[Help Thread] F2L Discussion and Help

[Jakob]

Hey, I just switched from beginners to F2L like a month ago, along with doing advanced cross (still solve from white though). My problem is I solve the cross on an average of 11 seconds, even when I use my inspection time beforehand I just don't get the cross in the time I'd like. I know a lot of people solve it in like 2 seconds and I just look and wonder what my problem is. Can someone please give me some tips and tell me how they are able to do it so well? Thanks!

 

[CarterK]

Hey, I just switched from beginners to F2L like a month ago, along with doing advanced cross (still solve from white though). My problem is I solve the cross on an average of 11 seconds, even when I use my inspection time beforehand I just don't get the cross in the time I'd like. I know a lot of people solve it in like 2 seconds and I just look and wonder what my problem is. Can someone please give me some tips and tell me how they are able to do it so well? Thanks!

How many moves is your cross taking? 10 seconds is way too much. You really shouldn't be doing more than 10 moves for the cross at your level. I suggest looking at example solves on how to solve multiple pieces at once to see how you can improve.

 

[Jakob]

How many moves is your cross taking? 10 seconds is way too much. You really shouldn't be doing more than 10 moves for the cross at your level. I suggest looking at example solves on how to solve multiple pieces at once to see how you can improve.

I usually take around 8-15 moves depending on the scramble. And I've looked at examples on youtube, I just don't entirely the whole planning part. Even if I use inspection time, I always end up looking around the cube and doing the cross in the moment

 

[CarterK]

I usually take around 8-15 moves depending on the scramble. And I've looked at examples on youtube, I just don't entirely the whole planning part. Even if I use inspection time, I always end up looking around the cube and doing the cross in the moment

I'm not quite sure how you're taking 10 seconds to do the cross then. Just practice doing cross only to improve your efficiency.

 

[greentgoatgal]

I usually take around 8-15 moves depending on the scramble. And I've looked at examples on youtube, I just don't entirely the whole planning part. Even if I use inspection time, I always end up looking around the cube and doing the cross in the moment

Do a lot of untied solves and keep practicing. Try to find your own efficient solutions and don't time too much.

 

[xyzzy]

seriously?

If your question is regarding Max Park's not using double flicks: yes, he really doesn't do double flicks. Just look at any of his solves' reconstructions. (To be clear, some reconstructions write out "U U" or "U' U'" as just U2, for example in Will Faust's recon of Max's 4.78 single. Check reconstructions by Brest or by me or by most other people, since we write out the non-double flicks in full.)

If your question is regarding whether I was serious: no, I was being sarcastic because people were parroting opinions blindly. Obviously, learn F2L algs if you want to. If you don't want to, that's fine too.

 

[JAI VARSHNEY]

So I started cubing 6 months ago and i shifted to speed cubing 2weeks ago my pg is 1:02 ( beginners method) but then i learnt cfop but it made my timings worst ,particularly f2l . It takes me about 40 second to do f2l only. So please anybody suggest me some good tips regarding f2l, it would be really kind of you.

 

[xyzzy]

(i) Don't triple-post.
(ii) Ignore the timer. It's not going to be very motivating to look at significantly worse times when initially learning a harder (but faster) method. If you can't do this, then do your practice solves away from your phone/computer/Stackmat/etc.
(iii) Have a solid plan of what to do for each and every case. Tutorial videos might help, e.g. CubeSkills or J Perm's tutorial.

 

[cubeshepherd]

So I started cubing 6 months ago and i shifted to speed cubing 2weeks ago my pg is 1:02 ( beginners method) but then i learnt cfop but it made my timings worst ,particularly f2l . It takes me about 40 second to do f2l only. So please anybody suggest me some good tips regarding f2l, it would be really kind of you.

First off, Welcome to SS.

One of the biggest and most important things to keep in mind when solving F2L is to make sure that you are planning ahead (meaning that your look ahead is good) so that you are not pausing at all. By the time that you are finishing up your cross, you should already see and or know where your first F2L pair is so that as the last move or two is applied on the cross to can begin your first pair right away.
And the best way to practice that is to do slow solves without timing yourself, and although you might be thinking "but my times are already slow, what do you mean by slow solves", well this is what I mean, Practice solving the whole cube without having to pause and look for a piece. During inspection you should have at least you cross planned out, and once you start the timer you should have very few pauses, ideally none, but that take a bit more practice.
Even if your times go up by a few seconds for the first few weeks of practicing slow solves, you will drop faster once you are not pausing, and the pay off is much better then just trying to get really fast in a short amount of time (and trust me on that, I did not ever think how much slow solves would help me get fast until I tried it, and once I was having pretty fluent solves my times dropped faster then when I was before I practiced slow solves).

Also, make sure that your F2L parings are efficient and watch 3x3 walk-through solves. J-perm on YouTube has some great tutorials on F2L.

Please ask more questions as you have them, and I hope that this at least is a good start for you.

 

[JAI VARSHNEY]

First off, Welcome to SS.

One of the biggest and most important things to keep in mind when solving F2L is to make sure that you are planning ahead (meaning that your look ahead is good) so that you are not pausing at all. By the time that you are finishing up your cross, you should already see and or know where your first F2L pair is so that as the last move or two is applied on the cross to can begin your first pair right away.
And the best way to practice that is to do slow solves without timing yourself, and although you might be thinking "but my times are already slow, what do you mean by slow solves", well this is what I mean, Practice solving the whole cube without having to pause and look for a piece. During inspection you should have at least you cross planned out, and once you start the timer you should have very few pauses, ideally none, but that take a bit more practice.
Even if your times go up by a few seconds for the first few weeks of practicing slow solves, you will drop faster once you are not pausing, and the pay off is much better then just trying to get really fast in a short amount of time (and trust me on that, I did not ever think how much slow solves would help me get fast until I tried it, and once I was having pretty fluent solves my times dropped faster then when I was before I practiced slow solves).

Also, make sure that your F2L parings are efficient and watch 3x3 walk-through solves. J-perm on YouTube has some great tutorials on F2L.

Please ask more questions as you have them, and I hope that this at least is a good start for you.

That,'s so kind of you and the community .I never expected a reply this soon . I will really follow your tips and train for lookahead again thank you very much

 

[Old Tom]

I'm new to F2L, but can do all cases intuitively now. Why do many cubers seem to avoid F moves? I can do them easily with my thumbs or index fingers.

 

[xyzzy]

I'm new to F2L, but can do all cases intuitively now. Why do many cubers seem to avoid F moves? I can do them easily with my thumbs or index fingers.

Because FU moves are slower than RU and sometimes requires a regrip. There are exceptions, of course, and this can vary from person to person.

You should try timing how quickly you can execute your F2L solutions with and without rotations, then go with whichever is faster.

 

[Old Tom]

Because FU moves are slower than RU and sometimes requires a regrip. There are exceptions, of course, and this can vary from person to person.

You should try timing how quickly you can execute your F2L solutions with and without rotations, then go with whichever is faster.

Thx

 

[Lewby]

Hello,

When I learned intuitive F2L (which I still use), I completely overlooked look-ahead. I have now reached the point where if I want any progression in times, I will have to learn it.
I am finally trying to learn look-ahead, but am finding it very difficult.

If anyone has any tips on how to go about it, I would love them.

Thanks.

 

[joshsailscga]

Hello,

When I learned intuitive F2L (which I still use), I completely overlooked look-ahead. I have now reached the point where if I want any progression in times, I will have to learn it.
I am finally trying to learn look-ahead, but am finding it very difficult.

If anyone has any tips on how to go about it, I would love them.

Thanks.

Do slow solves. Slow down your turning until you reach a speed at which you are able to find your next move before finishing your current move. When you start out with this you will be much slower than normal, but gradually will be able to speed up. Do not time yourself for this, it just gives you the temptation to start turning faster to keep your times lower. Commit to being slow now to get fast later.

 

[Lewby]

Do slow solves. Slow down your turning until you reach a speed at which you are able to find your next move before finishing your current move. When you start out with this you will be much slower than normal, but gradually will be able to speed up. Do not time yourself for this, it just gives you the temptation to start turning faster to keep your times lower. Commit to being slow now to get fast later.

Thanks a lot!

 

[Thomas Henrissat]

Hello everyone,

I am currently working on a F2L Trainer (more about it here) and was wondering what is the best way to subdivide F2L cases into subsets?

Here is what I had in mind:

• Pair on top
• Pair in the wrong slot
  
• Both pieces on top
• Corner in the correct slot
• Corner in the wrong slot
• Edge in the correct slot
• Edge in the wrong slot
• Corner and edge in the correct slot
• Corner and edge in the wrong slot

What do you think?

 

[TylanDomko]

Hey, I average 30-40 seconds on 3x3 and my F2L is really slow, I've tried to learn advanced F2L but I can't wrap my head around it. Can someone help me?

 

[pjk]

What do you mean by advanced F2L? Learning the more correct moves on the F2L so you're efficient is important. Have a look at this page:
http://algdb.net/puzzle/333/f2l

I'd recommend doing slow solves and instead of just solving how you normally solve, look at the cases there and see perhaps better ways to solve different pairs. You can get down sub-15 with just basic F2L pairing, you should work on move efficiency rather than speed. If you want us to help you further, post a video of an average and we can recommend more stuff.

Happy cubing!

 

[cubeshepherd]

Hey, I average 30-40 seconds on 3x3 and my F2L is really slow, I've tried to learn advanced F2L but I can't wrap my head around it. Can someone help me?

On top of what @pjk said, (which is great by the way) I would also recommend that you watch all the F2L videos by Jperm, who does a great job going through everything that you need to know about F2L. After, that do as @pjk recommended, which is to practice slow solves, and see how all the pieces move (or those that you are trying to pair up) and with that you should be able to start dropping your times at a decent rate.

Spoiler: Jperm F2L videos