampatti

    Lokesh Pampatti

  • Mihnea Brebenel

    Mihnea Brebenel

  • Mithil Srungarapu

    Mithil Srungarapu

  • Mrinall Umasudhan

    Mrinall Umasudhan

  • Nathan Zhang

    Nathan Zhang

  • Nikita Gorshkov

    Nikita Gorshkov

  • Oscar Rendón

    Oscar Rendón

  • Paul Chen

    Paul Chen

  • Riley Bonner

    Riley Bonner

  • Shikhar Ahuja

    Shikhar Ahuja

  • Siyong Huang

    Siyong Huang

  • Sofia Yang

    Sofia Yang

  • Stanley Zhao

    Stanley Zhao

  • Vidith Madhu

    Vidith Madhu

  • Vivian Han

    Vivian Han

  • Yifan Ma

    Yifan Ma

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