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My cubing progress

Joined
May 31, 2016
Messages
135
I know beginner's cross, beginner's corners of first layer, beginner's second layer, 2-look OLL and full PLL.

Time is about 1:20. My cube? New Rubik's brand (tiled).

F2L and OLL have a lot of algorithms to learn. I'm sure my slow cubing is that, and the fact that I'm 12.
 
Joined
May 27, 2015
Messages
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2012BRAS01
How would I get a new cube if I'm 12?

I started cubing when I was 8 or 9. (I'm 16 now)

I seriously doubt your parents would be against buying a speedcube. Budget speedcubes are less than 10 dollars, and I'm sure your parents are supportive of your cubing. Just plan what cube you want to buy, and ask them. What's the worst that could happen?

Then again, if your parents are anything like mine, they may just say to wait for Christmas haha.

(following is edited in because I forgot)

Regarding your improvement, it's never too early to start looking at F2L. However, I want to bring up the possibility of using a method other than CFOP. I started using CFOP, because that's what everyone recommends, and I got to sub-15. Now, I'm now trying to switch to roux, because I convinced myself that it's a superior method. Trust me, if you use the method you are most interested in, you will prevent the headache of switching methods.

For now, just keep doing solves. I'm incredibly impressed that you know full PLL, most people don't learn that until they're sub-30ish. Your improvement will mostly come from increased pattern recognition, which takes time to develop. Don't give up, and I think you'll improve faster than you think.

Good luck!
 
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BECubed

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I know beginner's cross, beginner's corners of first layer, beginner's second layer, 2-look OLL and full PLL.

Time is about 1:20. My cube? New Rubik's brand (tiled).

F2L and OLL have a lot of algorithms to learn. I'm sure my slow cubing is that, and the fact that I'm 12.
Ok! So, I have been cubing one year and I average around 13 seconds. Learn intuitive F2L except for maybe some of the cases you are doing inneficiently. You said that you know full PLL which is awesome (I slacked off until I was sub 17). If you want to learn OLL you can take one of two routs, you can cram it all into three days (which is what I did and I would not reccomend, as I have had to relearn at least 10) or you can approach it smartly, learn it in something like two months with 1 algorithm a day. Also on the side learn some basic COLL's like a niklas or some basic U COLL's. Maybe you could send this forum some videos of you solving to critique. Also cool to see some younger cubers, we are about the same age :)
 

xyzzy

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Joined
Dec 24, 2015
Messages
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F2L and OLL have a lot of algorithms to learn.

F2L has "42 cases" but they can all reduce into each other, so you're really learning just three moves for each case, repeatedly doing those until the corner-edge pair ends up solved. It's not like learning OLL or PLL algs, which are 10-ish moves long. 42 might sound like a lot, but if you just consider the number of moves needed, that's like 42×3 = 126 moves in total, compared to 21×11 ~ 231 moves for full PLL, which you've already learnt.

(Full OLL, on the other hand, is not something you have to go out of your way to learn yet. 1-look OLL is a relatively small improvement over 2-look OLL, compared to working on F2L.)

Also, definitely try to get a better cube. (I went from averaging around a minute to 35 seconds just from getting a better cube.)
 
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Sorry, you're not slow because you're 12. Before I turned 13 I made finals at 2 comps and had an official sub-10 single and low 11 average, and there are people much younger than that who are even better.

Just practice and get a new cube. Easy sub-30 at least, possibly sub-25.
 
Joined
May 31, 2016
Messages
135
just learn 1-Look F3L with zeroing
1-look F3L as in this? (cross, F3L pairs, edge orientation, EPLL)
GXCCabG.png

Or this? (cross, inverted cross, F3L pairs)
VDtQorR.png

That's a decent enough tutorial, but if you're looking for alternatives, CubeSkills and J Perm's intuitive F2L video are also widely recommended.

I meant "Should I learn a different firsttwolayers method?" as in more advanced method, not different brand's method.
 
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xyzzy

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Dec 24, 2015
Messages
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I meant "Should I learn a different firsttwolayers method?" as in more advanced method, not different brand's method.
Eventually, yes. legoboyz3's beginner F2L tutorial teaches a version of F2L that has a pretty high move count; you can look at AlgDb for shorter solutions to cases that take you a lot of moves to solve. (He also has an intermediate/advanced tutorial, but I haven't watched that, so I can't vouch for whether it's a good resource to learn from.)
 
Joined
May 31, 2016
Messages
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I asked my dad to buy a faster 3x3x3 cube, and it ended up being the same cube - new Rubik's brand (tiled). Why, you might ask? I wanted my dad to buy a faster cube from kostkirubikasklep.pl (a Polish website, and I live in Poland). However, there were also cubes in a physical (pronounced "non-internet") store called Carrefour, they were Rubik's brand, and to clarify, there weren't any speedcubes. Not knowing better, my dad noticed the box for the new Rubik's brand (tiled) cube said it was faster, so he bought it. That new cube is worse than the one I have because it's not broken in or lubed. I hope I get a real speedcube in the future.
 

cuber314159

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I asked my dad to buy a faster 3x3x3 cube, and it ended up being the same cube - new Rubik's brand (tiled). Why, you might ask? I wanted my dad to buy a faster cube from kostkirubikasklep.pl (a Polish website, and I live in Poland). However, there were also cubes in a physical (pronounced "non-internet") store called Carrefour, they were Rubik's brand, and to clarify, there weren't any speedcubes. Not knowing better, my dad noticed the box for the new Rubik's brand (tiled) cube said it was faster, so he bought it. That new cube is worse than the one I have because it's not broken in or lubed. I hope I get a real speedcube in the future.
I recommend you pick a particular cube such as the mf3rs from cubezz where they do free international shipping or another store (cubezz are very slow)
 

some nerd

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Joined
Oct 30, 2017
Messages
7
The fact that you've already gotten PLL down is great, as it saves you a lot of headache in the future. However, that isn't your main priority; what should be your priority is lookahead. Even if you turn at 10 TPS, then stop for 2 seconds to find your next F2L pair, then turn at 10 TPS again, then pause, you're going to be slower than someone turning slower without pausing. To improve lookahead, try this exercise:
1. Pick up a solved cube
2. Scramble the f*cker as fast as you possibly can, but try to keep track of one edge or corner
The way this works is that, since you've gotten used to tracking a piece while turning absurdly fast, tracking pieces while turning normally should seem like a cakewalk in comparison. Using this method, you should easily break sub-30 or even sub-20 within a month or two. Also, your age has literally nothing whatsoever to do with your cubing speed. If anything, for your age, you're doing much better than most.

EDIT: Forgot one thing; try to minimize cube rotations while doing F2L; they take extra time, and if you aren't constantly spinning the cube around, you'll be able to lookahead more easily. Anyway, happy cubing!
 
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