Hello! I'm new and need help with F2L

[speedsolveboy]

hey 3 weeks ago i was a total beginner at the 3x3 cube . i learned to solve it from rubiks.com but soon moved on to oll and pll. now i have learned about 25-30 olls and 11 pll's.
sorry to say, i'm no good at f2l and know only 3 algs. now, my average is 55 seconds with a best of 37 seconds. could you please tell me if my speed is good or not (only after considering above situations). also, can someone give me tips for getting faster? dont mention fingertricks, i'm the best in my school(as far as i know) in fingertricks.

 

[o2gulo]

hey 3 weeks ago i was a total beginner at the 3x3 cube . i learned to solve it from rubiks.com but soon moved on to oll and pll. now i have learned about 25-30 olls and 11 pll's.
sorry to say, i'm no good at f2l and know only 3 algs. now, my average is 55 seconds with a best of 37 seconds. could you please tell me if my speed is good or not (only after considering above situations). also, can someone give me tips for getting faster? dont mention fingertricks, i'm the best in my school(as far as i know) in fingertricks.

Learn F2L. Don't learn OLL first IMO, Learn full PLL thenn improve on your F2L + Cross before focusing on completing OLL

 

[ncube]

This is one of the best guides for the CFOP (Fridrich) method http://badmephisto.com./guide.php pretty much just watch the videos over and over until it clicks

 

[applemobile]

>Dont mention fingertricks, i'm the best in my school in fingertricks.

Allofmysides.jpg. Chances are you really need to still work on this. Don't dismiss practising something becuase you are better than someone else you know.

 

[aznanimedude]

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now for srs mode: being the best in your school at finger tricks doesn't mean much tbh, you can always be better at something even fingertricks because who knows, your finger tricks might be the best in your school, but not as good as the best in another school. and practice, that scary word noone wants to hear about how to get better

 

[The Supreme One]

Really quick, am I the only person who practices because it's fun?

As for your F2L: this is where you should focus your practice. Think about it; 3/5 of the entire cube is right there, and one is able to spend less than 1/2 of their solve time solving it. You shouldn't be learning F2L algs, either, I personally waited until they started to naturally come to me, that could take a while for you, so watch some videos about intuitive F2L and figure it out yourslef. Intuituve F2L technique is what makes every person's solve style unique, do try to come up with your own ideas for each case instead of learning to solve like someone else.

And definitely practice. The only person who can make you a better solver is yourself.

 

[Smiles]

Really quick, am I the only person who practices because it's fun?

As for your F2L: this is where you should focus your practice. Think about it; 3/5 of the entire cube is right there, and one is able to spend less than 1/2 of their solve time solving it. You shouldn't be learning F2L algs, either, I personally waited until they started to naturally come to me, that could take a while for you, so watch some videos about intuitive F2L and figure it out yourslef. Intuituve F2L technique is what makes every person's solve style unique, do try to come up with your own ideas for each case instead of learning to solve like someone else.

And definitely practice. The only person who can make you a better solver is yourself.

F2L is only 8 pieces, 8/20 is only 2/5. if you count the cross its 3/5, but it takes more than half the solve to do it.
like i average about 13 and i get to the LL at about 8 or 9.

OT: i learned f2l without videos and im not saying you shouldnt, in fact i should have. what i did was look at the algs on speedsolving and figured out what they did for each case, not the alg itself, but the process. after learning thr different types of cases, pairings, and inserts, i could do it all intuitively.

and the magic word is practice. sure wanting advice and tips is fine but the forum is littered with information about it everywhere. just read the stickies and guides and practice. that is really all you need.

 

[ncube]

Well, what badmephisto does is he teaches you how to handle certain types of cases intuitively, and most times the f2l algs come straight from intuition. Just look at the videos, and you won't have to learn algs to get good; you'll be able to figure out the fastest way to handle each case with some help from badmephisto.
Edit: Oh, and also make sure to practice, since there will be an initial increase in your times. In a few days your times will drop and you'll love intuitive f2l.

 

[speedsolveboy]

Am I fast enough

hey people i wanted to know if i'm fast enough using fridrich's method. so here i go:-
I've been cubing from about the beginning of march 2013( today is 21 may 2013)
with a rubiks brand cube non tensioned non lubed, i average 47 or 48, with a non lucky pb of 35 seconds.
i know about 10-12 f2l cases- half alg and half intuitive
plus i know full 2 look oll and in all 25-30 olls
i know 18 pll cases (only g perms are left,3 of them)
my lookahead is good, fingertricks are good ( using a dayan they could be better) and i have good recognition of oll and pll cases.
i can do all the f2l cases, but by first changing them ina case i know.
i' want to know how can i get sub 40 now?
i've ordered 3 dayan cubes from fasttech, so when they are shipped i'll update my avrg.
how can i get faster and am i fast enough?
and hey, i'm just 12 years old. do i have a good cubing future?
and any tips for the cubing competition at my school by the cubing club ( luckily, the dayan would be shipped on time.i can easily win that, cuz there are only 2 guys faster than me in my grade: 1 has avg 45 and other has 38
thanks in advance.

 

[Speedmaster]

my lookahead is good, fingertricks are good ( using a dayan they could be better) and i have good recognition of oll and pll cases.

That can't be true, otherwise you would be sub 20 for sure.

and any tips for the cubing competition

practice...

do slowturning and try to get BETTER look ahead, there shouldn't be any pauses in your solve. Do 50 solves everyday, and you'll be sub 40 very soon.

 

[windhero]

You know a lot of algorithms considering that you're averaging over 40 seconds. You should focus more on F2L. Do solves where you only do F2L and post the times here.

My guess your F2L needs to improve a lot. For comparison, the world record solvers do F2L in 2-3 seconds. (For me it takes 12-14 seconds, my average is 20.50 seconds)

 

[sneaklyfox]

..."fast enough" is relative. Fast enough for what?
Fast enough to enter competition in an official capacity? Everyone can go to comp.
Fast enough to be #1 in your school? Soon maybe.
Fast enough to think of yourself as good? Subjective. When I was as fast as you are now I set sub-30 as my personal goal.
Fast enough for your age? There are some as old as you who are faster and some who are slower.
Fast enough for a good cubing future? That depends entirely on you.

 

[emolover]

Nope, you are not fast enough to be Feliks.

 

[5BLD]

Am I fast enough

-Age means literally nothing, forget about it
-Do you still want to progress or are you satisfied? If you're not satisfied you're not fast enough.

 

[Smiles]

there were just WAAY too many problems with this post.

I've been cubing from about the beginning of march 2013( today is 21 may 2013)
with a rubiks brand cube non tensioned non lubed, i average 47 or 48, with a non lucky pb of 35 seconds.
i know about 10-12 f2l cases- half alg and half intuitive

rubik's cubes cannot be tensioned.
okay so far everything is fine except for the fact that it's not lubed... but then

plus i know full 2 look oll and in all 25-30 olls
i know 18 pll cases (only g perms are left,3 of them)

2-look OLL is good, but where are you getting all these extra OLL cases? and 2-look PLL would be a lot more useful at this point considering you don't even know close to all the F2L cases.

my lookahead is good, fingertricks are good ( using a dayan they could be better) and i have good recognition of oll and pll cases.

if you don't even know all the F2L cases what's the point of look ahead...
and i doubt your finger tricks are "good" (whatever that's relative to) if you're using an unlubed rubik's brand cube. for example, how fast can you do a certain PLL or 6 sexy moves?
if you have good recognition of OLL and PLL, then F2L is your problem right there. good recog of them + okay finger tricks means you'll take at MOST 10 seconds to do LL, meaning you're taking almost 40 seconds to do cross + F2L. but if your lookahead is so good, then idk man.

i can do all the f2l cases, but by first changing them ina case i know.

well sure anyone who can do LBL can say the exact same thing. after my first day of cubing i could say that and it'd be true. go learn the F2L cases!

i' want to know how can i get sub 40 now?

honestly if i practiced LBL i could be sub-25 in a few minutes. sub-40 is not a barrier at all, it just takes practice. and your cube does not matter for getting to that level, since my average times with a rubik's cube last year were 23 seconds.

how can i get faster and am i fast enough?

getting faster is not something that happens by learning something new. and be fast enough for what?

and hey, i'm just 12 years old. do i have a good cubing future?

that implies someone should know whether or not you'll be good in the future. if your average was 5 minutes you could still be good later on, depending on what you think "good" means. you seem to have a strong need to impress rather than just solve as fast as you can.
and if you keep saying "oh i can do this well and i can do this well and im good at this" then that means you're already the best you can be.
change the way you think.

and any tips for the cubing competition at my school by the cubing club ( luckily, the dayan would be shipped on time.i can easily win that, cuz there are only 2 guys faster than me in my grade: 1 has avg 45 and other has 38

dat logic. oh i bolded your bracket because you didn't close it.

you need tips even though you're guaranteed to win easily?
- you're not guaranteed to win because 2 people there are faster. you'll likely come 3rd place, maybe 2nd if the 45s guy messes up.

i assume you think you'll win because your dayan cube will make you so much faster. good luck with that.

 

[KongShou]

^^I completely agree
Ppl who don't do any research or practice and just ask for help.

 

[Brubicks cube]

I'm pretty similar and was wondering if anyone could give me some help. I average approx. 23 sec with a guhong 2, I practice f2l and lookahead furiously. I know full fridrich with full oll and pll and my f2l takes about 17 sec. I practice loads but my times have stopped dropping and I have been stuck at 23 for a month

 

[sneaklyfox]

I'm pretty similar and was wondering if anyone could give me some help. I average approx. 23 sec with a guhong 2, I practice f2l and lookahead furiously. I know full fridrich with full oll and pll and my f2l takes about 17 sec. I practice loads but my times have stopped dropping and I have been stuck at 23 for a month

22-23 is usually the first big barrier IMO. I don't remember what I did then but I think I just kept practicing and eventually got over it. Nowadays my slow turning can get me sub-20 easily. When you practice F2L/look ahead do you slow down your turning speed?

 

[KongShou]

I'm pretty similar and was wondering if anyone could give me some help. I average approx. 23 sec with a guhong 2, I practice f2l and lookahead furiously. I know full fridrich with full oll and pll and my f2l takes about 17 sec. I practice loads but my times have stopped dropping and I have been stuck at 23 for a month

I just practiced and slowed right down, forgetting about tps. Eventually I start to look ahead during my faster solves with higher tps. Also sort out you f2l efficiency. It should take no longer than 35 moves, 40 at the most. That leave 4 tps for sub10 f2l which is easily manageable, assuming you have no pauses, then you have full 10 s for last layer and cross which I assume is definitely not a problem, heck, you might even sub 15 considering that your ll is 5s

 

[pipkiksass]

I'm pretty similar and was wondering if anyone could give me some help. I average approx. 23 sec with a guhong 2, I practice f2l and lookahead furiously. I know full fridrich with full oll and pll and my f2l takes about 17 sec. I practice loads but my times have stopped dropping and I have been stuck at 23 for a month

I've been 'stuck' at 26-28 for a month or so. Went on holiday and had no internet for a week. 12 days of no timed solves, and I've come back and broken my Ao12 and Ao50 PBs straight away, now averaging 24-26.

I think that, without slow solves, you can become more consistent (i.e. lower your standard deviation), but won't become more efficient (i.e. lower your averages). Slow turning is definitely the best practice.

My LL is SO much slower than yours, which must mean my F2L isn't bad!