[Help Thread] F2L Discussion and Help

[talor.roberts]

Just practice, im just getting back into cubing now, and after a while your fingers just know where to go for different situations. Start off with intuitive F2L and then start learning a few algorithms. Thats what im doing

 

[TheWitcher]

Guys it's not just practice and look ahead!
If it takes you 40 seconds, I bet you have some terrible insertion for some cases. you need to figure out the shortest/fastest way to insert each case, including some algorithms for special cases. once you have that, you can worry about endless practicing and look ahead.

 

[Xyphos]

40 seconds huh. It didn't took that long the first time I did it ( maybe because how I learned it ? ).
anyway here's something I'd suggest :
1. Try to learn a certain case everyday for about a few hours or so.If you're learning through videos re-watch those videos until you can do that certain case ( shouldn't be hard if you're learning intuitive F2L )
2. Practice those cases for a week or two or Until you can get a good enough time Sub-50.... maybe ? and until you can do a case without even looking at the cube.
3. Now, If you're good enough maybe you can make you own way to do a certain case.
4. Don't go to fast while solving F2L trust me you want to go slow or maybe just at a medium speed. ( my solves can be around 20-30 sec if I go medium speed and 70 sec if I go full speed XD )
5. Ok try to track or find the next F2L pair while you're going slow and gradually increase you speed at a low rate until you're good at it. This is what you'd probably call Look- Ahead ( Just look it up for some tuts on how to look-ahead )
6. Learn some alg for some odd cases ..
7. Once in a while try to go as fast as possible while doing F2L just to see your progress.
8. Practice , Practice , Practice , Slow down , Slow down , Slow down , Look Ahead , Look Ahead , Look Ahead. ( Probably the most irritating advices ever but trust me it helps ALOT ! )

That's all what I have to say..
Hopefully this helps

 

[Pokerizer]

F2L is my biggest challenge right now, I'm getting faster but I've been working on it for almost 2 months and it still takes me 20 second so just keep at it and you will improve. It takes time and every one progresses at different rates. Keep calm and cube on

 

[cfelicella]

How long have you been cubing? And don't worry, you will improve. Just keep working on it, and remember to look ahead.

 

[hwangs]

What are some odd cases I should practice?

 

[Schmidt]

Try timing 5 solves with a "press space to start/stop" timer
Time 5 more, but this time find your cross pieces, start the timer, solve cross, stop timer, find 1st pair, start timer, solve 1st pair, stop timer..... Add those 9 (assuming 4LLL) together to see how much time you take to look around the cube for the pieces.

 

[Chrisandstuff]

dont worry all F2L is pattern recognition over time youll get better but its going to take time and practice. I averaged 65 seconds before I learned F2L (for full solve with 4 or 5 look last layer) after learning F2L and hours of practice that night I was at 75 seconds for a solve(with a 4 or 5 look last layer). Now 7 months, with a 2 month break, later I average 25 seconds for a solve (with a 2 or 3 look last layer) So its just time and practice my friend.

 

[hwangs]

Should I learn 2 look? Will that shave my time to at least 45 secs? I'm still using beginners Or should I just focus on F2L?

 

[aznanimedude]

Should I learn 2 look? Will that shave my time to at least 45 secs? I'm still using beginners Or should I just focus on F2L?

Improving f2l will shave off much more time than learning 2 look oll/pll, especially if it's taking you 40 seconds

 

[hwangs]

Have you guys mentioned practice? its quite important.

No way! I thought I'd just get sub 10

Edit: Getting 30 sec F2L + Cross now. Aiming for 20secs

 

[JE007]

Is it possible, without learning algoritmes, to have F2L in 20 sec.

and the fiew algoritmes who you should learn, witch are they? (maybe link to a site or something)

 

[ferpsg]

Just practice, and don't learn algorithms there are just few case that you'll nead to learn

 

[ben1996123]

Is it possible, without learning algoritmes, to have F2L in 20 sec.

and the fiew algoritmes who you should learn, witch are they? (maybe link to a site or something)

sub 10 f2l with no algs is easily possible

 

[aznanimedude]

Is it possible, without learning algoritmes, to have F2L in 20 sec.

and the fiew algoritmes who you should learn, witch are they? (maybe link to a site or something)

yes it is
and there are many places you could find F2L algs should you so desire, like basmephisto, the speedsolving wiki, etc. but focus more on just understanding F2L and the idea of pair+insert, and then when you get a better hang of it, you can start comparing how you handle cases with algorithms online and see if there is a better way than what you are used to normally doing.

 

[Ickathu]

Sure. I don't use algorithms for F2L (never have. always done intuitive) and I can get it in 13 seconds. Here's a few F2L solves:
15.16, 14.47,17.77, 14.20, 16.03, 15.46 (+ forced OLL skip), 15.65, 15.85, 15.63, 19.86, 15.70, 13.80, 12.72, 14.81

My hands are cold right now, so I can normally get faster than this.

 

[Chrisalead]

You don't have to worry about which are the cases when you need to learn an algorithm. Just practice, and from time to time you will notice that some cases are "hard" for you to solve or/and you need a lot of move to do them -> these are the cases when you need an alg. Personally, I only learned 2 or 3 algs.

 

[JE007]

You don't have to worry about which are the cases when you need to learn an algorithm. Just practice, and from time to time you will notice that some cases are "hard" for you to solve or/and you need a lot of move to do them -> these are the cases when you need an alg. Personally, I only learned 2 or 3 algs.

Can you give me the 2 or 3 algoritmes? (can you use them wih the petrus method?)

 

[aznanimedude]

petrus method is block building so not very many algs for that i think
and if you're thinking of algs for finishing F2L after EO step, you don't really need those either....

 

[WBCube]

Can you give me the 2 or 3 algoritmes? (can you use them wih the petrus method?)

Ottozing made a few videos with some algorithms for more difficult F2L cases recently, I really liked them.