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TSA Reference

Coding HS

Table of Contents

  1. Overview
  2. Rules
  3. Competing
  4. Additional Tips
  5. Examples
  6. Additional Resources

Overview

The TSA Coding event is an on-site event where teams of 1-2 people compete against other teams in a 2-hour coding challenge. The challenge will usually consist of 5 problems.

Rules

  • Only one laptop and set of peripherals (mouse, display, keyboard, etc.) is allowed
  • Only certain languages can be used. They are listed in the themes and problems section of the TSA official website
  • There will be no WiFi during the competition
  • Using a third party library is not allowed and will result in a point deduction
  • You may not communicate with anyone other than your teammate during the competition
  • You cannot prepare code before the competition. All code must be written during the competition
  • The time at which you submit shouldn’t matter

Competing

A good submission has the following qualities:

  • All five problems are solved correctly
  • The logic of the code is easy to follow
  • The code is clean and readable
  • The solution is efficient

Coding is a team partner event so make sure you work well with your partner. Use comments and proper conventions so your code is readable.

Most importantly, practice as much as you can with websites like LeetCode or HackerRank.

Additional Tips

  • Use an IDE or code editor
  • VS Code, Atom, Eclipse, and Notepad++ are all good open-source text-editors you should try out if you haven’t already
  • Charge your laptop, as running out of battery during the competition would be really bad. You may bring a portable charger
  • Submit your folder with your Team ID and the files with the problem numbers. Example: Problem1.java, Problem2.java, etc
  • Eat, drink, and use the restroom before the competition

Examples

Additional Resources