Critique My 5x5 Solving

[TimCube]

I've made 5x5 my main event, and I will be competing with it for the first time on November 25th. I would like to improve as much as possible over the next three months and would really appreciate any suggestions you may have. I'd also be interested to hear what walkthrough solves you would recommend. Here's some information on how I solve:

Main: AoChuang WR M
Method: Redux with free slice
Average: ~2:10
Splits: 40 second centers / 55 second edges / 30 second 3x3 stage

Note: for L2C, I still use the beginner's method on Jperm's channel, and for L2E, I use slice flip slice until it's either solved or reached parity.

Here are two of my example solves, 1:56 and 2:11:

 

[Jake - Speedcuber]

Very nice job! Before I give critiques, here is what you are doing very well (solve #1, I'll come back for solve 2 later)

- Using inspection time very wisely, obviously planning out a large sum of the first center
- The rest of your center cases seems like you can look ahead very good, with minimal pausing during the last four centers
- Seems you can execute your last two centers rather qucikly, I wouldn't worry too much about that
- Your turning is clean for the most part, it seems like you're only turning the layers you intend on every turn

Some things you can improve:

- I use Yau, and find it is significantly better than Redux, for me. Staying on white/yellow makes recognition incredibly quicker, and even though those three edges can be hard, it is well worth it in not having to build the cross, and also limits the amount of time looking for edges later on
- I would say try to make your centers more efficient, specifically the first two. Just lookahead, this will come with time.
- Same for your last four centers; recognition is quick, but efficiency, even if it means a little pause, will help greatly, in the long run.
- Finally, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, I would say watch Kevin Hays' last four edges tutorial. Just the concept of cycles on the cube will drop your times rapidly. It will make your solves slower at first, but you must sacrifice your times for a little bit to get better at this. I would say make a new CStimer session, and put your times there. This really helped me with my 5x5 solving, learning the last four edges in a better way, and dropped my times by about 8 seconds. It also helped me feel like I was doing better, and being more efficent.

Overall very nice job though! Please let me know if you want any other critiques on other events, I am well-rounded enough to answer for pretty much any event!

 

[TimCube]

Thanks Jake, and I appreciate the feedback!

I've heard from a lot of different people that Yau would be faster, but I tried switching a month ago, and I didn't enjoy it, so I stuck with Redux. But I do think my biggest struggle is finding edges during edge pairing, so I'll consider switching again.

I'll definitely hop onto learning last four edge cycles. Does this concept only apply to Redux, or would I be using it with Yau as well? And I checked Kevin Hay's channel, he seems to have a lot of videos on last four edge cycles. Do you know which ones I should watch and which one to start with?

 

[Isaiah Scott]

You can use either Yau or Redux and implement L4E cycles. I'd recommend switching to Yau if you end up learning them as it is a decent bit faster.

 

[Jake - Speedcuber]

Thanks Jake, and I appreciate the feedback!

I've heard from a lot of different people that Yau would be faster, but I tried switching a month ago, and I didn't enjoy it, so I stuck with Redux. But I do think my biggest struggle is finding edges during edge pairing, so I'll consider switching again.

I'll definitely hop onto learning last four edge cycles. Does this concept only apply to Redux, or would I be using it with Yau as well? And I checked Kevin Hay's channel, he seems to have a lot of videos on last four edge cycles. Do you know which ones I should watch and which one to start with?

Definetly consider switching. It would be really beneficial, in my opinion. Most of the top solvers use it now, Nahm included, and it seems to be working very well. Just makes the solves overall smoother.

The tips from the below linked video will definitely apply to Yau, however you need to improvise a bit. Basically just think through how it would work on Yau. Really, just take away the cycles and how to use them. I would stay away from doing the slice stuff for now, as it can be more complicated with Yau.

Good luck, and I'd love to see your progression!

^ I would say this one. Reference the episode before it to learn about cycles.

 

[TimCube]

I tried doing several solves with Yau, and I was having a lot of trouble building centers and edges with the cross already solved. I think my issue with it is the restrictions on what moves you couldn't make because of the solved cross. I won't give up on it yet, but I was able to easily get my first sub-2:00 ao12 today using Redux, which is encouraging me to not switch.

I'll keep you posted if I can make it work, now to watch some Tuesday Tips. Thanks once again!