[Help Thread] F2L Discussion and Help

2cubed4u said:
I've been cubing for around a year, but once i got to a minute in lbl I got sort of lazy and didn't cube seriously. I was too immature to understand f2l, but I think I've got it now. I've been doing f2l for around a year, and I've set new PB's using Fridrich/CFOP but I dont really seem to be improving much. I'll try going slower and really drilling OLL/PLL algs.
But my cross takes around ten seconds, do you have tips for improving that time?

Thanks
Click to expand...

If you are still around 49s as in your signature, you don't need to worry about cross at the moment. Concentrate on doing untimed solves and really trying to be efficient with your pair inserts. I recommend looking at algorithms pretty early: that's controversial, but I suggest using them to learn how the pieces move around, not as something to memorize by heart.
 
Hypocrism said:
If you ar...rize by heart.
Click to expand...

I also want to add, that was set using a rubiks brand cube with some silicone spray in it. My Dayan GuHong is loaned out to my friend Abigail atm so she can learn how to solve cause I didn't have all my stickers on the rubiks brand.

Thanks everyone for your input. I'll work on really drilling those algs for f2l and trying it slowly just to make it work good. Thanks.
 
Any tips for this?
My average F2L is about 13-20 seconds.
Scramble: L D2 R2 F2 U' B2 F2 L2 U' F D2 U R' U R D' L' F' R L F2 R B2 R' D
Inpection:z' x'
Cross- R D' L' R
1st pair- U R' R U R U' R U2 R' r' U' R U M'
2nd pair- R U2 R' U' L' U L U2 L' U L U F R' F' R
3rd pair-U2 L' U L' B L2 B'
4th pair-y' U' R U2 R' U2 R U2 R' U R' F R F'
How is my F2L? Any tips?
 
@2Cubed4U

The cross should not take 10 seconds. Don't time yourself looking at the cube. Take a minute to find the best way to get the cross. Then work down from there. I still don't clock the 15 seconds of inspection time, but I went from needing a minute to just being able to see it.

Are you solving the cross face down? I always have white down and know where the four colors go, so instead of trying to line red up right away I know I can have Green to the right of red, blue to the left, and orange behind it and then just turn the bottom face into place.
 
Viola, I always solve white cross down. When using beginners I was color neutral but its tougher to recognize cases in f2l so I dont anymore. I´ll start working towards memorizing what goes where. I really only know the opposites I havent looked into memorizing a cube that way. I´ll try your tips. Thank you
 
2180161 said:
Any tips for this?
My average F2L is about 13-20 seconds.
Scramble: L D2 R2 F2 U' B2 F2 L2 U' F D2 U R' U R D' L' F' R L F2 R B2 R' D
Inpection:z' x'
Cross- R D' L' R
1st pair- U R' R U R U' R U2 R' r' U' R U M'
2nd pair- R U2 R' U' L' U L U2 L' U L U F R' F' R
3rd pair-U2 L' U L' B L2 B'
4th pair-y' U' R U2 R' U2 R U2 R' U R' F R F'
How is my F2L? Any tips?
Click to expand...

The first pair is an interesting one that many people don't solve efficiently. For me, even though I solve using intuitive F2L, it was good to memorize the alg for it, seeing as it comes up fairly often.

Starting from where they were placed after the cross, the alg is:

R2 F R F' R U2 R' U R

I hope I helped :)
 
2180161 said:
How is my F2L? Any tips?
Click to expand...

You have a very interesting way of solving these cases. Nevertheless, they could be a bit more efficient. Here's how I would solve these particular cases in a speedsolve. Try 'em out yourself. Remember, pay attention to how the pieces move around, don't try to just brute memorize the moves.

Scramble: L D2 R2 F2 U' B2 F2 L2 U' F D2 U R' U R D' L' F' R L F2 R B2 R' D

Pair 1
z' x' // inspection
R D' L' R // cross
Dw' R' U R U' R U R' // pair 1

So why those moves?

Dw' - Set's up the case
R' U R - Splits up the pair + aligns pair for insertion
U' - Ready, aim....
R U R' - Insertion

Pair 2
z' x' // inspection
R D' L' R // cross
U R' U R U' R U2 R' r' U' R U M' // pair 1
R U' R' y' R' U' R // pair 2

So why those moves?

R U' R' - brings corner piece to the top layer + aligns pair for insertion
y' - Ready, aim...
R' U' R - Insertion

Pair 3
z' x' // inspection
R D' L' R // cross
U R' U R U' R U2 R' r' U' R U M' // pair 1
R U2 R' U' L' U L U2 L' U L U F R' F' R // pair 2
U2 L' U2 L2 U' L' // pair 3

So why those moves?

U2 L' - Pair (your move, by the way. GJ)
U2 - Get the pair out of the way of the L face movements
L2 U' L' - Insertion

Honestly, your execution is only 1 move more, but the 2Gen (U, L) moves are a bit more comfortable for faster turning, IMHO.

Pair 4
z' x' // inspection
R D' L' R // cross
U R' U R U' R U2 R' r' U' R U M' // pair 1
R U2 R' U' L' U L U2 L' U L U F R' F' R // pair 2
U2 L' U L' B L2 B' // pair 3
L' U2 L Dw' L U L' // pair 4

So why those moves?

L' U2 L - Splits the pair and aligns for insertion
Dw' - Ready, aim...
L U L' - Insertion

Keep practicing and keep at it. You'll be blazing through F2L in no time at all.
 
F2L Practice Tips

I currently average around 30-40 seconds using CFOP and was wondering how to get faster at F2L. After I have solved the cross and F2L, my time is around 20-25 seconds. My 2-look OLL and 1-look PLL is about 10 seconds together. I am working on looking ahead right now and I can easily solve the cube without pause but my time is 50+ seconds. How can I improve my time of F2L to go from 20-25 seconds to 10-15 seconds? Do I need to learn how to quickly recognize a pair and insert is as fast as possible with no look ahead? Or look ahead and gradually increase TPS? This may sound crazy, but I have always wanted to solve sub 20 consistently and maybe sub 15. This will take a lot of practice, but I'm willing to take whatever steps necessary to get there. Any advice?
 
josh42732 said:
I currently average around 30-40 seconds using CFOP and was wondering how to get faster at F2L. After I have solved the cross and F2L, my time is around 20-25 seconds. My 2-look OLL and 1-look PLL is about 10 seconds together. I am working on looking ahead right now and I can easily solve the cube without pause but my time is 50+ seconds. How can I improve my time of F2L to go from 20-25 seconds to 10-15 seconds? Do I need to learn how to quickly recognize a pair and insert is as fast as possible with no look ahead? Or look ahead and gradually increase TPS? This may sound crazy, but I have always wanted to solve sub 20 consistently and maybe sub 15. This will take a lot of practice, but I'm willing to take whatever steps necessary to get there. Any advice?
Click to expand...

I'm not really in a place to give advice, because I'm basically where you are, but just keep practicing. One tip I've heard for CFOP is to do the F2L in fewer looks. Without a timer, inspect and plan your cross. Close your eyes and do it. Open your eyes, plan 2 F2L pairs, and then do them without looking. Do the same for the last two pairs. This helps you to think about how your moves affect everything else and so you're not only tracking the pieces but also anticipating where they will be. Try to do stuff like x-cross and partial/full edge control. Experiment with other methods and just don't worry about your times. Only time yourself every now and then to check your progress. Keep working on look ahead and keeping track of where more pieces are simultaneously. If something seems way too challenging, just hold off and work on something easier, there's no point in trying to work on something more advanced than your ready for when you will be more prepared to handle it once you have more of the basics.

But yeah, like I said I am basically where you are time-wise, so I don't really know what I'm talking about.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hi Josh,

exact same spot as you.
don't know how to gain the 15 seconds you are seeking,
but I did gain 5 to come down to approximatly 30 seconds average.

this I have done by learning most F2L pairing and inserting cases from all sides.
because you now reduce number of cube turns, you look ahead faster and you gain a little bit of time.

I hope it helps and will follow other advice given to you hoping to reach sub 20 as well.

good luck,

nano
 
nanocube said:
Hi Josh,

exact same spot as you.
don't know how to gain the 15 seconds you are seeking,
but I did gain 5 to come down to approximatly 30 seconds average.

this I have done by learning most F2L pairing and inserting cases from all sides.
because you now reduce number of cube turns, you look ahead faster and you gain a little bit of time.

I hope it helps and will follow other advice given to you hoping to reach sub 20 as well.

good luck,

nano
Click to expand...

Thanks! I'll take it into consideration while I'm solving and practicing!
 
Hi. I have a question about look ahead. I've just started practicing it last few weeks.

So I'm fairly ok if there is a pair in the U layer, which there often is. But I don't really know how to find pairs that are hidden while solving the last pair. To see these I have to tilt the cube and look at the back, but since I'm still turning, by the time I go back to looking at the front of the cube, any edges or corners I'd seen before have now moved. This results in me only finding my next pair like 50% of the time.

I'll keep practicing, but is there a trick to checking the entire cube not just the U layer?

Edit: also for the front slots, my thumbs tend to be covering them, so I can't see them so quickely without changing grip.
 
Last edited:
confusedcuber said:
Hi. I have a question about look ahead. I've just started practicing it last few weeks.

So I'm fairly ok if there is a pair in the U layer, which there often is. But I don't really know how to find pairs that are hidden while solving the last pair. To see these I have to tilt the cube and look at the back, but since I'm still turning, by the time I go back to looking at the front of the cube, any edges or corners I'd seen before have now moved. This results in me only finding my next pair like 50% of the time.

I'll keep practicing, but is there a trick to checking the entire cube not just the U layer?

Edit: also for the front slots, my thumbs tend to be covering them, so I can't see them so quickely without changing grip.
Click to expand...

again... keep practicing. You will start to get better at knowing where those now lost edges and corners have moved to. Also, you will start to better recognize that if you cannot see a piece, or just see one edge of a piece that you know what specific piece it is (I hope that made sense). I just started cubing mid this year and am going through all the things people have mentioned in this thread. You will find walls that you hit, but just keep doing it. things will just keep moving faster.

Try finding you pair, closing your eyes and solving that set... then repeat. After awhile you can move from closing your eyes to looking at the cube for the next set and completely unfocused on the set you are currently solving.
 
Yeh i guess i can kinda do those things in like a walkthrough solve, but putting them into practice is another matter. Im pretty comfortable sovling pairs with my eyes closed. But keep practising i shall. Thanks.

As side note i started earlier this year too and have basically the same PBs as you (like 1 sec slower on all). Might remember you name and compare progress in like 6 months or something.
 
Hey 2cubed4u,

The thing about F2L is that it can't really be memorised. The only way to really learn F2L is to have it stuck in your muscle memory. This means finding two 'friends,' the corner and the edge, observing where they are and their permutations and orientations in relation to each other, and then attempt to 'insert' them into your cross.

A hugely important thing is to notice the permutations and orientations of the corner and the edge. At first progress will be slow but soon you'll say "oh, I remember how I solved this certain case last time, let's try it again." And soon you'll have all F2L in your fingertips.

The cross. So simple and yet so difficult to solve with only 15 seconds inspection. Well, right now you're not in a competition, so give yourself half a minute to inspect the cube and plan your cross. Then try to solve it blindfolded. Giving myself tons of inspection time and blindsolving the cross has been the biggest help to me with my cross.

I think the cross and F2L are the most frustrating steps of a 3x3 to learn, but push on! Practice makes perfect...

Rainbow Flash
 
F2l

My F2l is very bad. I do the F2l in 40 seconds and I average one minute.
Have someone any ideas to make my F2l better.
 
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