I started to use LeetCode last December when I paid for the premium on the Thanksgiving discount. I had no understandings of complex data structures or algorithms at that time, and I was even confused when I see "class Solution" cause I didn't even know what a class was.

After there six months I have submitted over 2,000 times and solved 570 questions, which is 25% of the total (I know they are increasing :) ). And I am happy to see my contest score is over 2100. And I know more than "class" but also basic C++ as well. It's amazing and I'm getting more and more interested into programming.

Here's something I'd like to share, and I sincerely hope those who still hesitates to enjoy this fabulous LeetCode journey:

1. Practice in Weekly and Biweekly contests. I started to take part in contests since the second week of my coding here. It was hard in the first place, but it is the best way to progress. Solve given problems in limited time and be cautious for each submission are way better than merely practicing the problems. You need to be accurate and fast as well.
2. Use LeetCode study plans. I have to say these plans are well prepared! Sometimes you need to restart the plan multiple times to finish all the questions since it is hard to solve all in 14 or 21 days. But once it is finished, you will definitely find yourself more fluent in questions of these kinds. I recommend the Algorithm plan the most, as it cover almost all the topics. I'm still working on the Algorithm III one right now :).
3. Try to solve each question before checking the answers. I know this might be hard, and I had to look at the answers sometime. But the idea is to follow your own thoughts so that if you face the same question in the future you have a greater chance to remember it. Nevertheless, some ideas from solution and dicuss are amazing and it would be great to check these masterpiece, after solving the questions first.

I must say compared to many legendary LeetCoders such as @uwi and @lee215, my suggestions are meaningless, but during the past half years I have seen lots of posts sharing experinces and ideas, and I'm happy to join this community. Please feel free to comment or email me (ruiming_yu@outlook.com) if you want to discuss! I'm happy to share my study plans and thoughts.

Stop war, do LeetCode.