[Help Thread] CFOP Discussion

[Wannabefeliks]

Hey guys. It's me again. I decided to ask you guys to help me pick a part of solving the cube to focus on..
I currently average 5 seconds for the cross, 15 on F2L, 3 on OLL and 6 on PLL. Which of these should I focus on improving?

 

[sqAree]

Hey guys. It's me again. I decided to ask you guys to help me pick a part of solving the cube to focus on..
I currently average 5 seconds for the cross, 15 on F2L, 3 on OLL and 6 on PLL. Which of these should I focus on improving?

The thing is that you should learn full PLL anyway, and if you already learned most of them it's not far. Learning a few algs is kinda "easy" compared to the effort / training needed to get better at F2L / cross, and in the end you'll definitely be faster than those 6 seconds.
However, apart from that I'd say cross is a good choice. I can tell you that from experience, because I always postponed serious cross practice and now, being a sub16 solver, my cross is by far the worst part of my solves. I can't 1-look it, at least not in 15 seconds, unless I got a really easy case, and I'm too lazy to train with unlimited inspection time, so I always just start after having planned 2-3 cross edges; my solves could easily be 2 seconds faster!
I believe at your level it shouldn't be too hard to get some good cross habits. Think about it like that: The cross is the part of your solve that you plan entirely BEFORE actually starting to solve, and it's like 6 moves on average, so once being a bit faster at cross, failure doesn't directly lead to significantly worse times (15 seconds of inspection is a lot, once you're used to it!). Training with unlimited inspection will make you able to always have the cross planned out entirely which should drop your averages by quite a bit, and at some point in the future you'll be able to do it within 15sec.

 

[Aaron Lau]

Hey guys. It's me again. I decided to ask you guys to help me pick a part of solving the cube to focus on..
I currently average 5 seconds for the cross, 15 on F2L, 3 on OLL and 6 on PLL. Which of these should I focus on improving?

I think finishing the full pll will cut down about 3 seconds on average if u can recognise cases quickly. Also cross and f2l can use some work.

 

[OLLiver]

My times have really stagnated lately. just haven't been seeing improvement for months?
Here are my splits
cross+1 =2.5-3 seconds
F2L 5 seconds (not including cross)
LL ~3.2 seconds

 

[Smiles]

My times have really stagnated lately. just haven't been seeing improvement for months?
Here are my splits
cross+1 =2.5-3 seconds
F2L 5 seconds (not including cross)
LL ~3.2 seconds

Learn new things. For example, looking at more stickers on your OLL case gives you data about PLL which helps recognition. You'll have to figure a lot of these things out yourself (which stickers to look at and what goals you accomplish by doing so). Lookahead to OLL from LS. Learn random easy ZBLLs and do some edge control to increase the odds you run into them. Learn multislotting techniques. Learn random OLS and OLLCP algs.

 

[OLLiver]

Learn new things. For example, looking at more stickers on your OLL case gives you data about PLL which helps recognition. You'll have to figure a lot of these things out yourself (which stickers to look at and what goals you accomplish by doing so). Lookahead to OLL from LS. Learn random easy ZBLLs and do some edge control to increase the odds you run into them. Learn multislotting techniques. Learn random OLS and OLLCP algs.

Know most of ZBLL already and my edge control is fantastic. Nah my LL is good. I need to improve F2L Somehow?

 

[Artic]

Know most of ZBLL already and my edge control is fantastic. Nah my LL is good. I need to improve F2L Somehow?

2.21. So yeah, your LL could always be better.

 

[Smiles]

Know most of ZBLL already and my edge control is fantastic. Nah my LL is good. I need to improve F2L Somehow?

According to your splits, I average approximately the same as you, maybe a bit slower. I think my LL is probably slower than yours but I haven't checked. "Work on F2L" is super vague but I guess some things you could do are:

- memorize approximately how each unrelated piece is affected when you do certain types of inserts, so looking ahead to next pair is easier
- reduce regrips (generally from y rotations and the thing where before you start doing L/R moves, both thumbs should be on the F face. if it's on the D face then you probably regripped to get it there)
- focus on ignoring your current pair
- focus hard when tracking pieces like seriously lol the focus needs to be real when you track
- idk

btw these are just suggestions im throwing out, i have no clue if you actually need work in these areas

 

[CornerCutter]

Hi guys,

I took a break for cubing for the past few months and I also haven't been posting on here as well. I have decided to start cubing again and I was wondering if you had any tips or things to remember? I probably remember 60-80% of the LL algs.
How long does it usually take to cut your times down back to the average time you stopped at?

Thanks.

 

[Wannabefeliks]

hey guys I have now learned both full oll and full pll and improved on my f2l and cross my splits are
cross-High 3 seconds on average
F2L- High 10 seconds on average
OLL- low 2 seconds on average
PLL-low 3 seconds on average
however, the recognition and transition between stages affects my time so my cross + f2l Is a high 15 on average and My whole last layer is low 7 seconds on average my full solve average is around 23-24 seconds any advice on how to improve my solves?

 

[SlightScope]

I'm using the advanced cross and f2l but i can' get under 55 seconds. it takes me about 35 seconds just to do the first two layers. Could someone please help me to get faster i don't know what i'm doing wrong.

 

[FastCubeMaster]

What you are doing wrong is not practicing enough

 

[LastSicarius]

Hi guys,
I had 2 years break from speedsolving and back to game in August with over 15sec averages. From that time i learned a rest of OLL i didnt know(like 12 or 13) and practice everyday, made a lot of solves. Now my latest avg of 100 is 13.2x. I have often a sub 13 avg of 12 and some sub 10 single solves. But in long time i cant break sub 13 border. My tps is quite good i think, lookahead in F2L became better and better however, I waste some time about recognize OLL and PLL. Have you some technique about this problem?
Regrades.

 

[shadowslice e]

Hi guys,
I had 2 years break from speedsolving and back to game in August with over 15sec averages. From that time i learned a rest of OLL i didnt know(like 12 or 13) and practice everyday, made a lot of solves. Now my latest avg of 100 is 13.2x. I have often a sub 13 avg of 12 and some sub 10 single solves. But in long time i cant break sub 13 border. My tps is quite good i think, lookahead in F2L became better and better however, I waste some time about recognize OLL and PLL. Have you some technique about this problem?
Regrades.

I don't use CFOP as my primary method and am slightly slower than you with it (~14-15) but i would suggest learning two sided PLL recognition and just constantly drilling only the algs until you can recognise them with very little effort

 

[JustinTimeCuber]

I average 11 and I'm stuck :3
my splits are:
cross: 1.5s
rest of f2l: 6s
ll: 3.5s

what part of my solve is the most bad?

 

[Wannabefeliks]

hey guys I have now learned both full oll and full pll and improved on my f2l and cross my splits are
cross-High 3 seconds on average
F2L- High 10 seconds on average
OLL- low 2 seconds on average
PLL-low 3 seconds on average
however, the recognition and transition between stages affects my time so my cross + f2l Is a high 15 on average and My whole last layer is low 7 seconds on average my full solve average is around 23-24 seconds any advice on how to improve my solves?

Nobody responded first time so ima just repost this

 

[AlphaSheep]

hey guys I have now learned both full oll and full pll and improved on my f2l and cross my splits are
cross-High 3 seconds on average
F2L- High 10 seconds on average
OLL- low 2 seconds on average
PLL-low 3 seconds on average
however, the recognition and transition between stages affects my time so my cross + f2l Is a high 15 on average and My whole last layer is low 7 seconds on average my full solve average is around 23-24 seconds any advice on how to improve my solves?

Nobody responded first time so ima just repost this

If you feel transitions need work, then definitely work on that. Try slowing down while inserting your last F2L pair until you can see your OLL case forming during the last 2 moves. Do the same between OLL and PLL. This is quite easy to do and makes a huge difference as you start speeding up again. With your F2L, make sure you only look at the cube once per pair. Try to eliminate the pauses, even if it means you turn slower while getting used to it. You can also try drilling your algorithms (performing them over and over as fast as you can) to improve you last layer speed.

 

[CornerCutter]

hey guys I have now learned both full oll and full pll and improved on my f2l and cross my splits are
cross-High 3 seconds on average
F2L- High 10 seconds on average
OLL- low 2 seconds on average
PLL-low 3 seconds on average
however, the recognition and transition between stages affects my time so my cross + f2l Is a high 15 on average and My whole last layer is low 7 seconds on average my full solve average is around 23-24 seconds any advice on how to improve my solves?

Nobody responded first time so ima just repost this

Hi Wannabefeliks,

I just got back into cubing a few days ago and my times are exactly like yours. I'm trying to get sub-20 as well.
I think you really have to work on lookahead during transitioning between the steps. Slow down and maybe you could use a metronome, I have to try that more.
It looks like you use full OLL and PLL, right?
BTW this might help cut a few seconds, what cube are you using?
Practice, practice, and more practice.

 

[Wannabefeliks]

Hi Wannabefeliks,

I just got back into cubing a few days ago and my times are exactly like yours. I'm trying to get sub-20 as well.
I think you really have to work on lookahead during transitioning between the steps. Slow down and maybe you could use a metronome, I have to try that more.
It looks like you use full OLL and PLL, right?
BTW this might help cut a few seconds, what cube are you using?
Practice, practice, and more practice.

Heyy I think you're right abt that i waste a good amount of time during the transition i do cross on bottom but i don't really utilize it cause im focused on the cross during solving it instead of finding an f2l pair. Also, yes i do use full LL however im a bit slow with it partly because i have some really bad algs if you don't use full LL yet and you're planning on doing it soon i suggest not learning algs from badmephisto some of them are pretty bad find algs from good sources don't make the same mistake i did. Also my cube is a weilong gts so no problems there lol

 

[CornerCutter]

Hey,

I do know full LL and I learned them from Badmephisto. I thought most of them were great, I like the triggers. Since I was at a 40 second average I knew 1 look OLL (I kind of learned the wrong way). But it does help knowing them for so long. I use a 55mm Zhanchi and I like it, but I planning to upgrading to a Aolong V2 soon.

I am planning to start this soon to break the sub-20 barrier, you might want to do it too: https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/threads/no-excuses-cubing-week.62767/