How the contest rating works

Your rating is a number that goes up or down after each rated contest you take part in. It is on the Rating tab of the leaderboard and on your profile.

Starting out

• Every account starts unrated. The leaderboard and your profile show no number until your first rated contest is applied.
• Behind the scenes everyone starts at 1200, and your first rated contest moves you from there.
• Your first few rated contests move your rating the most. The calculation trusts a new result more before it has seen many of yours, and this extra weight fades over your first five rated contests.

How a change is worked out

The method is Elo based, in the style Codeforces uses. From everyone's ratings it works out the rank you were expected to finish at, then compares it with the rank you actually got. Finish higher than expected and your rating goes up; lower, and it goes down.

What is not rated

• Team contests.
• Contests open only to a course's students.
• Warm-up rounds before a contest.
• Contests made by community organizers, unless a Progsity admin makes one rated before it starts. A contest never becomes rated after it starts, so you always know before you compete.
• Registering unofficially in a division that is not yours.

If a contest's results change later, for example after a rejudge or a disqualification, the ratings from that contest onward are worked out again, so your number can change after the round.

A question about your rating? Open a ticket in Contests and the Judge with the contest's link.