3x3 Average of 5 - 20.22 (my first on video!)

[sneaklyfox]

Yes, I know... not very smooth. Need a better look ahead and recognition... too many pauses. But mainly I want to know whether I should practice not turning the cube in order to look at pieces in the back to find matching pairs. Should I do a bit of guessing? Another question I have is about cross to F2L transition. Right now I don't do tracking but try to find a pair while doing cross. My problem with trying to track (when I tried it) is that sometimes the corner I'm tracking ends up at the bottom layer after cross is finished (I do cross on bottom) and I have to bring it up before doing anything with it if I'm going to use it. The way I do it now, more often I'm doing a pair that is already at the top or more easily accessible. Is this ok? For metronome practice, is it better to do slow and steady or fast and choppy? I haven't done very much metronome practice yet... I've done some, but I hate practicing with a metronome... this was true of my music practice too! Other comments or tips are welcome.

[jeff081692]

Metronome practice isn't for everyone, some like it some hate it.
Corner tracking is not perfect but is more of a stepping stone to predicting F2L pairs during inspection. It is better than not seeing a first pair at all when the cross is done but worse than knowing where both F2L pieces are.
Now if you can easily find a pair in the top layer right away before you finish your cross then you might want to abandon the corner and just go for the easy pair. Then you can remember the corner that you tracked and it might help in your look ahead.

[Dominate]

Mainly I want to know whether I should practice not turning the cube in order to look at pieces in the back to find matching pairs. Should I do a bit of guessing?

Don't worry too much about that until you have really good look-ahead. Looking ahead while turning results in seeing more of the cube, so just work on that and you won't have the issue as often. When your look ahead is much better, then you can start learning more specific logic for knowing which corners or edges are at the back.

A small example is: R U R' U' R U R' U y'

See that the bottom color is visible on the corner in the back right slot. Which color is the sticker on the back, without looking? You know it's the last corner, so it's in it's own slot, and so the sticker of the back is the same color as the center of the right side. Likewise, if there were two slots to do, say the front left and back right, and you saw the back right corner on the U layer, then you know the corner in the back right slot is the front right corner, and so the stick on the back will be the same color as the center sticker on the left side of the cube, which is simply the opposite color of the right side:



There are only two slots to do, and you know the corner that goes in the back right is on the U layer, because you can see the orange on it. So, what is the sticker on the back of the corner in the back right slot? It has to be the opposite color of the right face center, so it's red.


Another question I have is about cross to F2L transition. Right now I don't do tracking but try to find a pair while doing cross. My problem with trying to track (when I tried it) is that sometimes the corner I'm tracking ends up at the bottom layer after cross is finished (I do cross on bottom) and I have to bring it up before doing anything with it if I'm going to use it. The way I do it now, more often I'm doing a pair that is already at the top or more easily accessible. Is this ok?

Just a few times a day, do a scramble and figure out your cross, fully, then pick any F2L corner piece and try to figure out where it will end up after the cross. Just go over the cross moves you figured out, and track it in your head. Don't worry about how long it takes you to figure it out, the idea is to stretch your mind. It will take a while, but over time you'll find that you can practically just glance at a corner and see where it will end up after your cross. What I've come to find is that when you start to get good at it, you gain an intuition of where it will end up and you will just start to pick the right pair to track naturally. Everything is just a matter of experience, so just give it a shot.

This isn't what you should be worrying about at a 20 second average. Just focus on looking ahead. You can try this, it helped me immensely, and is currently helping my brother get past a plateau at ~16 seconds: http://www.speedsolving.com/forum/sh...726#post734726


For metronome practice, is it better to do slow and steady or fast and choppy? I haven't done very much metronome practice yet... I've done some, but I hate practicing with a metronome... this was true of my music practice too! Other comments or tips are welcome.

If you hate it, don't do it. In music it helps you make sure your doing it "correctly" (pfffft), but in cubing it's just a way of helping you make sure you're actually turning slowly. If you can keep your speed down by force of will, then just do it that way. In other words, metronome practice is just slow turning practice.

You're averaging around 20 seconds now, so just do some solves where you "aim" for 30-35 seconds. By "aim" I mean actually try to hit 30-35. If you get, say, 21.54 seconds, then you failed the exercise. Overall, you should be focusing on making your solves look good, not look fast. To get sub-20, you should be pretending you're sub-15 or even sub-10, but that you're just solving in slow motion so it takes you ~20s. I can get ~14 seconds turning far slower than you are in your video, without using fancy tricks beyond what I saw you using.

[sneaklyfox]

If you hate it, don't do it. In music it helps you make sure your doing it "correctly" (pfffft), but in cubing it's just a way of helping you make sure you're actually turning slowly. If you can keep your speed down by force of will, then just do it that way. In other words, metronome practice is just slow turning practice.

You're averaging around 20 seconds now, so just do some solves where you "aim" for 30-35 seconds. By "aim" I mean actually try to hit 30-35. If you get, say, 21.54 seconds, then you failed the exercise. Overall, you should be focusing on making your solves look good, not look fast. To get sub-20, you should be pretending you're sub-15 or even sub-10, but that you're just solving in slow motion so it takes you ~20s. I can get ~14 seconds turning far slower than you are in your video, without using fancy tricks beyond what I saw you using.

Oh good... no need for metronome. Well, how is this? This particular example isn't between 30-35 but close.

[Dominate]

That was much better. You paused much less, and were clearly looking ahead. You're obviously familiar enough with the cases to do them without focusing on them, so the main point of this is to get you out of the habit of focusing on them. Being able to execute moves without thinking makes you capable of looking ahead, but being capable does not necessarily mean actually doing it. If you keep doing some solves at that speed daily (don't stop 'normal' solves entirely), you will get used to it and be able to do it at your normal, faster turn speed. Some of your F2Ls in your first video would have been sub-10, easily.

[sneaklyfox]

Thanks for the help. Two more questions. Is there much point of practicing PLL at the slower turning speed or can I just do that part at full speed when I get to it? And you mentioned doing normal solves as well. What do you think is a good ratio? 4 slow:1 normal?

[Ninja Storm]

Thanks for the help. Two more questions. Is there much point of practicing PLL at the slower turning speed or can I just do that part at full speed when I get to it? And you mentioned doing normal solves as well. What do you think is a good ratio? 4 slow:1 normal?

No, it's best to max out the speed on PLL. However, for OLL, you shouldn't go too fast and not be able to predict the PLL. Recognition is so important, I almost consider it a part of PLL.

[jeff081692]

I always go full speed starting from the last slot in F2L.