• Welcome to the Speedsolving.com, home of the web's largest puzzle community!
    You are currently viewing our forum as a guest which gives you limited access to join discussions and access our other features.

    Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free so please, join our community of 40,000+ people from around the world today!

    If you are already a member, simply login to hide this message and begin participating in the community!

daniel0731ex

Member
Joined
Dec 10, 2008
Messages
2,294
oh and also, the only way to actually get faster on big cubes is to practice the particular cube that you want to improve. practicing other cubes MAY help, but ultimately to get faster is to practice the very cube u want to get better at.
 

4Chan

Premium Member
Joined
Jun 21, 2008
Messages
2,984
Location
Lumbridge
YouTube
Visit Channel
People really did answer you the first time around, in your first thread.
But you didn't hear the answer that you wanted.

If you just want to fish around for answers you want, you could just answer it yourself.
 

Mike Hughey

Administrator
Staff member
Joined
Jun 7, 2007
Messages
11,305
Location
Indianapolis
WCA
2007HUGH01
SS Competition Results
YouTube
Visit Channel
Solve until your fingers are bleeding.

Or,

Just solve as much as you can.

:) :) :)

I'm afraid I'm improving very slowly. Part of that is probably because I spend most of my time wearing a blindfold while cubing, but part of it is just that I don't spend very much time practicing speedsolving. I'm currently averaging around 25 seconds on 3x3x3. Every time I get serious about it and do 100 solves a day for a couple of weeks, my average time drops a second or so. But a few solves at a time doesn't seem to help at all - I have to do big blocks of solves in a row for any improvement to occur. It doesn't seem to matter whether I'm using any kind of strategy to improve or just mindlessly solving - doing mindless practice seems to be as effective as anything else. You just have to do tons of solves to improve.

I've noticed some of the kids out there seem to improve with less practice than I need. I suspect that if you're older, it might require a bit more practice to improve the same amount. But it still works, no matter what your age - you need to practice a lot to improve.

Also, I have noticed that when I focus on 3x3x3 practice, my 5x5x5 times get worse. And if I focus on 5x5x5 practice, my 3x3x3 times get worse. But that effect is merely temporary. I never bother to practice 4x4x4 at all - practicing for 3x3x3 and 5x5x5 seem to take care of most of it.
 

shelley

chang
Joined
Apr 23, 2006
Messages
1,683
WCA
2004CHAN04
Use search.
Practice.

Threads like these have been made dozens of times before. You even knew the answer already before any of us replied. I don't see the point of this.
 

SuperNerd

Member
Joined
May 24, 2009
Messages
241
Location
Big Cube Land
WCA
2009KNOP01
YouTube
Visit Channel
I guess that since this thread got bumped, I should ask a question I've been thinking about.

I solve my F2L on the left, and I can get 15-17 second averages. I've been thinking if my F2L times will lower to less than 10 seconds if I switch to cross on bottom, but that would take a long time to get used to. I average around 20 seconds with cross on bottom.

I average 11 seconds on F2L with cross on left (including cross). What should I do?
 

rubiknewbie

Member
Joined
Jun 27, 2009
Messages
593
I am at step 5. Step 6 is very tough to reach!

For a long time I do cross on top before I switched to cross on bottom. It takes some time to get used to but now that I am used to it, I often end up with a slow cross if I go back to cross on top. It hurts the look ahead and momentum. The only time when I do cross on top now is if I want to do R U R' U' or R U' R' U moves.

But some fast people do cross on top too, like Dan Knights. For some people it probably doesn't matter since they do r2 as the last move, so the momentum is not lost.
 

jiggy

Member
Joined
Oct 21, 2009
Messages
454
Location
London (UK)
I don't know if this page is still being edited, but if it is this is a link to Andy Klise's site. It's really very well presented and has algs for OLL and PLL.

I solve my F2L on the left, and I can get 15-17 second averages. I've been thinking if my F2L times will lower to less than 10 seconds if I switch to cross on bottom, but that would take a long time to get used to.
I'm probably not the person to give advice as you are quite a bit faster than me, but IMO you should stick with what you know. Unless you really think solving F2L on bottom will reduce your times in the long run, just stay as you are and I think you'll probably end up seeing the same kind of improvements as everyone else.
 

Suzanne

Member
Joined
May 7, 2010
Messages
12
thanks for these tips. although i can only use one hand (other holds the cube but cant rotate the sides) i can solve up to 2OLL (havent learnt the 2PLL yet) but right know im training the cross. I read to make it under 12 seconds. Fastest yet was 12.29 and slowest 42.22 but most around 22-25 seconds. had a 15s and 19s (9 tries) but i keep turning the cube up! I try to make the cross on the bottem (white cross) and telling myself red-green-orange-blue for the color scheme but i keep turning the cross up, a bad habit i heard that i want to lose! I stop after cross so i dont look ahead. When my average is about 15 seconds for cross on bottem i will and try to look ahead for the F2L. I know all the 2OLL algs but im really slow with them, did 2 or 3 solves while i knew the 2look OLL alg and i need to think really heard to remember them. but yeah, over time they will become second nature i guess.

Im actually wondering if im doing a good job or if im learning it all wrong? I think getting the cross (blind?) in 15 s is a good base for lookahead or should i just learn the 2lookPLL first and when i know those like second nature go for the cross and look a head?
 

jms_gears1

Premium Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2009
Messages
1,303
WCA
2009MAUP01
YouTube
Visit Channel
thanks for these tips. although i can only use one hand (other holds the cube but cant rotate the sides) i can solve up to 2OLL (havent learnt the 2PLL yet) but right know im training the cross. I read to make it under 12 seconds. Fastest yet was 12.29 and slowest 42.22 but most around 22-25 seconds. had a 15s and 19s (9 tries) but i keep turning the cube up! I try to make the cross on the bottem (white cross) and telling myself red-green-orange-blue for the color scheme but i keep turning the cross up, a bad habit i heard that i want to lose! I stop after cross so i dont look ahead. When my average is about 15 seconds for cross on bottem i will and try to look ahead for the F2L. I know all the 2OLL algs but im really slow with them, did 2 or 3 solves while i knew the 2look OLL alg and i need to think really heard to remember them. but yeah, over time they will become second nature i guess.

Im actually wondering if im doing a good job or if im learning it all wrong? I think getting the cross (blind?) in 15 s is a good base for lookahead or should i just learn the 2lookPLL first and when i know those like second nature go for the cross and look a head?
Work on actually solving the cube. If you can do that, then work on look ahead.

Id say that if you can plan your solve in 15s, you should be able to execute it in less than 4, when you can use both hands lol. Or your going to be one hell of an OH cuber either way just practice.
 

RubiksDude

Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
Messages
70
Location
Where I live
My intuitive F2L sucks. Sometimes, it takes me up to 35-40to solve the first two layers intuitively. Any tips? I tried watching some vids, but all it showed was the basics, which I already know. I think the only problem I have is getting pieces stuck in the middle layer into the right places in the top layer.
 

Daniel Wu

Premium Member
Joined
Jan 27, 2009
Messages
1,573
Location
Rochester, NY
WCA
2010WUDA01
YouTube
Visit Channel
My intuitive F2L sucks. Sometimes, it takes me up to 35-40to solve the first two layers intuitively. Any tips? I tried watching some vids, but all it showed was the basics, which I already know. I think the only problem I have is getting pieces stuck in the middle layer into the right places in the top layer.

Everyone has to start somewhere. Just keep practicing. Don't go for speed. Take your time and be efficient with your moves. Try solving cases from different angles. As far as the pieces in the middle layer, I'd learn algs for those if I were you just to make sure that you are solving them as efficiently as possible.
 

RubiksDude

Member
Joined
Feb 16, 2010
Messages
70
Location
Where I live
I'll make sure to learn some algs on some stuck ones. I came up with this exercise that to only find the piece I couldn't find first. I couldn't find edge pieces, so I made sure to find them first, then the corner. I got 38 seconds when my friend counted for me in the car the other day. That might not be accurate though.
 

musicninja17

Member
Joined
Dec 5, 2008
Messages
482
WCA
2010FISK01
I have to say, i believe this guide is a great tool for anybody that wants to get fast. The times are pretty accurate, i'd have to say....i'm hovering at step 4...
 

denhil3

Member
Joined
Mar 6, 2010
Messages
99
Location
vietnam
ths alot for the tips. ANyway, what do u guys think which is the best website for learning all pll and oll agths
 

hazzaswain

Member
Joined
May 24, 2010
Messages
5
On step two does anyone have any tips on what corner algs to use.
 
Last edited:
Top