[Help Thread] F2L Discussion and Help

In general, I only do cube rotations for cases 3/4,9/10,17/18 (Not aligned BL and BR slots only), if doing so will influence the next pair advantageously, or if my current handposition makes it advantageous to do so (I often regrip while doing my cube rotations do it may be advantageous to do so). Aside from that, there are only a few open slot cases where I would.
 
Need Independent F2L Tips if possible

Hi there and thanks for viewing my thread

#Intro#
I have been able to solve the cube for a long time, but this is only by doing the beginners methods. I have only just learnt about the Fridrich method in solving the Rubik's cube.

#My basic problem#
I have been wanting to get in to speed solving recently, and I know the basics as to how the F2L on Fridrich's method works. I can get the F2L done but sadly it takes me up to 5 mins for F2L!! I understand that hard work and practice WILL help a lot, but i also understand that people pick up new things along the way that they had to figure out for themselves.
(I also only have a %75 success rate on F2L)

#What I need#
As I am trying to learn it intuitively I wanted to know if you have any tips (not finger tricks) that you can possibly share with me? I do not want to know any of the 41 algorithms mainly used in the Fridrich method (as stated, I'm trying to learn intuitively).

#conclusion#
So thats basically it, do you have any more tips for me? I could also post an example solve of me doing Fridrich.

Thanks
-Josh
 
I would recommend you to watch Badmephito's F2L tutorials a couple of times and to just practice also don't use the timer for a while after you learn F2L. Doing this I have dropped my F2L times from 1:20 to less than 20 seconds.
Also once you get better at F2L you should learn look-ahead.
 
Last edited:
General tips I use for intuitive F2L:

-Obviously, first find the two pieces you want to pair up
-Usually getting both pieces on the top layer make things easier
-Probably the easiest way to solve them is to first break them up, toy around with U, R', U', R when two pieces are adjacent to break them up
-in general find the pieces, figure out how they go together, then flip the pieces so they're in the right orientation (ie. same color facing up) then put them together
-Become familiar with the R, U, R' insertion and how it matches up the pieces

practice (in my opinion) isnt the most important thing. it's how you practice. don't spend 5 hours sitting on the couch attempting to get better; try new things, and dont be afraid to mess the cube up (obviously you can solve it again) pay attention to what works and if something doesnt work or you get downright frustrated, try it a different way or look it up online. nobody can give you all the answers, it takes time to develop concepts.

Happy Cubing!
 
That's probably good advice for learning F2L intuitively but for getting faster it shouldn't be necessary to make experimental moves and figure things out on the fly. Each case should look very familiar and the move to pair and insert it should flow smoothly without pause and without even having to watch the pieces (since ideally you should be looking ahead and watching the next pair pieces instead).
 
I loooked at these two video's when I started to learn F2L:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHBUkVpIsFw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-xbcAMfWwM

In one week I went from 'minutes' solves to a PB of 1:20 F2L is hard at first but just keep doing scramble after scramble and your brain will get used to the colors. After you solve the cross, look for a corner with white on it. Then check what other two colors are on that corner. Then find the egde with these two colors and use inuitive moves to pair them up and put un slot.

AHornbaker said:
General tips I use for intuitive F2L:

-Obviously, first find the two pieces you want to pair up
-Usually getting both pieces on the top layer make things easier
-Probably the easiest way to solve them is to first break them up, toy around with U, R', U', R when two pieces are adjacent to break them up
-in general find the pieces, figure out how they go together, then flip the pieces so they're in the right orientation (ie. same color facing up) then put them together
-Become familiar with the R, U, R' insertion and how it matches up the pieces

practice (in my opinion) isnt the most important thing. it's how you practice. don't spend 5 hours sitting on the couch attempting to get better; try new things, and dont be afraid to mess the cube up (obviously you can solve it again) pay attention to what works and if something doesnt work or you get downright frustrated, try it a different way or look it up online. nobody can give you all the answers, it takes time to develop concepts.

Happy Cubing!
Click to expand...

Good stuff!!
 
Last edited:
MichaelErskine said:
Not for everybody! I am living proof that for some (or maybe just me) practice just doesn't result in improvement.
Click to expand...
(THERE IS SOMEONE OUT THERE LIKE ME!!!)

If you're just starting out with F2L, you should be able to do it intuitively, but first just try to learn how moving around pieces works, and familiarize yourself with F2L. It'll probably take a week or two weeks, and you should be able to identify pairs faster, and see the solutions much easier.
 
Hello! Is there another method instead of F2L?

Hi guys, Im not a quick cuber, average 01:10 and I use friedrich method. for 2lookOLL and 2lookPLL it takes me about 15 seconds, but F2L takes me more than 40 seconds. is there any other method instead of f2l? thanks in advance
 
I just took an average there, I get around 30 seconds usually. 5 second cross, 15 second F2l and 10 second last layer. I dont use look ahead (trying to learn atm), use 2 look OLL and am 2 algorithms off of learning full PLL. I reckon you should just keep practicing. Also if you come up against cases that you think your just taking too many moves, go onto CubeWhiz.com and check out the F2l algorithms. Next time you run into that case compare the moves you use with an algorithm from that website. That helped me out a lot.
 
If F2L takes you more than 40 seconds then look-ahead is clearly not your problem. Look ahead reduces the time we spend looking for pieces, and I bet you don't spend ~25 seconds just looking for pieces.

You should practice on moving pair forming and inserting to your muscle memory, you just need to know all the cases really good. They don't even have to be optimal, just when you see a corner and it's corresponding edge, you should be able to get them together and insert them without even looking at the cube, and you should be able to do it pretty fast without any stops between the moves.

After your practice enough (it takes a lot of practice) and you can do that, you can start worrying about look-ahead. Look-ahead requires you to not think about what you're currently doing so you can put your focus on planning what you're gonna do next, to reduce the number of breaks between moves.
 
I encourage you to try other methods, it is fun and you will learn a lot.

You mistakenly thing that switching methods will make you faster. Practice makes you faster. ANY method you pick will require practice to drop those 40 sec, not just F2L.
 
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