Computer Science problem solving
Computer Science is the nearest lesson you will get to what you study at Hogwarts. A CPU is silicon - sand. You give the sand instructions and magic happens.
That takes some imagination! You can literally do anything, and people are pushing the boundaries all the time. In order to do that though you need to push through all sorts of problems. In this environment, you will solve the problems with code.
If you are reading this as an international student, the language is not the problem, you are almost certainly bi-lingual at the very least. It is how to apply the code to get the outcome you require. That is what the sites below will give you.
BEBRAS
(from the official UK website - https://bebras.uk/ . It also exists in Vietnamese https://www.bebras.vn/ and Korean https://www.bebras.kr, but I cannot supply you any specific links inside those sites)
The Bebras Computing Challenge introduces computational thinking to students. It is organized in over 50 countries and designed to get students all over the world excited about computing. Each participant answers questions that focus on computational and logical thinking and it is completed online in your own school.
It happens in November and will be run in class (it may be worth checking with your teacher to make sure this is the case in your school).
If it has been suggested that you come to this page then you should start on the previous papers. The site may change from year to year but at the time of writing this means https://bebras.uk/index.php?action=user_competitions
Can I suggest you place your ego at the door and start at least an age group down. If you are on the lower limit of an age group you may have to start two down. Do not worry if you cannot
Oxford University Computing Challenge
(from the official UK site https://www.oucc.uk/index.php?action=content&id=24)
The Oxford University Computing Challenge is an invitation event which aims to encourage students who have achieved a top 10% score in the UK Bebras Challenge to develop their skills further and produce programmed solutions to computational thinking problems. At the same time, it is hoped that the archived self-marking tasks will provide a useful resource for all school students studying Computer Science.
A pilot challenge took place in March 2017 with developments added each year. The annual challenge is held online, in schools and supervised by teachers. The participants' solutions are auto-marked by our system soon after.
With Covid, here at BIS HCMC we have tried to do this twice and failed twice :(. We will succeed though! Usually ran in January and is invitational only, you will need to practice! There are though sample questions here.
https://www.oucc.uk/index.php?action=user_competitions
The Perse Computing Challenge
(from the official site https://persecoding.net/)
This competition for UK (+ international) secondary schools pits teams of students in Years 7 to 11 against each other in a timed automated challenge across two rounds each of which can be sat at any point in a nominated working fortnight under local invigilation. Local teacher expertise is not required, merely careful supervision.
Now we are using code to solve problems, very tricky. Again though, practice questions can again be found at https://persecoding.net/practice-material/.
The British Informatics Society
This now takes us up to the cream of the cream. This is hard, but what a thing to have on your CV as you apply for university.
I am not sure if you have seen stranger things but the website is like a blast back to 1996 - https://www.olympiad.org.uk/. However, do not be fooled, the questions in the top right-hand corner, (https://www.olympiad.org.uk/problems.html) are very tricky and worth taking on.
Other nationalities are of course represented - Vietnamese can be found here https://team.vnoi.info/ and Korean for example.
Others
There are always other options you can take on. They will be listed as and when I come across them.
Summary
Well done for making it this far! You can come and speak to me at any time to discuss any of this.
The message I want you to take away though is that it is not enough to learn a language, you need to learn how to apply it to be truly good at what you do. Start at the Bebras, start at the juniors, practice, get better, join in the competitions as they are announced and you will make