:44.12PB, :56.51Avg, Roadblock

Tyjet66

Tyjet66

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Alright, it seems I've hit a roadblock with my improvement. I am using a Sheng En Type F(ii).

I'm using Fridrich method:
Cross on bottom
F2L
2-Look OLL
1-Look PLL (Still learning, 16/21)

My times after solving each step (estimated average):
Cross - :10-:13
F2L - :35-:45
OLL - :40-:52
PLL - :44-1:00

I'm thinking I really need to improve my cross, but I'm having troubles getting it down on inspection. Any tips on how I can practice this? And do you see anything else I may need to work on (other than 1LOLL and finishing PLLs.)

Any and all help is appreciated. :)
 
Cross was a big problem for me also. What really helps is to do it with your eyes closed alot and also to just practice only cross, alot. Your F2l seems good, only 10 seconds?
 
Tyjet66 said:
Alright, it seems I've hit a roadblock with my improvement. I am using a Sheng En Type F(ii).

I'm using Fridrich method:
Cross on bottom
F2L
2-Look OLL
1-Look PLL (Still learning, 16/21)

My times after solving each step (estimated average):
Cross - :10-:13
F2L - :35-:45
OLL - :40-:52
PLL - :44-1:00

I'm thinking I really need to improve my cross, but I'm having troubles getting it down on inspection. Any tips on how I can practice this? And do you see anything else I may need to work on (other than 1LOLL and finishing PLLs.)

Any and all help is appreciated. :)
Click to expand...

By looking at how long each step takes, I would also reccomend you work on the cross. Practice inspecting the cube and then solving the cross with your eyes closed. Even if you can only do a couple pieces at a time, keep at it until you can do it all at once. This greatly helped me and reduced my average cross-solving time. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hY_F...922B76D76&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=9 This is a great tutorial and would recommend using his tips. Good luck! just practice practice practice....
 
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Tyjet66 said:
Cross - :10-:13
F2L - :35-:45
Click to expand...
There's your problem. Your f2l not including cross is great. Get cross below 5 seconds (very easily done)
For say someone averaging 10, they normally have about;
Cross: 2
Rest of f2l: 4
OLL (all 57 algs): 1
PLL (all 21 algs): 2
Rest of the time is AUFing on last layer and recog.

Edit: I thought you meant the rest of your f2l was 10.
 
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your cross obviously needs work, but take a look at your F2L it takes you about 6 - 8 seconds to solve each F2L pair, this needs some considerable work as well. The biggest problem for me (and is still an ongowing process) is fluid movement.

Its better to be slow and consistent than fast and choppy with your F2L...slow down, it will actually help you speed up surprisingly.

...and the cross, its purely intuitive just practice practice practice.
 
I am in a similar situation, look over badmephisto's videos and make sure you are solving "relative cross" A good exercise is solving the cross in 8 or less moves, count your moves so you note your progress. I found I was using up to 16 moves for the cross, when I began to pay attention I dropped my moves down to around 8 moves, sometimes less depending on the scramble.

When I first started, I would place the cross pieces in the correct location (bad habit from the beginner method), when I began working on relative position my times dropped a few seconds immediately however, I have a lot of work to do.

As others have said, slow down and work on look ahead with your F2L, metronome practice helps with looking ahead. I made the mistake of rushing and my times were averaging around 1:30 and at times over 2 minutes when I started in December. Once I slowed down during F2L and worked on looking ahead I dropped quickly below 1 minute and began hitting low 40's with occasional high 30's. Make sure to look over the algorithms in the wiki, you may find an algorithm that works better for you, this can help as well. Again, I am in a similar situation as you so please defer to the experts here, they have great advice.
 
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i agree to at least get your cross down to about 6 seconds
also at your speed just practicing helps a lot because you can improve your look ahead easily
i know for me, that my time depends completely if i do like a 2.5 cross in 8 moves or a 5 second cross in like 10 moves and also how well i look ahead in the solve
my ll is quite constant
 
chris410 said:
I am in a similar situation, look over badmephisto's videos and make sure you are solving "relative cross" A good exercise is solving the cross in 8 or less moves, count your moves so you note your progress. I found I was using up to 16 moves for the cross, when I began to pay attention I dropped my moves down to around 8 moves, sometimes less depending on the scramble.

When I first started, I would place the cross pieces in the correct location (bad habit from the beginner method), when I began working on relative position my times dropped a few seconds immediately however, I have a lot of work to do.

As others have said, slow down and work on look ahead with your F2L, metronome practice helps with looking ahead. I made the mistake of rushing and my times were averaging around 1:30 and at times over 2 minutes when I started in December. Once I slowed down during F2L and worked on looking ahead I dropped quickly below 1 minute and began hitting low 40's with occasional high 30's. Make sure to look over the algorithms in the wiki, you may find an algorithm that works better for you, this can help as well. Again, I am in a similar situation as you so please defer to the experts here, they have great advice.
Click to expand...

What Chris says is spot on... especially the part about "relative position" for cross. badmephisto's cross vid addresses this if you want an explanation. Don't worry about how much inspection time you are using for awhile. Take as much time as you need to plan your cross. I see that you are a bottom cross solver. This is good, but switch to top for awhile IF you need to so you can see what is going on better. Start by planning the first two pieces of your cross and using look ahead as you are solving them for the last two pieces. When you are comfortable with that, add the third piece into inspection. Before you know it, you will be planning the entire cross during inspection. A GREAT side effect of this, is that you are already looking for your first f2l pair while you are solving the cross. How great is it to cut down your f2l by a couple seconds... without even having to work on your f2l? Awesome isn't it?

Speed doesn't help you if you are doing it wrong. Spend some (not all) of your practice time just sitting and thinking about the cube. For your f2l, decide EXACTLY what moves you are going to make to solve the pair. After you have made up your mind... do it, and then move onto the next pair. This will help you find the most efficient way to insert pairs. You DO of course need to learn to look ahead, but decreasing your move count (efficiency) will help you a ton also.
 
Hi Tyjet

You should have a goal in mind, for some people its just to solve the cube for others its a specific time they want to solve it in.

Personally when I started I just wanted to average less than 25 seconds and have a best solve of around 15 seconds.

So for starters I would recommend setting a goal! Even if your goal is say 30 seconds, you will find once you get there you only want to get quicker!

Anyway, as for your solves, I would just practice, and practice and practice.

Dont worry about "inspection times" for your cross, does do it in your own time, dont worry too much bout putting them in the correct location as long as they are relative to the other pieces you can then adjust it after wards. Think about what you are doign and see if there are other ways to put the same edges in place and maybe even put others in place at the same time.

Then when it comes to F2L, again just keep practicing, but rather than trying to go fast, just take it slowly and see if you can find shorter or easier ways to put corners/edges in together.

Then when you are comfortable I would recommend learning OLLs where edges are orientated (7 or 8 or something) + 2 other OLLs (44 and 45 in the Wiki) then learn the PLLs.

All the 'going slow looking ahead' stuff is all valid, but unless you are 100% comfortable with the moves you are doing and dont have to think about, then its probably not worth investing too much time in.
 
For your cross, the first thing that you need to do is be able to solve it in 7-8 moves usually. Before you go trying that stuff with solving the cross blindfolded, make sure you get your movecount down. Solving it blindfolded is practically impossible if you are doing too many moves.
I used to try solving it blindfolded all the time, and got nowhere like that. Of course its obvious in hindsight, but I would try to listen to the people that kept saying "practice it blindfolded" while I was still solving it horribly inefficiently. Just doesn't work that way.
 
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