The USA Computing Olympiad (USACO) is one of the most respected programming competitions for middle and high school students — used by colleges as a signal of genuine algorithmic ability, and a stepping stone toward the International Olympiad in Informatics. This course prepares students for the Bronze division, the first step into competitive programming.
How to read a contest problem, estimate whether a solution will run fast enough, and translate that thinking into clean, complete code under time pressure — the core skills every USACO competitor needs, practiced on real past contest problems.
Students should have completed our core and advanced Python sequence, through Advanced Python: Ternary and Recursion.
Students with a solid Python foundation who want to start competing, and students aiming to advance into the Silver division.
Students who complete this course will be ready to register for and compete in real USACO contests.