--- title: "IOI and Informatics Olympiad Training | Live Online Coaching" description: "You cannot enter the IOI. Your country selects you through its national contests, so that is the real target. Live olympiad training, one to one or batch." canonical: https://learn.modernagecoders.com/ioi-olympiad-informatics-training source: src/pages/ioi-olympiad-informatics-training.html --- > You cannot enter the IOI. Your country selects you through its national contests, so that is the real target. Live olympiad training, one to one or batch. Start here ## The three courses behind this page Olympiad training draws on the advanced competitive programming course. The other two are the ladder up to it. [![Competitive Programming Masterclass course thumbnail](/images/placement-prep-college.webp) CP / 01 Competitive Programming Masterclass The advanced course this page draws on, for university students and serious school-age competitors. Open the syllabus →](/courses/competitive-programming-masterclass-college)[![Competitive Programming for Teens course thumbnail](/images/competitive-programming-teens.webp) CP / 02 Competitive Programming for Teens The school-age version, and the usual starting point for a student aiming at a national olympiad. Open the syllabus →](/courses/competitive-programming-for-teens-course)[![Data Structures and Algorithms course thumbnail](/images/dsa-college.webp) CP / 03 Data Structures and Algorithms The systematic treatment of what olympiad problems assume, and the right answer for a student whose gap is knowledge rather than strategy. Open the syllabus →](/courses/data-structures-algorithms-masterclass-college) The course ## Olympiad training, aimed at your national route Two formats, both live. Small batches group students at a similar level; one to one is built around a specific national calendar and a specific set of gaps. | How it runs | Small batch | One to one | | --- | --- | --- | | Aimed at | A shared level and a shared contest | Your country's route and dates | | Live classes each week | Two, fixed slot | Two, slot agreed with you | | Full five-hour simulations | Monthly | Monthly, timed to the real round | | Two-day simulation | Once a season | Before any selection camp | | Solution review | Group walkthrough plus written notes | Line by line on the student's code | | Subtask strategy work | Every simulation | Every simulation, plus review | | Monthly fee | USD 100 | USD 150 | | Trial | First class free, no card | First class free, no card | [Open the full syllabus](/courses/competitive-programming-masterclass-college) Book the free first class The short answer The International Olympiad in Informatics runs over two competition days, with three tasks and five hours on each day. Each country sends a team of up to four students, accompanied by a leader and deputy, and those students are selected through their own country's national computing contests rather than by application. Contestants compete individually and there is no official team ranking. For almost every student, the working target is therefore the national olympiad rather than the IOI itself. Modern Age Coders coaches that route live online, one to one or in small batches, from USD 100 a month with the first class free. Module by module ## The eight training modules Advanced algorithms occupy half of it. The other half is the part most students never train: endurance, strategy and review. 01 ### C++ for contests, until syntax disappears 5 classes - The standard library as a competitor actually uses it - Writing common implementations from memory, correctly, quickly - Why a student still fighting the language cannot compete on reasoning 02 ### Graphs: traversal, shortest paths, components 7 classes - The algorithms every olympiad problem set assumes - Recognising a graph problem that is not described as one - Implementing from memory under time rather than from notes 03 ### Dynamic programming, until it is a reflex 8 classes - State design, which is the actual difficulty rather than the recurrence - Standard families recognised on sight - Optimisation techniques where the syllabus and the field expect them 04 ### Trees, ranges and advanced data structures 7 classes - Segment trees, binary indexed trees and the queries they serve - Tree algorithms and the decompositions that make them tractable - Choosing the structure from the constraints rather than by habit 05 ### Number theory, combinatorics and geometry basics 6 classes - The mathematics olympiad problem sets actually use - Modular arithmetic done correctly under pressure - Enough geometry to attempt rather than skip those tasks 06 ### Subtask strategy and time allocation 5 classes - Reading all three tasks before committing to any - Banking easy subtasks against chasing a full solve - When to abandon a task, decided in advance rather than at hour four 07 ### Five-hour endurance, and the second day 5 classes - Full-length simulations at a realistic hour - A two-day simulation once a season, which almost nobody does - What concentration failure feels like, met in practice not in the round 08 ### Review, and reading official solutions properly 5 classes - Line-by-line review of every simulation, including good ones - Reading an intended solution until you could reproduce it - Building the next month from the review rather than from a topic list The thing to be clear about first ## You cannot enter the IOI. Your country selects you. Each country sends a team of up to four students, chosen through its own national computing contests. There is no application form anywhere. This matters because it changes what a student should actually be training for. The IOI is the top of a national pyramid, and the base of that pyramid is a contest run in your own country, with its own rounds, its own syllabus emphasis and its own calendar. That contest is the real target for essentially every student who reads a page like this. A coach who talks about the IOI without naming the national route is selling a dream rather than a plan. The honest version is: find out what your country's olympiad is called, find out when its first round runs, and aim at that. Everything above it follows or it does not. The second thing worth knowing is that IOI-level problems are not USACO problems that are slightly harder. Five hours, three tasks, and partial scoring by subtask means the skill being tested includes deciding which subtasks to attempt and in what order, which is a strategic problem laid on top of an algorithmic one. So training splits into three quite separate things: the algorithms, the implementation speed, and the contest strategy. Most students who plateau are strong at the first and have never deliberately practised the third, and it is the cheapest of the three to improve. The competition, exactly ## How the IOI itself is run Worth knowing even while the national contest is the working target, because the national rounds are usually built to resemble it. | | How the IOI works | What it implies for training | | --- | --- | --- | | Competition days | Two | Recovery between days is part of the event | | Tasks per day | Three | Choosing where to spend the hours is a real skill | | Time per day | Five hours | Endurance has to be trained deliberately | | Team size | Up to four students per country | Places are genuinely scarce | | Selection | Through national computing contests | The national round is the working target | | Accompanied by | A leader and a deputy leader | Arrangements run through the national body | | Ranking | Individual, no official team ranking | A student is measured against the field | | Host and dates | Different every year | Check the official site, not a tutoring page | Note the last row. Contestants compete individually and there is no official team ranking, which sometimes surprises families who assume it works like a sporting fixture. A student is measured against the field, not against their teammates, and the four students a country sends are four separate competitors who happen to travel together. The route ## The path from a school student to a national team Written generically, because the names and rounds differ by country and yours is the one that matters. 1. #### Find out what your country actually runs, and when The name, the rounds, the eligibility rules and the first-round date. This differs everywhere and it is the single most useful hour a family can spend, because everything else is scheduled backwards from it. 2. #### Build genuine programming fluency first, usually in C++ Olympiad problems assume a student can implement a known algorithm quickly and correctly without thinking about syntax. A student still fighting the language cannot compete, however good their reasoning is. 3. #### Work the standard algorithm library until recognition is instant Graphs, shortest paths, dynamic programming, trees, number theory. At this level almost every competitor knows these, so the differentiator is recognising which one a problem is within minutes rather than after an hour. 4. #### Train the five-hour format, not just the material Full-length sessions, three tasks, no interruption, at a realistic hour. Concentration across five hours is a distinct trainable capacity and it is the one most students never work on at all. 5. #### Practise subtask strategy explicitly Partial scoring means deciding which subtasks to attempt, in what order, and when to abandon one. This is a strategic skill separate from algorithms, and it is the cheapest of the three to improve. 6. #### Review every contest line by line, including the ones that went well What was misread, where the hours went, which subtask was left on the table, and what the intended solution was. Improvement at this level comes from the review far more than from the attempt. Where olympiad contests are lost ## Six things that separate students at this level At this level almost everybody knows the algorithms. These are the differences that remain. ### Leaving subtasks on the table Partial scoring rewards a student who banks the easier subtasks of all three tasks over one who chases a full solve on the hardest. Deciding this deliberately, early in the five hours, is worth more than another algorithm. ### Implementation speed, not knowledge At this level nearly everyone knows the algorithm. The gap is how long it takes to write it correctly, and that is closed by rewriting the same standard implementations until they are automatic. ### Losing the second day Two competition days means recovery matters. Students who train only in single sessions have never found out what their second five hours feel like, and it is not the same as the first. ### No systematic debugging under pressure A five-hour contest with a wrong answer and no procedure is a five-hour contest lost. Stress testing and bisection are the difference between recovering and stalling. ### Training material above the current level The same error USACO students make, one level higher. Studying research-adjacent techniques while still losing marks to implementation speed feels productive and changes nothing. ### Never having read an official solution properly Reading the intended solution to a problem you failed, in full, until you could reproduce it, is the highest-value hour in olympiad training and the one students most often skip in favour of another attempt. Told apart properly ## National olympiad training against USACO training Related, overlapping, and not the same preparation. Many of our students do both. | | National olympiad and IOI route | USACO | | --- | --- | --- | | Entry | Through your national body | Open registration | | Contest length | Typically five hours | Four to five hours | | Tasks | Three per day, two days at the IOI | Three per contest | | Scoring | Partial credit by subtask | Points by test case | | Progression | Rounds and selection camps | Four divisions, promotion by cutoff | | Best used as | The actual goal | The measuring stick and the training ladder | In practice [USACO](/usaco-preparation-online-coaching) is the best-organised training ladder in the world for this material, and we use it heavily even for students whose actual target is a different country's olympiad, because the division structure gives an honest measure of where someone is. What it does not do is teach the five-hour, subtask-strategy discipline that olympiad rounds demand, and that is trained separately. Being straight about it ## What we will not tell you about the IOI **We cannot get anybody selected.** Selection runs through your national body and its own contests, and we have no relationship with any of them. What a coach controls is whether a student arrives at those contests able to compete, which is the entire job. **We will not name your country's route for you without checking.** National olympiads differ in name, structure, eligibility and calendar, and a confident wrong answer about your country is worse than no answer. We will find out with you on the first call. **We will not print the current host or dates.** They change annually. The official site is the correct source and stays correct, which a page like this would not. **We will tell you when this is the wrong ambition.** Olympiad training at this level costs a very large number of hours over several years, and for many strong students a different use of those hours produces more. That is a real conversation and we would rather have it early. Outcomes ## What a student can do after a season of training Observable in a simulation. Selection is not on this list, because selection is not something a coach controls. ### Read all three tasks and plan the five hours before coding Rather than starting on task one because it is first, which is how hours disappear. ### Decide subtasks deliberately Banking accessible partial credit across all three tasks instead of chasing one full solve, which partial scoring rewards. ### Implement standard algorithms from memory, quickly and correctly Because at this level the differentiator is implementation speed rather than knowing which algorithm applies. ### Recognise a problem family within minutes Graph, dynamic programming, range query or number theory, identified early enough that the remaining hours are usable. ### Debug systematically inside a contest With stress testing and bisection as a procedure, which turns a stalled five hours into a recovered one. ### Sustain a full five-hour session, twice Having trained a two-day simulation at least once, which is the part almost no self-taught competitor ever does. ### Read an official solution until they could reproduce it Which is the highest-value hour in olympiad training and the one most often skipped for another attempt. ### Describe honestly where their own contest went wrong Naming the misread, the time sink and the abandoned subtask, which is where the next month's plan comes from. The catalogue ## The courses this sits inside Olympiad training runs from the competitive programming track. The rest are the foundations it assumes and the school qualifications that run alongside it. I ### Competitive programming Where olympiad training comes from CP / 01 #### Competitive Programming Masterclass The advanced course this page draws on, for university students and serious school-age competitors. [Open the syllabus](/courses/competitive-programming-masterclass-college) CP / 02 #### Competitive Programming for Teens The school-age version, and the usual starting point for a student aiming at a national olympiad. [Open the syllabus](/courses/competitive-programming-for-teens-course) CP / 03 #### Data Structures and Algorithms The systematic treatment of what olympiad problems assume, and the right answer for a student whose gap is knowledge rather than strategy. [Open the syllabus](/courses/data-structures-algorithms-masterclass-college)II ### The language C++ almost always, at this level LANG / 01 #### C++ Programming Masterclass The language taken properly rather than as contest syntax, which is what removes implementation speed as a limiting factor. [Open the syllabus](/courses/cpp-programming-complete-masterclass-college) LANG / 02 #### C++ Programming for Teens The school-age route into the same place, for a competitor starting early. [Open the syllabus](/courses/cpp-programming-masterclass-for-teens) LANG / 03 #### Java Programming Masterclass Viable at national level and used by a minority of strong competitors, particularly those also sitting a Java qualification. [Open the syllabus](/courses/complete-java-programming-masterclass-college) LANG / 04 #### Python for Teens Where many competitors begin, and where time limits eventually make a move to C++ sensible. [Open the syllabus](/courses/python-complete-masterclass-teens)III ### Alongside the training School qualifications and adjacent contests NEXT / 01 #### AP Computer Science A Exam Prep The school qualification many olympiad students are sitting at the same time. [Open the syllabus](/courses/ap-computer-science-a-java-exam-prep-course) NEXT / 02 #### Cambridge AS and A Level Computer Science 9618 The other common school qualification, whose practical paper benefits directly from contest training. [Open the syllabus](/courses/cambridge-a-level-computer-science-9618-course) NEXT / 03 #### IB Diploma Computer Science For students in the diploma whose contest training runs in parallel with it. [Open the syllabus](/courses/ib-diploma-computer-science-course) NEXT / 04 #### Olympiad and Competition Mathematics The mathematics side, which shares more with informatics olympiads than most students expect. [Open the syllabus](/courses/olympiad-competition-mathematics-mastery) NEXT / 05 #### Hackathon Prep for Teens A different competitive format for students who want to build as well as to solve. [Open the syllabus](/courses/hackathon-prep-for-teens-coding-ai-build-innovate-win-course) Fees ## What olympiad training costs The same two figures as every other course we teach outside India, monthly, in US dollars. There is no premium for the word olympiad, and the first class is free without a card. Free first class USD 0 no card required - Taught rather than sold - A real diagnostic on the exam itself - You watch it, then decide Book it Group batch USD 100 a month, billed in US dollars - Five to eight students, one teacher throughout - Live video, never a recording - Past-paper work between classes, marked by the teacher - Certificate on completion Start here One to one USD 150 a month, billed in US dollars - Private teaching, paced to the entry date - The only way to get a weekday morning slot - Syllabus rebuilt around the papers the student is weakest on Enquire What families say ## Rated 4.9 across 547 Google reviews Real reviews from real families. We neither write nor commission them. ★★★★★ "The one step solution for my son. Modern Age Coders make learning coding so simple that kids love it. The teachers explain complex concepts clearly with practical exercises and interactive content." Ria Mukherjee Parent ★★★★★ "Modern Age Coders has been a game-changer for me. I struggled to grasp IT concepts and coding before joining, but their classes transformed everything. I can now confidently write complex programs with ease." Samriddha Mondal Student ★★★★★ "One of the most wonderful education centres out there. Education is not limited to school syllabus but focuses on skill development." Vansh Agarwal Student ★★★★★ "My child Dhairya is really enjoying the Modern Age Coders classes. This is his first online class and he eagerly looks forward to it. I can already see his improvement, and the teachers are very cooperative." Sonam Oswal Parent of Dhairya ★★★★★ "Modern Age Coders have wonderful teachers who teach in a clear, easy and practical way. The teacher boosts students' confidence and inspires them to learn without hesitation." Sonu Goyal Parent ★★★★★ "I highly recommend this computer coding class! The teachers are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about coding." Ritu Kedia Parent The other nine ## The other exams and contests we prepare students for Almost every olympiad student is sitting a school qualification at the same time. These are the ones we teach alongside the training. [AP Computer Science AJava](/ap-computer-science-a-online-classes)[AP Computer Science PrinciplesAny language](/ap-computer-science-principles-online-coaching)[Cambridge IGCSE 0478Python, VB, Java](/cambridge-igcse-computer-science-tuition)[Cambridge A Level 9618Python, VB, Java](/cambridge-a-level-computer-science-online-classes)[UK GCSE Computer SciencePython](/uk-gcse-computer-science-tutoring)[IB Diploma Computer ScienceJava or Python](/ib-computer-science-online-tuition)[USACOC++, Java, Python](/usaco-preparation-online-coaching)[PCEP and PCAPPython](/python-certification-pcep-pcap-course)[Canadian Computing CompetitionC++, Java, Python](/canadian-computing-competition-ccc-prep) Informatics olympiad questions ## What families ask about olympiad training ### How does a student get to the IOI? Through their own country. Each country sends a team of up to four students, selected through its national computing contests, and there is no application route of any kind. That is why the working target for essentially every student is the national olympiad, and why the first thing we establish is what that contest is called in your country and when its first round runs. ### What is the IOI format? Two competition days, three tasks on each day, five hours per day. Contestants compete individually and there is no official team ranking. National rounds are frequently built to resemble this, which is why five-hour endurance and subtask strategy are trained here rather than assumed. ### How much does the training cost? A small batch is USD 100 a month and one to one is USD 150 a month, billed in US dollars. These are the same figures as every other course we teach outside India, because there is no reason a coaching hour should cost more for carrying the word olympiad. ### Can you get my child selected? No. Selection runs through your national body and its own contests, and we have no relationship with any of them. What a coach controls is whether the student arrives at those contests able to compete, and that is the whole of the job. ### Which language should they use? C++ at this level, almost always. The time limits favour it, the standard library saves implementation time, and the great majority of editorial and training material assumes it. Java is viable and Python becomes limiting above national level. ### What age should a student start? Serious training usually begins around thirteen or fourteen, and the constraint is programming fluency rather than age. A student still fighting the syntax cannot compete on reasoning, so the honest first step for many is a year of proper programming rather than contest coaching. ### Is USACO useful if we are not in the United States? Very. It is the best-organised training ladder in the world for this material and its division structure gives an honest measure of where a student actually is, which national contests often do not. We use it heavily even for students whose target is a different country's olympiad. ### What is subtask strategy and why do you emphasise it? Olympiad scoring gives partial credit by subtask, so a competitor must decide which subtasks to attempt, in what order, and when to abandon one. It is a strategic skill sitting on top of the algorithmic one, most students never train it deliberately, and it is the cheapest of the three components to improve. ### When is the IOI and where is it held? It moves every year, so we deliberately do not print it here. The official site is the correct source and it stays correct, which a tutoring page would not. Your national body will also publish the selection calendar that actually affects you. ### How many hours a week does this take? Realistically eight to fifteen including the classes, and more in the weeks around a round. This is a multi-year commitment rather than a term of tuition, and we would rather say that clearly than discover it with you in month four. ### Is it worth it if my child never makes the team? The places are genuinely scarce, so most students who train seriously will not be selected, and any honest coach says so at the start. What the training reliably produces is deep algorithmic ability, real implementation speed and the habit of sustained independent work, which are worth having on their own terms. ### Do you train for the national round or only the IOI? The national round, in almost every case, because that is the contest that actually determines anything. IOI-level material comes in when a student is genuinely near selection, and bringing it in earlier is one of the commonest ways a season is wasted. ### My child is strong but has plateaued. What usually causes that? Three things, in order of frequency: implementation speed rather than knowledge, no deliberate subtask strategy, and never having read an official solution properly to a problem they failed. All three are more fixable than learning another algorithm family, which is what most students try instead. ### What happens in the free first class? A real olympiad-level problem, attempted with the clock running, followed by a conversation about the national route. What we are looking for is not whether it is solved but where the time went, because that identifies which of the three components is actually limiting this student. ### What happens after we send the form? A mentor calls you at a reasonable hour to arrange the free class. Nothing is charged and no card is requested. Tell us the country on the call, because the selection route differs everywhere and it is the first thing we need to look up together. Read next ## The IOI publishes a syllabus, and its exclusions are the useful half. No calculus, no linear algebra, no suffix automata and no requirement to implement a hash table. What that leaves, and why the remaining list is deeper than it is wide. [What the IOI syllabus says to skip](/blog/ioi-syllabus-what-to-learn-and-what-to-skip) Enrol ## Book the free first class, and start from your country's actual route The first class has two halves. One real olympiad-level problem attempted with the clock running, which shows where the hours actually go, and a conversation about the selection route your country runs, which is the thing everything else gets scheduled backwards from. If we do not know your national route we will look it up with you rather than guess at it, because a confident wrong answer about your country is worse than no answer. Rather read first? [USACO preparation](/usaco-preparation-online-coaching), [the full course syllabus](/courses/competitive-programming-masterclass-college), or [how we teach](/how-we-teach). [WhatsApp us](https://wa.me/919123366161?text=Hello%20Modern%20Age%20Coders.%20I%20am%20interested%20in%20informatics%20olympiad%20and%20IOI%20training.) · [+91 91233 66161](tel:+919123366161) · [contact@modernagecoders.com](mailto:contact@modernagecoders.com) Every class is live, one to one or in a small level-matched batch, taught from India at a time arranged with you. Nothing here is a recording. The form starts a conversation, not an enrolment. --- *Canonical: https://learn.modernagecoders.com/ioi-olympiad-informatics-training*