freecodecamp--freecodecamp/curriculum/challenges/english/blocks/daily-coding-challenges-javascript/697a49e6ff50d756c9b69365.md

id, title, challengeType, dashedName

id	title	challengeType	dashedName
697a49e6ff50d756c9b69365	Challenge 188: 2026 Winter Games Day 9: Skeleton	28	challenge-188

--description--

Given a string representing the curves on a skeleton track, determine the difficulty of the track.

• The given string will only consist of the letters:

  • "L" for a left turn
  • "R" for a right turn
  • "S" for a straight segment

• Each direction change adds 15 points (an "L" followed by an "R" or vice versa).

• All other curves add 5 points each (all other "L" or "R" characters).

• Straight segments add 0 points.

The difficulty of the track is based on the total score. Return:

• "Easy" if the total is 0 - 100
• "Medium" if the total is 101-200
• "Hard" if the total is over 200

--hints--

getDifficulty("SLSLLSRRLSRLRL") should return "Easy".

assert.equal(getDifficulty("SLSLLSRRLSRLRL"), "Easy");

getDifficulty("LLRSLRLRSLLRLRSLRRLRSRLLS") should return "Hard".

assert.equal(getDifficulty("LLRSLRLRSLLRLRSLRRLRSRLLS"), "Hard");

getDifficulty("SRRRRLSLLRLRSSRLSRL") should return "Medium".

assert.equal(getDifficulty("SRRRRLSLLRLRSSRLSRL"), "Medium");

getDifficulty("LSRLRLSRLRLSLRSLRLLRLSRLRLRSL") should return "Hard".

assert.equal(getDifficulty("LSRLRLSRLRLSLRSLRLLRLSRLRLRSL"), "Hard");

getDifficulty("SLLSSLRLSLSLRSLSSLRL") should return "Medium".

assert.equal(getDifficulty("SLLSSLRLSLSLRSLSSLRL"), "Medium");

getDifficulty("SRSLSRSLSRRSLSRSRSLSRLSRSR") should return "Easy".

assert.equal(getDifficulty("SRSLSRSLSRRSLSRSRSLSRLSRSR"), "Easy");

--seed--

--seed-contents--

function getDifficulty(track) {

  return track;
}

--solutions--

function getDifficulty(track) {
  let score = 0;

  for (let i = 0; i < track.length; i++) {
    const current = track[i];
    const previous = i > 0 ? track[i - 1] : null;

    if (current === 'S') {
      score += 0;
    } else if (current === 'L' || current === 'R') {
      if (previous && previous !== 'S' && previous !== current) {
        score += 15;
      } else if (previous !== 'S') {
        score += 5;
      } else {
        score += 5;
      }
    }
  }

  if (score <= 100) return 'Easy';
  if (score <= 200) return 'Medium';
  return 'Hard';
}