6x6 Help and Questions

[MCRcuber]

Hello guys i have some questions, and i was wondering if i could get some help. I got my v cube 6 3 days ago and right now my avg. of 10 is 6:30. I really like 6x6 and cutoffs at MIT Spring are 5 minutes. Im sure 6:30 is slow, so what are some things i could do to get faster. For edge pairing i solve one at a time free slice. I then use F2L then 2 look OLL then Full PLL.

My cube is not modded. My times for each section are:

Around 2:20 for CROSS
Around 3 minutes for EDGE PAIRING
Around 35 seconds for F2L
Then the rest should take 20-30 seconds. Unless i get a lot of parity.

Whats thre best to help me. Thank you

 

[freshcuber]

Do you use Yau for 6x6?

 

[MCRcuber]

Do you use Yau for 6x6?

No i do not

 

[ChrisBird]

I'm not quite sure I understand what method you use, but do you use reduction first, THEN do Fridrich? Or do you solve the bottom center, then the 4 edge pairs around it etc. If you do the latter (which is what it seems like from your post) I would recommend doing normal reduction.

Step 1: Solve two opposite centers.
Step 2: Solve the remaining 4 centers, making sure they are in the correct orientation to each other.
Step 3: Solve 8 edge pairs and store them in the U and D faces.
Step 4: Use the E layer moves to solve the remaining 4 edge pairs.
Step 5: Cross
Step 6: F2L
Step 7: OLL and Parity (if any)
Step 8: PLL and Parity (if any)

It's not to hard to get to about 4-5 minutes with this, and even faster just takes some dedicated practice.

~Chris

Edit: If you do a different method, or you already do reduction let me know.

 

[freshcuber]

Around 2:20 for CROSS
Around 3 minutes for EDGE PAIRING
Around 35 seconds for F2L
Then the rest should take 20-30 seconds. Unless i get a lot of parity.

Whats thre best to help me. Thank you

Then do you mean centers?

 

[MCRcuber]

Oh alright im sorry. I was not clear. I meant centers when i said cross. Sorry for the confusion. And chris, yes i do exactly what you do.

 

[ChrisBird]

*Phew*

My breakdown (With an average of about 3:30) is as follows:
Centers: 1:30
Edges: 1:30
3x3 Solve: 30

My recommendation is this: Practice.
Now I know what you're thinking, but bear with me.

Dedicated practice to a puzzle will almost always make you faster, but if you have bad habits and keep drilling them into your solves they will be difficult to repair later. So I would suggest practicing only centers for a couple solves, figuring out the different patterns that you can see while solving that make it faster.

For example: If you see this while solving centers

then you can make a red 1x4 bar with only R' U R.
Things that seem small like that can actually make a big difference while solving the puzzle.

Also, choose two colors and stick with them as your first two centers. Only because this makes it easier to remember which order the remaining 4 centers go in, but also gets you into a habit of using your inspection time most wisely.

As for edge pairing, practicing while turning slow and looking ahead is a good way to practice. Know which edge pair you're going to work on after your current one so you can replace the current pair with a scrambled pair that has a piece or two for your next pair.

As for parities, I find Lucas Parity (OLL Parity using mainly R and U turns) to be the quickest. If you are having issues with solving parity quickly I have a video I recently made on the subject.

If you have any other questions I'd be glad to help.

~Chris

 

[MCRcuber]

Thanks Chris. Ive seen some of your videos and they have helped. I use Lucas Parity but the problem with my last layer and centers being slow i think is from now being able to turn as fast with u unmodded cube. But i definately need to practice alot cause thats one of the best ways to get better. One problem it seems i come up with is that when im at the PLL state it seems like i get this position that is not a PLL, and i have know clue what it is. I dont know, maybe it is but i just dont see it. Thankyou

 

[freshcuber]

That's PLL Parity. If you get to PLL and there's a case that isn't normally seen on a 3x3 then you have to use the parity alg. I use an adapted version of the same one for 4x4. Sometimes when you're just starting out with big cubes case identification on the LL can be tricky because it's all out of proportion but this becomes easier to handle with practice.

 

[MCRcuber]

OK, yes its after i do OLL. It looks like it could be an N per but its not. So i usually just do a U perm, then go from there..

 

[freshcuber]

If you can tell without doubt that you have parity then apply the parity alg. If you're unsure then do exactly what you described. Do a U-perm and if it's still not a normal looking case then you have parity.