IEEEXtreme 6.0 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)

Yes, all the members of a team have to be either Student members or Graduate Student members of the IEEE. This is also an opportunity to do promotion of the IEEE membership on your campus and help recruit new student members using the online join process.

Yes, proctors should be an IEEE member of higher membership grade (not an undergraduate or graduate Student member).

Yes, each Student Branch may have an unlimited number of teams, of three (3) IEEE Student members or graduate student member and has a proctor. One proctor can supervise a maximum of eight (8) teams. Note that a university without an IEEE Student Branch can also form a team of the required number of IEEE student members and a proctor.

Problems can only be answered in any of the supported languages (C, C++, C#, Java, Python, Ruby, Perl, and PHP).

More information on compiler information can be found in the IEEEXtreme 6.0 Rules document (PDF, 135 KB).

No, not really. Apart from the fact that we sound similar, there’s little in common: Extreme programming (or XP) is a software engineering methodology, we are a programming contest.

Of course, teams are entitled to use any methodology they want to solve our problems: XP, Scrum, classic waterfall, cowboy programming, voodoo enchantments, or type away randomly until it compiles. Pretty much anything as long as it works correctly.

The unofficial results will be available in InterviewStreet at the close of the competition. From the close of the competition through 31 October the IEEEXtreme Techincal team will be evaluating code submissions. The official results will be communicated on or about 1 November. Winners will be contacted by IEEE directly.

Information regarding the scoring criteria for IEEEXtreme 6.0 can be found in the official Rules Document (PDF, 135 KB).

Yes, definitely. For a start, being in a higher course does not mean you’re necessarily better at programming. (Sorry for all those graduate students out there but it’s true.) More importantly, this is all about the experience. IEEEXtreme is a lot of fun, and will help you face real-world problems that you may not see during college. Plus, you’ll probably be surprised about the fact that you can actually solve most of these if you devote time enough. Consider it all part of a training.

The prizes include a trip to the first place winners' team to an IEEE event or conference of their choice. With hundreds of conferences and meetings every year, the winners are sure to find one that interests them. The 2011 first place team from Chulalongkorn University attended a conference in Hawaii. Second and third place teams will receive a netbook. The top place team from each region will also receive special IEEE merchandise. 

All active participants will receive prizes including an IEEEXtreme 6.0 competition t-shirt, cool geek items, and certificates of participation.

A few sample problems from IEEEXtreme 2.0 are available.

The proctor should just make sure that it is the team members working on the problems and no outside help is being provided from other individuals. The proctor should ensure that the student teams are not sharing code, which is strictly prohibited. In general, help ensure that the students are comfortable, getting food and water and some exercise during the 24 hours. The main goal is for the participants to have fun. The students do not have to be isolated.

Sleep is part of making sure the team members are comfortable. The team members can alternate getting some sleep and we are not restricting where that has to take place. There may be some surprises, about every six to eight hours, so it is important to keep monitoring the contest.

The browsers that are supported to run InterviewStreet for IEEEXtreme 6.0 are as follows; IE9, Chrome v 22, and Firefox 15. Please consult each browser's Web site for more information on updates.

If you are unable to secure a proctor for IEEEXtreme 6.0, please consult the Guide to Finding a Proctor (PDF, 127 KB).