These instructions may be handed to the contestants immediately, or at any stage before the contest.

RULES

Please read the rules very carefully.  No credit is given for answers that are not 100% correct.  This may make a difference as to how you approach the contest.

Do not use screen-specific commands in your programs that are not recognised by your printer.  Only answers (sample runs) that are printed will be judged.   If your program runs correctly only when displayed on the screen, your program may be disqualified.

It is not necessary to have a printer during the first two hours of the contest.  You are given time at the end to print out your work.  You are allowed to make minor modifications, such as changing PRINT to LPRINT, to make a printed copy of the answers. Screen dumps are not valid answers.

DIVISIONS

• Beginner programmers up to Grade 10 should compete in the START Division
• All Grade 11 and 12 learners and very experienced programmers from lower grades should compete in the OPEN Division
• Only participants in the OPEN Division qualify for the Third Round.

TIME LIMITS

The programming part of the contest is exactly two hours long.  After that, you are given 30 minutes to print out your results.  Any single program that takes longer than five minutes to run is automatically disqualified.

SCORE SHEET

To keep track of the results, it is necessary that a Score Sheet be stapled to the printout of the questions attempted.  Attach the program listing and the required answers to the Score Sheet.  If you attempted to solve three problems, you should attach three sets of answers and three program listings (source code).  Fill in only the top half of the Score Sheet.

YOUR SOLUTIONS

The format for the output (answer) of each problem should be similar to the one shown in the example, but not necessarily exactly the same.  For example, the spacing in your output could be slightly different if this is not the object of the problem.  The point is: do not waste time making an output exactly the same as the example unless the problem requires it.

OUTSIDE HELP

No outside help is allowed during the contest - including books, programs or other persons.  You may use the help functions which form part of the programming language you have selected.

If you have any questions, you have to ask the contest supervisor. 

HOW GOOD IS GOOD?

The Computer Olympiad leads to participation in the International Olympiad in Informatics (IOI) by the best contestants.  The IOI standards are high, and it might help you to have an indication of what is expected.

Number of problems correctly solved:

1  -  Acceptable to good
2  -  Very good; possibly a local winner
3  -  Outstanding; possibly a provincial winner
4  -  Possibly a national winner
5  -  Possibly an international winner

The average participant completes only one of the problems.

PYTHON PRIZES

The top participants in the Third Round using Python will receive the following prizes – over and above any prizes awarded for coming among the top 6 in South Africa.

Top Python user:                      R30 000
No 2 and 3 Python users:         R20 000 each
No 4, 5 and 6 Python users:     R10 000 each

Ask your teacher for more details.