USAAIO 2024 · Round 1 (set) [reconstructed]
The 2024 USA-NA-AIO Round 1 was the inaugural online qualifying round. Its problem PDFs are not publicly archived on usaaio.org/past-problems (which begins with 2025). The five walkthroughs in this set are [reconstructed] from the 2024 syllabus and from the format documented for Round 1 in subsequent years. Treat them as syllabus-style mocks until the 2024 archive is released.
Round metadata
| Year | 2024 (inaugural USAAIO) |
|---|---|
| Round | Round 1, online |
| Problems | 5 (reconstructed) |
| Duration | Multi-week window [verify exact dates] |
| Hardware | Contestant's laptop; CPU-only friendly |
| Allowed | NumPy, scikit-learn, PyTorch, pandas |
| Scoring | 100 pts per problem · 500 pts total [illustrative] |
Problems
Probability & Bayes
Conditional probability, Bayes' rule, the naive-Bayes classifier from first principles.
Linear regression & gradient descent
Closed-form least squares, SGD by hand, regularisation, bias-variance.
Decision trees & ensembles
Gini / entropy splits, build a tree from scratch, then bag + boost.
MLP for MNIST-style classification
Two-layer MLP from scratch, training loop, regularisation, evaluation.
Word embeddings & sentence classification
Train word2vec-style embeddings, average to sentence vectors, classify.
How to use this set
- Treat each problem as a 90-minute mock. The reconstructed wording captures the skill each problem tests, even if the exact dataset differs from what 2024 contestants saw.
- Sit P1–P3 in one weekend (math + ML), P4–P5 in another (DL + NLP).
- Don't skip the drills. Every Round-1 problem rewards mechanical correctness; drilling those sub-skills is what closes the gap.
- If the official 2024 problems publish later, update each walkthrough's statement to the verbatim wording.