Ayce's progression to sub-10 on 3x3. | Clock time! |

[Ayce]

Update:
Finally got a 3BLD success after month, my 25th successful solve

3x3 ao1000 is 17.58, good improvements on that.

Clock has nothing new, but I am going to Granite State 2022 and I want to try and get a sub-10 average.

I bought a new 4x4! Super pumped about that, can't wait to get back to practicing.

 

[Ayce]

Update:
Don't know what I did, but I'm dropping my 3x3 times pretty fast, broke almost all of my records
mo3: 13.76, ao5: 14.39, ao12: 15.56,
Here is where it gets interesting, ao100, 16.91!!!! I love it, ao1000: 17.42, Huge progress in the past week or two.

Got a new 4x4! My old one keeps popping and I keep losing the weird wingy black pieces that shoot out of it.
Back on topic, I quickly smashed my PB with a time of 1:29:34, all of my other record broke but that isn't really too interesting.
The cutoff for Granite State 2022 is 1:10 so if I practice (only have around 40 solves on my cstimer session) I might be able to do it)

Clock: Dropped my ao1000 by a few milliseconds, nothing huge, but I am getting more 8 and 7 seconds solves which is nice

3BLD, nothing huge, I think I got a success or two this week, bringing my total to 26 successes.

 

[Ayce]

Big Update:
So I missed a week because I went camping. But I've been having a great week in terms of cubing, multiple records broke.

3x3
Lets start off with 3x3, here are all the records I broke (everything but single)
Mo3: 13.25 With a 12.49 14.41 12.84
Ao5: 14.38 I beat my previous by .01 but still happy.
Ao12: 15.13 Man, if I get to 14 by the end of the summer that would be great
Ao100: 16.55 I'll go for <15 by the end of the year
Ao1000: 17.24 Compared to my 18.22 in June...
I need to get around a high 16 second average to make round 2 for the competition, which is do-able if I'm super warmed up.

Clock
It has been put to the side lately, but I still got some practice in, can't wait for the Granite State 2022. I'm considering making a session where I go for speed over accuracy, and I don't bother with lining anything up. The object of this to get me to line each clock up with one fast fluid motion instead of 1 crank and then another to line it up. I'll start it after the competition so it doesn't bleed into my average.
Ao1000: 10.64
Not a lot of clock recently but I'm reasonably confident that I can do well in this competition.

4x4
I devoted a bit of time to try and get a 1:10 single for the cutoff, and I've been getting so close! I pushed my total cstimer solves to 100.
Single: 1:19.69 Just got this an hour ago, so close...
Mo3: 1:25.12, I got 2 average solves then that single.
Ao5 1:30.43 Same thing as the Mo3
Ao12 1:38.09 Series of good/average solves and then that single
Ao100: 1:59.50 I mean, I started this session with 3 minute times, so this will go down soon.
Just gotta keep practicing!

3BLD
I've been improving my accuracy, I haven't had any attempts that are super off, I'm not writing down my records, not really too interested in that, still working on accuracy and memo. I just need to practice and practice and practice

4BLD
First time writing about this but I've begun to start looking at tutorials, and while I grasp the concept of each method, U2/r2/OP, there are so many special cases and super long memo. Just gotta start learning the algorithms and start practicing. By chance does anyone have any tutorials they recommend?

One-Handed
It seems like I practice this without noticing, and I don't think I've wrote about this yet either, I just want to get times down so I can record improvement.
Single: 35.63
Mo3: 40.08
Ao5: 41.14
Ao12 44.63
I notice now that my averages are pretty consistent, which is weird because compared to another event I'm now beginning to practice like 4x4, it isn't this consistent. Weird

Final Notes:
I love the progress I'm making. I'm super hyped for the competition and trying to make 4x4 cutoff. Just gotta keep practicing. Sorry for the wall of text. Thanks to whoever reads all of this

 

[Timona]

By chance does anyone have any tutorials they recommend?

"I think Jperm has some good tutorials" says everyone ever. Theres also really good one by Jack Cai and some example solves by Stanley Chapel, WR holder.

 

[Ayce]

Medium Update:

So, Good competition I had earlier today! I'll review each event and other records/progress made.


3x3
Ao5: 14.31, Good drop from last week
Ao1000: 17.15 Very good drop from last week
This competition went amazing for 3x3, I got to round 2 for the first time. 15.50 PR average! Super excited for that and happy for myself.

4x4
Got my first sub 1:10 single! Broke all my 4x4 record so I'll list them all this week
Single: 1:06.65
Mo3: 1:14.03
Ao5: 1:17.53
Ao12: 1:19.19
Ao100: 1:28.68

Improving real fast, take this cstimer generated timer to visualize how fast I'm improving. Unfortunately I couldn't get the <1:10 single in comp but it really doesn't bother me.

Clock
At the event I got 2, 17 seconds solves because I messed up the other side and I didn't wanna DNF, but my other three was 2 mid 9s, and a low 8, which was real nice.
Ao5: 8.21 Came randomly while I was warming up.
I would rather have not thrown my average but its whatever. My 8.37 is going to bump me up a few spots in the CubingUSA rankings

5x5
First time typing about 5x5! Buying an MGC 5x5 to start practicing.

3BLD
Broke my 3BLD single! 2:22.85.

Final Notes:
Does anyone know a way to graph out times with ao100 in the cstimer graph instead of ao12? I'm going away next week so I won't get any cubing done for a bit, and I'll miss next week's update. (maybe) Looking forward to 4x4, blindfolded stuff, and 5x5. Thanks to whoever reads this

 

[IsThatA4x4]

Does anyone know a way to graph out times with ao100 in the cstimer graph instead of ao12

Settings > tools > list type (average) > list length (100)

 

[Ayce]

ANOTHER MEDIUM UPDATE:
So! I've got good news for pretty much all my events. I had to slow down because I went away for a week, and I got a new pc so very busy overall. Lets kick this off.

3x3:
More huge progress, still working on OLLs, hopefully I can finish it off entirely very soon. Tons of records broken!
Second best single: 11.03, my current PB is 10.83, and I finished F2L at around 7 seconds, panicked, and ended up with this, still absolutely incredibly, and this solve will be in the rest of the records I'll list.
Mo3: 12.03, high 12, and a low 12, with the 11.03.
Ao5: 12.90, I beat my previous record by over a second, absolutely crazy!
Ao100: 16.45
Ao1000: 16.99 SUB 17! This is a huge milestone, I can't see myself getting 15.99 unless a learn a new trick or try something else out, although that won't stop me from trying to get it!

Here is my session graph of over 4k solves, super slow, but (somewhat) steady improvement. Overall huge successes recently!

4x4:
Broke all records, and my single keeps dropping.
Single: 1:04.14, this one has really got me excited, Sub-1 is coming soon!
Mo3: 1:10.85
Ao5: 1:14.66
Ao12: 1:15.70
Ao100: 1:22.96
I fixed the squeaking issue on my MGC and I've been practicing a whole lot, good to see this progress.

5x5
Started my session this week as soon as I got my hands on the MGC 5x5, I started out with Yau5, but last night I decided that its overly complicated for me, and I swapped to Redux, and instantly broke my single.
Single: 3:03.32
Mo3: 3:07.32
Ao5: 3:13.79
Ao12: 3:34.07
So far my session only has 16 solves on it, I hate how long big cubes take to scramble, and I tend to mess it up frequently. I like big cubes because it's much more relaxed compared to 3x3 or clock.

Clock:
Broke a few more records, more progress towards the state record, currently ranked 8th in the state for single (I botched my average)
Mo3: 7.64
Ao5: 7.70
Ao12: 8.53
Ao100: 9.22
Ao1000: 10.28
All records broke except single, what I don't like about clock is that there isn't much to write about. There is no clear progression like there is on 3x3, I already owned a modded clock, I already have a pin order, I checked out no-flip, I believe I'm just set on grinding out times unless I find something that I missed. I haven't broke my clock single in awhile but hopefully I can get it soon!

Final Notes:
Still working on grinding out each event, and buying a 6x6/7x7. Clock state record have dropped like crazy, 4.00 single and a 5.15 average. Going to a competition later in September. Thanks to whoever reads all of this

 

[Ayce]

BIG UPDATE!
Good Evening! Let's kick this off!

3x3:
Ao12: 14.96, a series of good solves.
Ao100: 16.24
Ao1000: 16.67, Didn't expect to get this far into the 16s but no complaining.

4x4
Single: 53.59, in the time since my last post, I got 3 sub-1s, 2 53s back to back. This solve was perfect, everything flowed so smooth, no parity, all 323 edges were right there in front of me. Truly beautiful.
Mo3: 1:03.86
Ao12: 1:10.81
Ao100 1:15.20
This is one of my goals of this thread so, yay? no clue where to go from here. relatively speaking, 375 solves of practice and this progress is real good.

5x5
Single: 2:35.56
Mo3: 2:41.69
Ao5: 2:42.44
Ao12: 2:49.92
Never mind what I said about this last post, I don't like this event.

Clock
2000 solves on clock, I'll list all my records so far, if it has a * next to it, I broke it since the last post.
Single: 5.95, this one has been standing for too long, I don't like it.
Mo3: 7.31*
Ao5: 7.70
Ao12: 8.53
Ao100: 9.15*
Ao1000: 9.91*

3BLD
Tried to do it blindfolded on a date, failed, embarrassed myself.
...
anyway
nothing else exciting aside from that

Final Notes:
To conclude, don't do 3BLD on a date, its not worth it, I've been left on read for days now.

 

[Jorian Meeuse]

Here is an ao5, any advice would be appreciated!

I got a solid 17.09 ao100, and I got my ao1000 down to 18.22.

Clock is going great, new record of an ao5, 8.33, which would put me 2nd in the state. I also got an ao100 of 9.37.

3BLD still struggling, nothing recent but I also haven’t done any attempts so… Go check out the video I posted.

edit: CubingUSA hasn’t updated state rankings since at least Northeast Champs

Scramble 1:

White cross (green front yellow top): D R F D L. The F can be done with your ring finger. You can modify this to get better F2L cases but that may still be too advanced.

Yellow cross (green front white top): D R’ L2 D R2 D

Tip: make sure to always plan out an efficient cross solution and don’t you dare cube rotate during cross. You did the red yellow edge with Rw L and not L2 which forces you to cube rotate. Also note how you can do the yellow blue edge without rotating by doing D instead of y U. Lastly, do the D2 with a double flick.

You then did the orange-green pair with tons of rotations. After your first U’ after cross, and seeing where both pieces are, you can simply do R’ U’ R L U’ L’ to solve it. At the point where you set it up to do R U R’ L’ U2 L R’ U R, you could instead have done R’ U’ R2 U R2 U’ R

The red-blue pair was done in a decent way, although you can do it rotationlessly with Lw U2 L2 U’ L2 U’ Lw’. For your level your solution is fine though.

Before your rotation for the red-blue pair, you could have seen the blue-orange edge solved. This would make for an easy U’ R’ U2 R U’ R’ U’ R for the blue-orange pair without pauses. You decided to do the red-green, which, after the U2, can be done with F U F’ U L’ U’ L.

After your solution for the green-red you did a y’ rotation and after recognizing the case, you did another one to set it up into a case you are familiar with. That extra rotation was unnecessary, because L’ U’ L U2 L’ U’ L does the job.

For OLL, don’t regrip at the beginning of the alg, after the Rw from homegrip you can do the U2 with your left hand as a double flick.

As for the N-perm, I personally use R’ U R U’ R’ F’ U’ F R U R’ F R’ F’ R U’ R (U) which I can do in about 1.2 seconds but there isn’t really a good alg for this so just use what you are comfortable with. Just make sure you can predict the AUF, that really helps save time.

Hope this helps, might do the other solves too soon because I really enjoy breaking stuff down like this.

 

[Ayce]

Hope this helps, might do the other solves too soon because I really enjoy breaking stuff down like this.

Damn! Thanks so much for the tips! Since this average a few months ago, I've improved ridiculously fast, I redid a this average and I performed much better. I'll take these tips into account. If you enjoy doing this then I can do an updated average, (if you want tips on clock I can help out with that in return!) Just let me know!

I'll make a new blog/progression post soon! Its big again, and it doesn't involve 3BLD on a date!

 

[Burrito]

whats this about a date?

 

[Ayce]

Read the last progression block’s final notes

 

[Jorian Meeuse]

Damn! Thanks so much for the tips! Since this average a few months ago, I've improved ridiculously fast, I redid a this average and I performed much better. I'll take these tips into account. If you enjoy doing this then I can do an updated average, (if you want tips on clock I can help out with that in return!) Just let me know!

I'll make a new blog/progression post soon! Its big again, and it doesn't involve 3BLD on a date!

Yes, I realized the average was a little outdated. Indeed an update would be more effective. I don't have a clock lol, it's the only event i dont have. Also i could help you out with 3BLD and up, im approaching sub 20 on 3BLD and have the Dutch NR for 4BLD so if you neep any help, just upload a video and if i can find the time i'll be glad to help!

Edit: I am dumb, a video of BLD solves is probably not very critique-able. Some tips that definitely will help you get to sub 1 if not further:
-Practise a lot, this makes you familiar with the letters that correspond to each piece. If you don't have to think about where for example the orange green edge goes and what letter it is, that saves SO MUCH time.
-Use orozco for corners. It may be tough to wrap you head around, but it has 3 advantages: 1. The algs are faster. 2. If you ever encounter an easy intuitive 3style case, you can do it (as long as you know reasonably well how comms work) 3. Faster exec means that you have to remember the memo for less time and thus makes it easier to memo.
- Do edge only and corner only sessions on cstimer. It will help identify where you are slower than you should be.
- do memo split (set the timer to multiphase) if you dont use stackmat. Also helps you identify weaknessess.

Learning 3-style might be a long shot but when you are sub 1 you should look into it.

 

[Ayce]

I’m at the point where I can look at a piece and see which letter it is instantly, but my accuracy still sucks

 

[Jorian Meeuse]

In that case, this can help:
Memorize a cube entirely, as if you are going to solve it blindfolded, but then you solve it sighted with your blind method. That way you see exactly where you go wrong and fix your mistakes

 

[Ayce]

Medium Update!
Pretty big updates on my 3x3 progress, and some other bits.

3x3:
Surpassed 5k solves on my session
fsiljdsgijofd[hijgg PB SINGLE!
Single: 10.83 --> 10.35
Amazing tempo, perfect good OLL into a PLL skip (I think?) Can't remember much about it, but still lets go,
On top of this, I've gotten several other 11 second solves and 10 second solves, sub 10 is soon!
Ao12: 14.39 Didn't realize I broke it until I went through my records to make this post.
Ao100: 15.87 Sub 16??
Ao1000: 16.42

4x4:
Ao5: 1:06.39
Ao12: 1:10.67
Ao100: 1:14.57
I plateaued again XD

5x5:
Single: 2:21.87
Mo3: 2:38.37
Ao5: 2:42.44
Ao12: 2:49.92
I’m doing something wrong, progress is too slow

6x6 & 7x7
I’m probably going lump these two together for progress notes, but being the MGC super fan (seriously all my NxN mains except 3x3 are MGC) I ordered MGC 6x6 and 7x7. Hopefully I can enjoy it better than 5x5.

Clock
I’m beginning to crack into the 8s. Still no single PB, kinda sucks but whatever
Ao12: 8.26
Ao100: 8.92 More 8s!
Ao1000: 9.73

3BLD
Using Jorian Meeuse’s tips to get my accuracy into something consistent.

4BLD
Trying to crunch as many algs as I can before school starts up

Final Notes:
Just hoping for a sub-10 3x3 single, I've updated my goals, check on the front page of this thread. Thanks to whoever reads all of this

 

[Eli Apperson]

5x5:
Single: 2:21.87
Mo3: 2:38.37
Ao5: 2:42.44
Ao12: 2:49.92
I’m doing something wrong, progress is too slow

6x6 & 7x7
I’m probably going lump these two together for progress notes, but being the MGC super fan (seriously all my NxN mains except 3x3 are MGC) I ordered MGC 6x6 and 7x7. Hopefully I can enjoy it better than 5x5.

The key to big cube progress is grinding. So, if you want to get faster at 5x5 for example, I'd drop everything else for a week and just grind.

 

[Timona]

The key to big cube progress is grinding. So, if you want to get faster at 5x5 for example, I'd drop everything else for a week and just grind.

I’m doing something wrong, progress is too slow

A week is gonna be too small to see any progress imo. Try 3 weeks. Watch as many example solves as you can. Before you time yourself, solve the cube like 3 times. Practice.

 

[Eli Apperson]

A week is gonna be too small to see any progress imo. Try 3 weeks. Watch as many example solves as you can. Before you time yourself, solve the cube like 3 times. Practice.

I went from 2:30 to sub 1:50 in about a week, so it can be done

 

[Ayce]

I went from 2:30 to sub 1:50 in about a week, so it can be done

I’ll probably end up doing blind for a month, I enjoy it more, but big cubes are still on my radar