And how to prepare for it?
Have you heard of the CCC? Did you know that participating in the CCC might help you with university applications and scholarships?
If not, then you’ve come to the right place! (But don’t click away even if you have! We want to see you succeed so read on to find out how.)
We are a little bit less than a month away from the 2023 CCC but there’s still time to start getting familiar with it.
In today’s blog, we will cover the following topics:
- What is the CCC?
- When is the CCC?
- Who is the CCC for?
- Why should you take the CCC?
- How to best prepare for it?
So what exactly is the CCC?
The CCC stands for the Canadian Computing Competition. It’s meant to be a fun challenge for participants with an interest in programming. You might often hear the CCC being referred to as the “Waterloo CCC” and that’s because the competition is organized by the Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing (CEMC) at the University of Waterloo.
“Designed to be both accessible to participants with some programming experience and to challenge the keenest programmers at the secondary school level, the CCC helps participants build confidence and grow their ability to design, understand and implement algorithms.”
The 2023 CCC is coming up soon!
The CCC is held online every year in February. The deadline for ordering the 2023 CCC is February 7, 2023.
If you are a secondary school student with a special interest in programming, then this is the competition for you!
There’s no need to be stressed out about competing with others who might be more experienced in programming because according to the official CCC guidelines, participants may choose to write at the Junior or Senior level of the competition.
The Junior level is for those with beginner programming skills while the Senior level is for participants with intermediate to advanced programming skills.
But HEY! Who doesn’t love a challenge?
Why should you take the CCC?
Similar to any type of STEM competitions, participating in the CCC yields many benefits including:
- Challenge yourself and your problem-solving skills
- Discover and grow your passion in mathematics and computer science
- Develop critical thinking skills
- Further enhance your programming skills and demonstrate your abilities
As further reading on the benefits of participating in STEM competitions, be sure to check out our previous blog article: How STEM Competition Help Develop Problem Solving Skills?
However, one of the most important reasons for participating in the CCC from our perspective is that it serves as a critical asset for university applications.
University of Waterloo specifically pointed out that while contest participation is not a requirement for admission, they strongly encourage applicants to participate, as it is an asset to their application and can help in making Faculty scholarship decisions. This is especially important if you are applying for the Computer Science program because the CCC is an opportunity to test students’ ability in designing and understanding algorithms, as well as in programming.
If University of Waterloo is your dream school, don’t miss out on the opportunity to try the CCC!
Ready to participate in the CCC? Here are some ways to prepare yourself for it
Once you have decided to participate in the CCC, we highly recommend you to spend some time preparing for it.
The most popular and well-known (also FREE) method of preparing is the CCC Online Grader. All you need to do is create an account and you can start accessing previous competitions and practice for free.
You can discover more ways directly through the CEMC website.
At Wiz Robotics, we have designed a CCC prep course to help you in this journey. All you have to do is enroll in the course, attend classes, and practice!
Participating in the CCC is a challenging but rewarding experience. We strongly encourage aspiring STEM students who are passionate about computer science and mathematics to try out first hand at the competition.
At the end of the day, you have nothing to lose but lots (of skills and knowledge) to gain!