Approach to completing Usaco Guide

General Questions
#1

I am currently solving the Usaco Guide Gold Section but still Silver in Usaco and have the following questions:

  1. When should I mark a module complete? Is it after solving all the problems in the module or after solving all the starred problems?
  2. How many minutes should I spend on a problem before checking editorial?
  • I’m currently marking a module complete if I’ve solved all problems tagged <= hard + all other harder starred problems. I also automatically skip all other problems that do not fall into this category i.e. Very hard and above tagged problems
  • For some problems, I check editorial as early as 20 mins, others could last for 2 hours+

I don’t know this is a good approach for reaching Platinum at the end of the 2021-2022 season so that’s why I’m asking.

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#2

3rd question: Say I want to learn Geometry in the Platinum Section. Is it good for me to jump between Gold and Plat modules (ie. do both simultaneously) or does it have an effect or something

#3

I would like to know this too.