[Help Thread] CFOP Discussion

[XANAFIED]

Hi, I average about 50 seconds and my PB is 37 seconds. I know intuitive F2L, 2look OLL and 2look PLL. I also do the cross on the D layer. But no matter how much I practice the F2L, it still takes me about 30-40 seconds to complete it. I can see some improvement though, but does it have to be this slow?

You'll always be slower than the beginners method you used before transitioning into F2L for the first few days. However, with good time and practice you'll get way better, and will eventually get around the stage where you can do F2L easily in less than ten seconds, maybe a lot faster than that too.

So, rest assured, it all comes with practice.

 

[Evmc01]

Get familiar with f2l. You should just practice and get it under 20 seconds. Practice is key!

 

[newtonbase]

Hi, I average about 50 seconds and my PB is 37 seconds. I know intuitive F2L, 2look OLL and 2look PLL. I also do the cross on the D layer. But no matter how much I practice the F2L, it still takes me about 30-40 seconds to complete it. I can see some improvement though, but does it have to be this slow?

I have very similar times. F2L is killing me. I just can't find the pieces. And you should see me on 4x4. I need a satnav to find matching edge pieces. There must be a better way to think it.

 

[Rocky0701]

I have very similar times. F2L is killing me. I just can't find the pieces. And you should see me on 4x4. I need a satnav to find matching edge pieces. There must be a better way to think it.

Try solving BLD pairs to help increase look ahead and execution speed, then when you are actually solving, you can try to look ahead while you do your pair. This should increase your times.

 

[TheNextFeliks]

So I am averaging about 15 right now. More days under, but still some about 15-16. I feel like lookahead is really the determining factor at the moment. If I lookahead well, I get 12-14 solves all the time. If I don't, I average slower. My tps is still bad ~4-5. Any tips for improving these things? Especially the tps, I feel my lookahead is starting to develop some. Also, cross I usually bad for me so cross-f2l is usually rough.

 

[Marco Cuber]

So I am averaging about 15 right now. More days under, but still some about 15-16. I feel like lookahead is really the determining factor at the moment. If I lookahead well, I get 12-14 solves all the time. If I don't, I average slower. My tps is still bad ~4-5. Any tips for improving these things? Especially the tps, I feel my lookahead is starting to develop some. Also, cross I usually bad for me so cross-f2l is usually rough.

I have the exact same problem as you. I just can't manage to break the 15-barrier even though it was easy to break the sub-20 barrier.

 

[aboeglin]

I have very little experience with 4x4, but I mostly find that doing a few 4x4 solves before practicing 3x3 is a huge help for recognition. Also, when you first start F2L you don't really know where to look at and with time you start to automatically avoid pieces that have Up face colors on them, it becomes like a background. You actually only looking for 8 pieces actually.

 

[Hypocrism]

So I am averaging about 15 right now. More days under, but still some about 15-16. I feel like lookahead is really the determining factor at the moment. If I lookahead well, I get 12-14 solves all the time. If I don't, I average slower. My tps is still bad ~4-5. Any tips for improving these things? Especially the tps, I feel my lookahead is starting to develop some. Also, cross I usually bad for me so cross-f2l is usually rough.

I find being able to predict the first pair was the thing that got me from getting ~15second averages to normally getting ~13second averages, and that happened in about two or three weeks. Unfortunately I don't know what I did that helped me to get better at that-you might try just not starting a solve until you've predicted the position of a pair, or at least a piece to start with. If you're very bad at cross, do more BLD crosses. At this point I can BLD cross+1st pair most of the time, so that's a good target.

 

[jeff081692]

I find being able to predict the first pair was the thing that got me from getting ~15second averages to normally getting ~13second averages, and that happened in about two or three weeks. Unfortunately I don't know what I did that helped me to get better at that-you might try just not starting a solve until you've predicted the position of a pair, or at least a piece to start with. If you're very bad at cross, do more BLD crosses. At this point I can BLD cross+1st pair most of the time, so that's a good target.

I have also improved my cross+1 to get from about 14-15 to 12-13 and this video is great on the topic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZEIhQcFYQo
A combination of predicting/tracking when I can't see full cross+1 really helped. That and doing a lot of cross+1 solves so I could identify exactly where I was messing up is what I did.

 

[Tom606060]

Why am I so Slow??

Hello,
I am about sub 24 or 25 and know 19/21 pll and around 20 oll. I can't figure out why I'm still so slow. I heard that you should be sub 15 if you know full pll. My f2l is decent but only problem is that I don't use look ahead. My cross is inconsistent ranging from 2-7 seconds. Even on the 3 sec crosses, I still get only 22 or 23. Pb of 19.35. Cube is moyu weilong v2
Can anyone help me improve????

 

[GlowingSausage]

when did you start cubing?

 

[DeeDubb]

Hello,
I am about sub 24 or 25 and know 19/21 pll and around 20 oll. I can't figure out why I'm still so slow.

answer:

only problem is that I don't use look ahead. My cross is inconsistent ranging from 2-7 seconds. Even on the 3 sec crosses,

You answered your own question it seems.

solve time = (total turns) / (turns per second)

Meaning the only two ways to get faster is either lower your overall move count or raise your turns per second. Move count is improved by researching more efficient ways to solve. Turns per second is increased with less pauses and faster moves... You already know what you need to do, just keep practicing.

 

[TinaIsAwesome]

I don't use look ahead.QUOTE]
^This

If you want to be faster you have to practice your F2L. You can't rely on PLL alone because it alone will not make you faster. Don't get me wrong, knowing full PLL is important but it will only improve your time slightly. Work on your F2L, that will improve your times.

 

[brian724080]

Your F2L is way too slow because you don't look-ahead. You can start from your cross by planning everything out is your inspection time, and plan your 1st pair when you're doing your cross. It should be around 8 moves at most, and you should be able to do it well within three seconds for starters.

 

[Tom606060]

I started cubing about 3 months ago.

 

[kcl]

I started cubing about 3 months ago.

This answers half of your question. You'll get faster, it just takes time.

 

[GlowingSausage]

plan your cross, close your eyes and solve it without looking (you can do this with f2l pairs, too.)(this will help your look-ahead because you can look for the next pair while solving your current one)(only do this for practice, not while solving )

i was just about to say that kennan

 

[CriticalCubing]

This answers half of your question. You'll get faster, it just takes time.

Kenan, you were around 13 sec after 3 months, right?

As for your question. Plan out the cross and do it with your eyes closed. I plan out by looking at the pieces and their insertion and not by memorizing D F B R2 etc stuff.
Once you are good at cross, try the same for f2l, close youe eyes and solve a f2l pair. then do this for 2 pairs. Then slowly slowly make it so that you can do the whole f2l in one look. (can take more than a year also). But if you can do 2 pairs at one look then also you can achieve sub 20 times.
Make sure your OLL and PLL recognition is fast and you can execute both in about 6 sec. 3 sec for each.

Thats it from me!

 

[Hypocrism]

Kenan, you were around 13 sec after 3 months, right?

As for your question. Plan out the cross and do it with your eyes closed. I plan out by looking at the pieces and their insertion and not by memorizing D F B R2 etc stuff.
Once you are good at cross, try the same for f2l, close youe eyes and solve a f2l pair. then do this for 2 pairs. Then slowly slowly make it so that you can do the whole f2l in one look. (can take more than a year also). But if you can do 2 pairs at one look then also you can achieve sub 20 times.
Make sure your OLL and PLL recognition is fast and you can execute both in about 6 sec. 3 sec for each.

Thats it from me!

You don't do F2L in one look..

 

[CriticalCubing]

You don't do F2L in one look..

Yup you sure dont. That is just for practising look ahead and familiarising yourself with how pieces move around cube. Completing 2 f2l pairs is more than enough but trying f2l in one look may help in multislotting in the end. The more familiar you are on how piece move around while inserting a f2l pair, the more you know where a piece is gonna end up after inserting a pair so you can either multislot or you can seamlessly go to solving another f2l pair. In the end it is for the good. There is no harm in trying it
PS: I do f2l in 2 look so it is really not required but helps a lot.