I use python and am currently an Expert on codeforces. I come across an unfair tle issue about once every months or so, when practicing. Didn’t really face any issues in a challenge till date. It’s honestly quite chill, if your algorithm’s right, it’ll pass 98% of the time. More on reddit.com

Opinions are going to differ even amongst top competitive programmers. See benq's advice and Errichto's . Everyone's different so you're going to have figure out what works for you. Also, if you're practicing for interviews and not for competitive programming, it might be inefficient to spend a lot of time being stuck. My personal preference is to solve all problems myself, and leave a problem for later if I can't. But I do like to read editorials after solving to see if there are better solutions. And don't miss Um_nik's answer to Q: But there are problems that require some standard things! Most people, especially beginners, don't have someone they can ask for help. They have to learn the standard patterns another way. Edit: Wording More on reddit.com

Test Cases generally expect you to provide output exactly as requested. For instance, if they want you to return something, but you log it to the console instead, it doesn't matter if the answer was correct, the test cases can't validate that because it expects the value to be returned. So, without seeing the exact question, and your exact code, it would be impossible to say what you're doing wrong. But generally speaking, you have to read the requirements carefully and ensure your code conforms to those requirements. More on reddit.com

Yep prob restrict yourself from easys for the next 100+ questions at least til you’re used to medium More on reddit.com