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How do people get so good so quick

How quick could you solve the cube, if you can remember, 2 days after first starting?

  • Sub 1 minute.

    Votes: 3 4.3%
  • 1-2 minutes

    Votes: 24 34.3%
  • 2-5 minutes

    Votes: 25 35.7%
  • 5-15 minutes.

    Votes: 7 10.0%
  • 15 minutes+

    Votes: 2 2.9%
  • Couldn’t solve it.

    Votes: 9 12.9%

  • Total voters
    70

The Torrent

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I’ve been cubing nearly a month now, I practice none stop, from when I get back from school (idc if people know my age) to when I go to sleep (with obvious brakes), and I’m averaging about 1:20. Then you get people like this

Hi guys my name is Brian. I started cubing about 1 day ago and can finnally solve the rubik`s cube in about a minute.

I found this on another post on this forum.

How do you get to 1 minute in a day? This baffles me. Am I doing something really wrong, am I just slow, or is the person in the quote exaggerating a little?
 
Joined
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Improvement raters differ from person to person. It is similar to a teacher teaching a concept in school, some students latch on extremely quickly whereas it takes other people much longer to achieve the same level. My friend starting Cubing last year and he is just as fast as me, and I have been speedcubing for over 4 years. You are not doing anything wrong, it is just your improvement rate.
 

Tabe

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Honestly? A lot of times people are lying about their rate of improvement. You see it all the time in the various Facebook groups - guys claiming to be sub-20 after a week or whatever - but they've been a member of that group for four months or something.
 

Rpotts

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Some people probably exaggerate their times, or understate how long they've been practicing. Some people learn faster than others, some people have a lot of talent or practice in puzzles in general and grasp things quicker. When I first started it took me several hours straight of following a tutorial to be able to solve it the first time, then spent the next day or two memorizing the couple algs I needed. My very first timed solve was 2:28, and I got to the 1-2 minute range shortly thereafter. Most people I've taught have had pretty similar experiences, but I've taught at least one who averaged as high as like 6 or 7 minutes when I first taught him. He's a bit older, around 40 when I taught him so that may be part of it, or maybe he just doesn't learn as fast, or maybe my teaching style just didn't resonate with him, I don't know. Nowadays he averages around 1:20 or so, using a very simple beginner's method that I can't shake him off lol.

Bottom line is don't sweat it, improve at your own rate. If you constantly compare yourself to others you will only be setting yourself up for disappointment. Good luck.
 

xyzzy

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Dec 24, 2015
Messages
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I don't remember how long it took me to be sub-minute, but it probably took me years.

You'll mostly see people bragging about how it took them <insert ridiculously short period of time> to get sub-60 or sub-30 or sub-whatever, and they might not even be lying! The problem is that for every person who does this, there're many more who don't manage to improve as quickly, but you don't notice them because they wouldn't "brag" about how it took them <insert long period of time> to get sub-60/etc.

(This applies to life in general, really. Even if all you see are success stories, that provides very little evidence that success is likely, because nobody likes talking about the failures. You'll learn something like this in any half-decent statistics class.)
 

ErwinOlie

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Joined
Oct 4, 2017
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Location
Gouda, The Netherlands
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2014OLIE01
It took me about 1-2 months to get sub-50, which was a huge plateau for me and lasted another 2-3 months before I jumped suddenly to sub-30, and from there I slowly and steady improved to sub-18 in another half a year.

After reaching sub-18 in ~10months of time I quitted for almost 3 years, returned a couple of weeks ago with sub-30 and got back to sub-21-ish as we speak.

EDIT:
my suggestions to get sub-50 would be:
- get a 'decent' cube
- use fingers to turn instead of whole hand
- learn to insert corner and edge at the same time in F2L
- learn 4LLL
- plan out (part of) the cross while inspection
- practice a LOT

goodluck on your journey =)
 
Last edited:

The Torrent

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Joined
Oct 4, 2017
Messages
71
Location
England
It took me about 1-2 months to get sub-50, which was a huge plateau for me and lasted another 2-3 months before I jumped suddenly to sub-30, and from there I slowly and steady improved to sub-18 in another half a year.

After reaching sub-18 in ~10months of time I quitted for almost 3 years, returned a couple of weeks ago with sub-30 and got back to sub-21-ish as we speak.

EDIT:
my suggestions to get sub-50 would be:
- get a 'decent' cube
- use fingers to turn instead of whole hand
- learn to insert corner and edge at the same time in F2L
- learn 4LLL
- plan out (part of) the cross while inspection
- practice a LOT

goodluck on your journey =)

Thanks. I'm currently using a YJ Yulong, thinking of upgrading to MF3RS2, am using CFOP, 2 look. i can sometimes plan out the whole cross during inspection but by the time I've done 2 or 3 pieces, i forget where the third was and go searching. Ill have a look at what 4lll is as I've never heard of it before.

Many thanks
 

AlphaSheep

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Nov 11, 2014
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Gauteng, South Africa
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2014GRAY03
seung hyuk nahm averaged like 8 in less than 2 years I think
See, you get rumours like this, but then when you go check official results, even with someone who improved as quickly as Seung Hyuk Nahm, he averaged sub 12 seconds by the end of 2013, then apart from one outlier 7.98 average that was skewed by a counting 6, it's clear that he averaged closer to 9 seconds. It's only toward the beginning of 2016 that he started getting convincing sub 8 averages, so if you look at the data, it just doesn't back up this rumour. It looks like it took him 2 years to get from sub 12 to sub 8.

Long story, people tend to distort time in thier memories, and rumours get subconsciously exaggerated. Most people don't improve nearly as fast as they think (there are admittedly exceptions though)
 
Last edited:

T1_M0

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A month to learning how to solve, I was around 1:20 with my old rubik's brand (I'd modded it). It broke and I had to wait a couple months before getting some speedcubes. When I first started practising with a speedcube, I hit the sub-1 and sub-30 marks at no time at all. A month to getting the cubes, I got a 26 average at my first comp.

Now I'm stuck in 15 seconds, but I'm really concentrating on other events.
 

Ordway Persyn

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I first learned how to solve a 3x3 in late March 2014. when I got my first speed cube in May, I was probably around 2:30 I believe August was when I first reached sub 1:00. After that I had more rapid progress and by March 2015, I was breaking sub 20. at my first competition (Jan 2nd, 2016) I was averaging 15-16 at home. After that, my progress has slowed as I,m currently averaging in the high 13's.

I think my progress is very typical (at least for my age). The dates and times I've posted may be slightly off.
 

shadowslice e

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I'm barely sub 10 after like 5 years. I don't think many people have ever gotten under 10 seconds in under 2 years, someone correct me if I'm wrong.
I don't think there are many no but there are definitely quite a few examples. I guess it also depends on howuch practise as I think that most people take a similar amount of practise time to get to a certain level (rather than time as a cuber). Focusing on specific events helps too.
 

DGCubes

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It took me a couple months to reach sub-1, just under two years for sub-20, and I'm already over five and a half years if I ever reach sub-10. Improvement takes a long time, but it'll always happen if you keep practicing. :)
 

Ron Weasly

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I got into Cubing about 3 months ago and avg. 30 sec.

When i got into cubing, i dident knew 'bout timers and speedcubing.......3-4 days later, when i recorded my first timing, it was somthing like 1:45(and my brothers like 1:30).....IN 2-3 DAYS I CAME TO 1:30(AND MY BRO to 1).........That day I came down by 30sec in just one DAY!!!!!!!!....nxt day i avg. 1....then i watched vids and practiced and after 2.5 monts i m here....
(btw, my bro left cubing at sub 55....too bad for him as he lost intrest....just in case u were wondering 'bout him)

Improvement speed also depended of how much u practice in one day......When i was avg. 40sec i was really worried as i stayed there for about 1 month!!!!!.....keep practicing....:)
 
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