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Breaking sub-30 on 3x3

SpicyOranges said:
Its not that hard.
Click to expand...

I guess I'll complicate my formula a bit to add another factor

T = Seconds to Solve
S = TPS (without pauses)
M = Turns (moves)
P = Pause Time

T = (M/S) + P

So, your 30 second solve was very little P (only one I saw was at PLL). Your M count was efficient and low, so your S didn't have to be as high, because the other two were good. You will never see an actual 30 second solver solve like that. Their S will be higher, but their P will also be much higher and their M will probably also be higher because they aren't accustomed to very efficient moves. This is a good demonstration about how you can be fast without actually turning fast though if your other factors are good.
 
I think I am in a similar position just maybe a bit further down the line. I global average something like 16 but I am finding it really tough to break sub 15. It seems no matter how much practice, LL F2L just anything, metronome etc I just can't budge from my current average. Its certainly frustrating but I think it just takes alot ALOT of practice. I mean watching the top cuber's walkthrough solves, I can see that their solutions are not much different than mine. In my case its tps because I have fluid solves (I rarely have pauses) its just my actual physical technique (i.e. Regrips, rotations, poor fingertricking) that's holding me back.

Hope this helps somewhat.
 
Ltsurge said:
I think I am in a similar position just maybe a bit further down the line. I global average something like 16 but I am finding it really tough to break sub 15. It seems no matter how much practice, LL F2L just anything, metronome etc I just can't budge from my current average. Its certainly frustrating but I think it just takes alot ALOT of practice. I mean watching the top cuber's walkthrough solves, I can see that their solutions are not much different than mine. In my case its tps because I have fluid solves (I rarely have pauses) its just my actual physical technique (i.e. Regrips, rotations, poor fingertricking) that's holding me back.

Hope this helps somewhat.
Click to expand...

yeah, the 16 second barrier was when i started to hit "barriers."
 
Yeah, the 16 second barrier is hard. I've been here for quite some time now. I've gotten more and more 15.xx ao12s, and a few sub 15 ao5s, but I don't think I've fully broken the barrier yet.
 
RicardoRix said:
Yeah, for you!
Same analogy from who wants to be a millionaire, the questions are only easy if you know the answers.

[video=youtube_share;Tl3qj82gjes]http://youtu.be/Tl3qj82gjes[/video]
Click to expand...
Yeah this gets repeated a lot and is really annoying when you are struggling to get sub-30. However, there is some truth in it, in that you don't have to do anything special to get sub-30. It's just practice. You don't need super-fast TPS, nor all 78 algs, nor lookahead. You need moderate TPS and to be able to recognise cases and find pairs without too much pause.

I was stuck at 32 for ages and for me the thing that broke me through was blind practice of F2L pairs. I thought I was learning and practising lookahead, but with hindsight it wasn't that - I was just getting quicker at finding the next pair, as a result of not visually tracking the current pair. Once that clicked, I dropped to 28 almost overnight and continued to more slowly improve from there.
 
RicardoRix said:
Yeah, for you!
Same analogy from who wants to be a millionaire, the questions are only easy if you know the answers.
Click to expand...

I just went back and rewatched the first Ao12 I posted a few months back. It looks similar to your video (other than us doing different techniques).

I didn't really change anything, I just kept practicing, and after a few months I got down to sub-23. Also, my actual turn speed isn't much faster than when I was solving over 40 seconds, I just do better solves and pause less.

4/10:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcRydS6yw78


6/14
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4kDGXesYDg

So, don't worry about your turn speed. Just keep practicing timed and untimed solves. You will spot things faster and learn more efficient techniques. Keep your chin up!
 
i was using beginners method
then i started to get serious i shift to CFOP
after that it was like so easy

i learned Full PLL in one week it cut my times by almost half
22 algs total

my F2L is rotationless and intuitive solve
R U R' with r
L' U L with l

kinda not that friendly fingertrick but it works for me..
 
cubingsamurai said:
I have been cubing since December and all this time I still don't even have a average of sub-30. I feel so frustrated because I'm solving the cube so many times and I don't seem to be improving. I can solve any F2l case, I know 4 look last layer. I just want to know if there's anybody out there who finds it so difficult to beat an average that seems so slow to others. I have such a hard time memorizing algorithms and I can sometimes forget these algorithms. I keep practicing but nothing helps and timing my solves just gets me inconsistent times, some including 40 seconds or over and it discourages me because I like speed cubing and want to get fast. My shortest time is only 19.44. I have times where I think my look-ahead is very fast and sometimes I pause for seconds. Can anybody give me some tips or motivation? Is there anybody out there going through the same thing?
Click to expand...

I don't know if it's motivation but you're doing awesome in my opinion if you're close to sub30 - I've been cubing 3 years and I only average 31 :) So I'd say don't worry about it - just have fun cubing! A general comment would be to not time yourself for a while - just focus on the solving and working on what you need to work on. Timing yourself will only impede your progress imho.

And also, for me it's helpful to remember that sub30, 20 and even 15 is definitely possible for me (and you) in that it's not a dexterity thing - a CFOP solve takes 50-55 moves - say 60 for an upper bound. Then if you turn continuously at 2 turns per second, you have a 30 second solve! and 3 turns a second gives a 20 second solve! That's not very fast turning at all.... and 4 turns a second gives a 15 second solve! So this is all within our physical limits. Which means the reason we're slower than we want is most likely psychological, as previously mentioned, and it's nice to know that it's not dexterity/turning insanely fast that we have to work on, but to recognize where our thinking is either wrong or slow.
 
Last edited:
One thing I did to get sub-30 was take a 1 month break from cubing. Then spent 1 week on only slow solves and LL practice (got half of full PLL down). Then, I was sub 30.
 
RicardoRix said:
I've been cubing for over a year, and am stuck and have been for about 6 months on a global average of 38. I know full PLL and have done since the start. The pauses and the getting algs wrong is a real PITA too. My biggest grief is that I just can't see pairs, occasionally a 4 or 5 second pause looking for a pair is really painful.
My turning speed is not the best. Slowing down trying to be smooth and look-ahead or going as fast as I can make no difference. I don't believe that I will get significantly faster in the future. If I get a sub30 then everything falls into place with a lot of easy F2L cases and such. Even then I can feel like I've done nothing particularly wrong and have little or no pauses and still get a 40.

I think some of us just aren't cut from the same cloth. I'm guessing (or rather hoping) that fast people are very positive and vocal and the slower solvers tend to hide in the shadows a bit more readily.
Click to expand...

This is normal. It takes quite a bit of work to improve once you stop being limited by being unfamiliar with the method and instead have to learn how to look ahead. I think anybody can make at least sub-20.

Stick with the practice and look ahead training. Using a metronome, and gradually increase the speed with which you turn and are able to look ahead with. Do blind pairs, where you find the pair, close your eyes, and execute blind. This helps you to execute the pairs without thinking, and when you can do that reliably it's easier to disconnect from it and concentrate on the rest of the cube.

http://www.metronomeonline.com
 
ok, thanks for the advice.
I have been practising blind pairs and really trying to become increasing familiar with all the F2L cases.
 
I have motivation for you. I currently average around 17-18 seconds. When I began timing myself, for the longest time, I couldn't get sub-1. Then it was sub-30, then sub-20. Now I look back at those times, and realize I am better one-handed now than I used to be two-handed. As long as you are truly dedicated to speedcubing, you will keep getting faster, but sometimes it is harder than others. I guarantee it, someday soon you'll be looking back at this thread and thinking how slow you are. :)

Also, tips:

PRACTICE every day.
Start learning full PLL.
 
Road to sub 30

Hey guys thanks for helping me with my last thread!(:
Now I'm at sub 40
And am stuck for quite long already I'm currently learning my one look PLL and have improved in my f2L so here are my questions:
1) I can't seem to improve the timing for doing my cross I've seen walk through solves and the way the speedcuber do the white cross, I haven't seen it before..I tried to look up advanced white cross but nothing much..
2) Do I need to learn my f2l algs?
3) when do I need to learn Full OLL
4) I like a fast cube but the aolong is more of controllable than fast I have a ancho but it oftens pop and when I tighten the tensions it's not that fast anymore..I use Maru lube! So currently I'm considering weilong?
5) tips to sub 30??

Thanks in advance(:
 
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