Korea Olympiad in Informatics

Regional competition

Students start with a regional competition. Until 2016, the regional competition was split into a preliminary test and a final test. Now, they are combined into one single test. The regional competition consists of elementary school, middle school, and high school tests. Until 2017, each test consisted of 50 problems. Now, elementary students only have 40 problems, while junior high and high school students both remain with 50 problems. These are written tests that consist of mathematics, data structure, algorithm, programming and more.

National Competition

Secondly, students who get a high score on this test will get a chance of participating in the national competition. Finally, 200 students in each school level (600 students in total) participate in the national competition. The national competition is divided into the elementary school group, junior high school group, and the high school group. Each test has 4–5 problems which require you to make an algorithm for the given problems. Students can make a program only consisting of the C language. They can submit their written program to the competition's server, and it is received and scored in real time until an hour before the competition's end. If two students have an equivalent score, the student who submitted its code in less time is given the priority. Moreover, if the time is the same, the student who got the last effective score is given the priority.

Awards

In competitive programming, the prizes consist of the grand prize (Prime Minister, Minister), 3–4 gold medals (Minister), 45 silver medals (National Information Society Agency prize), 50 bronze medals, and 100–101 participation medals. 3 medals (Minister of Ministry of Science and ICT prize) will also be given to a teacher. The participation prize will be awarded to every student who scored any points. Students who are awarded a silver medal or more will achieve a chance of participation at the Asia-Pacific Informatics Olympiad. Students on the dean’s list will also be selected for the International Olympiad in the Informatics trainee. In the exhibit contest, the prize consists of the grand prize (Minister of Ministry of Science and ICT prize, Prime Minister prize), 1–2 gold prizes (Minister of Ministry of Science and ICT prize), 12 silver prizes (National Information Society Agency prize), and 20 bronze prizes (Korean Institute of Information Scientists and Engineers prize). There are also prizes given to a teacher such as a grand prize and a gold prize.

Trainee Selection

Unlike other Korean Science contests, Mathematics Olympiads and the International Olympiad in Informatics are played through the selection of IOI trainees. It is separated from the Korea Olympiad in Informatics, but some IOI trainees consist of students who got a good score in the national competition. Students from 2nd grade in middle school to 2nd grade in high school can apply, and students will be selected through a written test and interviews. It will be finished in June. The education of a year consists of winter school, first correspondence education, summer school, and second correspondence education. During whole education, weekday education and representative student education will be off.

Summer School and Winter School

At summer school and winter school, students are divided into an elementary class and an advanced class. Elementary class students can participate in summer school first and get 2 sessions of summer school and 2 sessions of winter school in total. They are taught by instructors and assistants. The advanced class gets a discussion class and practical training. The first class gets a lecture and practical training. It takes a total of 2 weeks during their vacation. Correspondence education is implemented during the school semester. The professor gives the students a series of problems and uploads their answers. In order to implement a better efficiency for correspondence education, professors and students meet with each other on weekend education. Weekend education is held to solve the problems and communicate. This course will be implemented twice, one course for each of the first and second correspondence sessions.

Syllabus

National Representatives Selection

Representative selection tests are implemented by prepared PC's and require you to solve 3–4 programming problems for 5 hours. The first selection test is held on the last day of winter school for the winter and summer school students who wish to take the test. The second selection test is held in February for the winter school students, summer school students, and trainees who wish to take the test. Each test’s results are reflected as 40% and 60% in the final selection. Winter school and correspondence education results will be also reflected. The results will be reviewed by the information Olympiad Committee, and the representative student will be confirmed. If the representative students are selected with two representative student selection tests, they will participate in IOI after the 1:1 mentor education, discussions with professors, and practical training with assistants.