as a noob, i feel that formalizing is a major part of solving the problem by yourserlf. my assessment is that once you identify certain patterns, you can solve problems by memorizing some patterns. but people might me can struggle with the first stage and solve the wrong problem.
still good progress nonetheless. won't call the system sufficient by itself tho.
please pardon my ignorance, but to me a tower of hanoi question as a middle-schooler was the hardest thing to comprehend. but after learning about it, it is no longer quite as challenging to tackle.
i understand that there are very hard questions for the olympiad. but it might be possible to learn about some recurring types of them by looking at past instances. it may not be the meta for IMO but has been for other kinds of exams.
still good progress nonetheless. won't call the system sufficient by itself tho.