Yamazaki on IOAI Prep

Since the end of June, the schedule has been very packed, with almost no chance for proper rest: we started with the first training camp, where the team was formed and the participants worked on Team Selection contests. Then came a week and a half break, followed immediately by EUROAI (where our residents performed excellently), and now, after just another week, we are at the second training camp.

The participants who passed all the selection rounds and reached the Team Selection stage are real monsters and are making strong progress in learning data science. Since the first camp, we have worked through a huge number of problems and covered various topics, from classical linear regression to the finer points of modern transformer design. The full breadth of this knowledge is essential for choosing the right tools to solve olympiad problems, where the key constraints are the number, quality, and speed of testable hypotheses. I really hope the participants’ hard work pays off, and I am immensely grateful to all the coaches who shared their expertise with them.