I don't want to belittle your achievement, but the reason will be because your tutors gave you the correct tools which weren't available to your predecessor.
It's certainly not that you're 10x better, it was homework. Your tutors expected you to be able to complete it as they'd spelled it out to you in the lectures.
We're talking about one programmer being 10x better than their peer, not of one generation being more scientifically advanced than the previous.
Given that a) the only way we're measuring programmer competence here is in their speed to complete a task, and b) knowledge is not evenly distributed, how can you tell the difference between a "faster through more knowledge" and an "intrinsically better" programmer?
It's certainly not that you're 10x better, it was homework. Your tutors expected you to be able to complete it as they'd spelled it out to you in the lectures.
We're talking about one programmer being 10x better than their peer, not of one generation being more scientifically advanced than the previous.