The way my solves break down (where do I need the most improving?)

[Chrisandstuff]

Ok this is a good solve for me regardless but heres how my solve breaks down.

7-8 seconds cross
22-23 sec F2L
6-7 OLL
5-6 PLL
Total 40-44 (My average right now is around 50-55 this was faster thanks to the 3LLL)

Obviously I can tell the slowest part of my solve is my F2L, but this solve I had a 3LLL instead of 4. (although I get a 3LLL a little over 50% of the time I know 12 PLL algs and im learning about 2 a day) What really concerns me though is my really slow cross. Also my F2L is usually just a little bit slower then this usually around 33 seconds for both cross and F2L.

anyway can I get some advice (I was really happy to see my LL was >15 seconds)

Edit: Also any tips on how to improve a specific part of my solve would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Dillonzer]

Use inspection time. How I do my cross is that I look for 2 pieces that I can place opposite of each other, then I look where the other cross pieces will be after those 2 are in place. Since most crosses can be solved in 6-8 moves, look for them.

Also make sure you're solving the cross on the bottom.

 

[Chrisandstuff]

Yes im always solve the cross on bottom (unless I notice the cross can be real finger trick accessable with R and U then I solve it on top but use a r to rotate it to the bottom real quick) Yea I read most crosses can be solved in 8 or less moves so I counted my moves for cross. usually around 8-10 moves. Thank you =)

 

[asportking]

Cross: Plan out the entire cross during inspection (if you can't do that, ignore the 15 second time limit and use as much of your time as you need to). Try to solve the cross in eight moves or less. Work on solving it blindfolded (so that you can track F2L pieces without having to look at the cross).

F2L: Lookahead and practice. Get algorithms for cases that take you a long time. Just like the cross, work on solving F2L pairs blindfolded so that you can track other F2L pieces. Use a metronome, turning once every tick, and go as slow as you need to as long as there aren't any pauses.

OLL and PLL: Really, the only thing you can do for this is practice and get faster with the algs. Seeing as you're averaging around 50 seconds, I think you'd benefit more from practicing F2L rather than learning full OLL and PLL (although since you're about halfway done with learning PLL, you may as well finish that up).

 

[Chrisandstuff]

Yea Im not going to learn OLL yet im putting that off for quite a while. But I have noticed that anytime I get a 1LPLL I always do a sub 50 solve. Just now did a 47.12 I had a 3LLL had an L OLL for the edges then a sune for corners and Y perm for PLL. And I think my last layer is fairly decent so I dont try to focus on practicing it to much(besides just learning PLL algs). Thank you im going to try the blindfold method for F2L pairs and as for the cross I usually do try to plan out my whole cross during inspection (and successful at it usually) but sometimes I also wing it by placing 2 pieces and just watching where the other 2 go and place them.

Just did an ao12
average of 12: 50.82
50.74 44.10 61.84 47.12 52.63 51.36 48.60 41.61 56.35 (41.54) (69.37) 53.82

Funny enough my best time here (41.54) I had messed up my cross while doing F2L but I still inserted all my pairs in and fixed my cross. Also the 69 had a pop in it and I inserted 6 F2L pairs cause I kept messing up my pairs I already did. This was a really good ao12 for me but you see about where my times are now.

 

[Chrisandstuff]

Thank you sahid. I actually sat away from the comp for a while doing a few slow solves just getting use to the cross a bit better and what not and getting used to looking ahead to F2L pairs (I beat my personal best and got a 39.11 earlier had a 2l oll and T perm) If I ignore the 15 second inspection time I can usually plan out a good cross ive been testing blindfold cross solving usually successfull. Thanks for all the insightfull tips =)

 

[skeletonboy]

Plan your cross in inspection. But, for now, don't worry about timing yourself. That will give you pressure. Instead, solve a cube slowly and analyze the steps and how they are executed. Slow down your solve, and practice and/or repeat steps over and over again, so that you are actually practicing. When you time yourself, you are still solving the cube, but you aren't focusing on what you need to improve such as the F2L insertion techniques (badmephisto's vid), and slowly analyzing the cross.
The WCA inspection is 15 secs(or 12??), who cares? You are practicing your solve and you can take as long as you can to practice.

Also, for F2L pairs, you may want to solve it slowly rather than bursts of speed then stalling for 3 seconds then burst again. Try to slow down the F2L. At first you may seem that you are very slow, you may even think "Oh, why do I have to turn so SLOW IN MY F2L??!". But actually, when you realize you have emitted the 3x4=12 seconds of stalling, you will actually seek a good time.

And just for example, yesterday I did Ao12 of speed burst style solves and all solves were over 30. Then I did only one single solve of slow turning and BAM, 27 secs.

 

[Chrisandstuff]

Plan your cross in inspection. But, for now, don't worry about timing yourself. That will give you pressure. Instead, solve a cube slowly and analyze the steps and how they are executed. Slow down your solve, and practice and/or repeat steps over and over again, so that you are actually practicing. When you time yourself, you are still solving the cube, but you aren't focusing on what you need to improve such as the F2L insertion techniques (badmephisto's vid), and slowly analyzing the cross.
The WCA inspection is 15 secs(or 12??), who cares? You are practicing your solve and you can take as long as you can to practice.

Also, for F2L pairs, you may want to solve it slowly rather than bursts of speed then stalling for 3 seconds then burst again. Try to slow down the F2L. At first you may seem that you are very slow, you may even think "Oh, why do I have to turn so SLOW IN MY F2L??!". But actually, when you realize you have emitted the 3x4=12 seconds of stalling, you will actually seek a good time.

And just for example, yesterday I did Ao12 of speed burst style solves and all solves were over 30. Then I did only one single solve of slow turning and BAM, 27 secs.

Omg i just took you advice. Minus the timing thing I just dont let the time get to me. But I went ahead and did a few solves using slow turns for F2L I got a PB of 37.36 Thats almost 2 seconds faster then my old PB. And I do alot of slow solves (untimed) to see how to better insert F2L pairs and such. But the slow turning thing was crazy I never noticed how much time I lose looking for the next pair to insert.

Ok did an ao12 using a slow turning and my average was 49.62 my usual average is around 50-55 so Im very pleased with the results thank you for your advice. Thank you again.

 

[skeletonboy]

Your welcome, glad to be able to help. Hope you keep progressing!

 

[rubiksarlen]

2 sec cross and 10-15 sec F2l would be better. your kinda slow at those 2 steps/

 

[skeletonboy]

2 sec cross and 10-15 sec F2l would be better. your kinda slow at those 2 steps/

A 2 second cross is actually hard to achieve, it would take a very long time and a lot of focusing.
Just focus on your F2L, it takes up most of your time.