[Member Intro] Hi, I'm Dirk

[dirkgroot]

Hi, I'm Dirk, 44 years old.

I just recently picked up speed cubing. I learned to solve the cube before the internet was a thing, using the beginner method (sort-of). A couple of weeks ago, I was surprised to see that my youngest son (14yo) was able to solve the cube after watching a YouTube tutorial and a little practice. He was already using finger tricks as well, something I didn't do at all.

Now, we both have a GAN cube and we're both learning CFOP.

My current PB is 49,5 seconds, but I'm still very inconsistent, so my current Ao5 is 1:14. My short-term goal is to become consistent at under 1 minute. For that, I'm mostly practicing F2L and cross, because that's where I'm very inconsistent, and my 2-look OLL and 2-look PLL are both reasonably fast or at least reasonably consistent if I don't make mistakes.

I'll be mostly reading along on this forum, and maybe I'll start a progression thread.

 

[Imsoosm]

Welcome to the forums! Hope we can help you achieve your goals! Can you post a time split of a solve to see which areas you need to improve?

 

[Isaiah Scott]

welcome!

 

[dirkgroot]

Welcome to the forums! Hope we can help you achieve your goals! Can you post a time split of a solve to see which areas you need to improve?

Thanks! I'll try to do that. Any suggestions what would be a good way to measure splits? I'm using cubedesk.io right now, which doesn't seem to support splits. I saw that cstimer does support splits, so unless there's better alternatives, I'll try that.

 

[Imsoosm]

Thanks! I'll try to do that. Any suggestions what would be a good way to measure splits? I'm using cubedesk.io right now, which doesn't seem to support splits. I saw that cstimer does support splits, so unless there's better alternatives, I'll try that.

Just use cstimer to measure how long it takes for you to finish each step. afaik cubedesk doesn't do split times.

 

[abunickabhi]

Hi, I'm Dirk, 44 years old.

I just recently picked up speed cubing. I learned to solve the cube before the internet was a thing, using the beginner method (sort-of). A couple of weeks ago, I was surprised to see that my youngest son (14yo) was able to solve the cube after watching a YouTube tutorial and a little practice. He was already using finger tricks as well, something I didn't do at all.

Now, we both have a GAN cube and we're both learning CFOP.

My current PB is 49,5 seconds, but I'm still very inconsistent, so my current Ao5 is 1:14. My short-term goal is to become consistent at under 1 minute. For that, I'm mostly practicing F2L and cross, because that's where I'm very inconsistent, and my 2-look OLL and 2-look PLL are both reasonably fast or at least reasonably consistent if I don't make mistakes.

I'll be mostly reading along on this forum, and maybe I'll start a progression thread.

Yo welcome to the forums!

 

[gsingh]

Hi, I'm Dirk, 44 years old.

I just recently picked up speed cubing. I learned to solve the cube before the internet was a thing, using the beginner method (sort-of). A couple of weeks ago, I was surprised to see that my youngest son (14yo) was able to solve the cube after watching a YouTube tutorial and a little practice. He was already using finger tricks as well, something I didn't do at all.

Now, we both have a GAN cube and we're both learning CFOP.

My current PB is 49,5 seconds, but I'm still very inconsistent, so my current Ao5 is 1:14. My short-term goal is to become consistent at under 1 minute. For that, I'm mostly practicing F2L and cross, because that's where I'm very inconsistent, and my 2-look OLL and 2-look PLL are both reasonably fast or at least reasonably consistent if I don't make mistakes.

I'll be mostly reading along on this forum, and maybe I'll start a progression thread.

Welcome!
Does your son have an account here?

 

[dirkgroot]

Just use cstimer to measure how long it takes for you to finish each step. afaik cubedesk doesn't do split times.

So I did 50 solves with splits yesterday, using cstimer. But I accidentally deleted the session after exporting the session data to cubedesk. So while I do have the times, I lost the splits . I'll do it again today, and try not to mess up again .

To give you an impression, this is the Ao5 I ended up with. I even got a PR of 45.68 seconds!

Generated by CubeDesk on 2022-07-21
Average of 5: 1:09.08

Solves:
5. 1:07.27 L F L2 D R L2 D2 B R B2 R' B2 R2 B2 D2 L F2 U2 L2
4. 1:29.04 R L2 F L2 F D2 B' L2 F L2 U2 F U2 R' B2 L2 B2 F2 D L' F'
3. 1:20.03 F2 D' L2 D' R2 U' B2 F2 R2 U' L2 U' B L R' B' U2 F U' F R2
2. 45.68 R2 F U2 R U R2 B R U2 B2 R F2 B2 D2 R2 D2 L F D
1. 59.93 B2 U' B2 D2 F2 D2 B' R2 F' D2 R2 B' R2 D' F2 R F' L F2 D

 

[theos]

This is a hobby that is dominated by kids and young adults, so it's always nice to someone close to my own age picking it up. Consider joining us over in the Older cubers discussions thread.

 

[Imsoosm]

So I did 50 solves with splits yesterday, using cstimer. But I accidentally deleted the session after exporting the session data to cubedesk. So while I do have the times, I lost the splits . I'll do it again today, and try not to mess up again .

To give you an impression, this is the Ao5 I ended up with. I even got a PR of 45.68 seconds!

Generated by CubeDesk on 2022-07-21
Average of 5: 1:09.08

Solves:
5. 1:07.27 L F L2 D R L2 D2 B R B2 R' B2 R2 B2 D2 L F2 U2 L2
4. 1:29.04 R L2 F L2 F D2 B' L2 F L2 U2 F U2 R' B2 L2 B2 F2 D L' F'
3. 1:20.03 F2 D' L2 D' R2 U' B2 F2 R2 U' L2 U' B L R' B' U2 F U' F R2
2. 45.68 R2 F U2 R U R2 B R U2 B2 R F2 B2 D2 R2 D2 L F D
1. 59.93 B2 U' B2 D2 F2 D2 B' R2 F' D2 R2 B' R2 D' F2 R F' L F2 D

You don't have to do that many, just a couple (1 or 2) should be enough.

 

[dirkgroot]

You don't have to do that many, just a couple (1 or 2) should be enough.

Yeah, I know. I just did a practice session and recorded my splits for all solves. Next time, I'll do just a couple .

 

[dirkgroot]

I've done a couple of solves and measured the splits.

Generated By csTimer on 2022-07-21
avg of 5: 1:06.07

Time List:
   TOTAL      C       F       O      P
1. 1:16.38  = 9.57  + 34.46 + 8.16 + 24.18   R' U2 B2 D F2 D' B2 D' L2 F2 R2 L' F U' L2 R D U' F
2. (55.09   = 9.30  + 31.36 + 8.68 + 5.74)   B' D L' R2 D F2 L2 D' F2 L2 F2 U' L2 R2 B' L D' R' F' D U'
3. (1:26.57 = 14.53 + 47.65 + 9.41 + 14.97)  B U D2 R' U2 D2 B' R U2 L' F2 B2 D2 F2 L' U2 F2 R D2 F' D'
4. 59.08    = 8.18  + 31.86 + 7.72 + 11.31   R' B' R2 U' L' U' D B' L2 B D2 R2 L2 F' R2 L2 B' L2 D F2
5. 1:02.75  = 4.06  + 29.61 + 7.21 + 21.86   U' L U B' U B L' B L2 B2 L2 U R2 D' F2 L2 D2 R2 U L2

Looking at this, I'm even less consistent than I thought .

 

[Deleted member 36445]

focus on cross and pll maybe?

 

[dirkgroot]

focus on cross and pll maybe?

I honestly don't know. I feel like my F2L could use improvement, because I spend a lot of time looking for pairs and figuring out how to arrange them so they can be easily inserted, all while trying to do that with as few cube rotations as possible.

But looking at this thread, I think you're probably right.

 

[Imsoosm]

I've done a couple of solves and measured the splits.

Generated By csTimer on 2022-07-21
avg of 5: 1:06.07

Time List:
   TOTAL      C       F       O      P
1. 1:16.38  = 9.57  + 34.46 + 8.16 + 24.18   R' U2 B2 D F2 D' B2 D' L2 F2 R2 L' F U' L2 R D U' F
2. (55.09   = 9.30  + 31.36 + 8.68 + 5.74)   B' D L' R2 D F2 L2 D' F2 L2 F2 U' L2 R2 B' L D' R' F' D U'
3. (1:26.57 = 14.53 + 47.65 + 9.41 + 14.97)  B U D2 R' U2 D2 B' R U2 L' F2 B2 D2 F2 L' U2 F2 R D2 F' D'
4. 59.08    = 8.18  + 31.86 + 7.72 + 11.31   R' B' R2 U' L' U' D B' L2 B D2 R2 L2 F' R2 L2 B' L2 D F2
5. 1:02.75  = 4.06  + 29.61 + 7.21 + 21.86   U' L U B' U B L' B L2 B2 L2 U R2 D' F2 L2 D2 R2 U L2

Looking at this, I'm even less consistent than I thought .

DEFINITELY focus on improving cross and PLL. On any random given scramble, a cross can be solved in 8 moves or less with reasonable fingertricks. For your stage, work on reducing cross time to sub-5.
I know you use 2 look OLL and 2 look PLL, so your PLL should be around the same time with OLL. I'd recommend you learn all the EPLLs, which are Ua, Ub, H, and Z perm, because these all might show up during the second part of 2 look PLL.

F2L lookahead just comes with practice. Once you know all the algorithms, you might want to learn some advanced ones that deal with harder cases. Also, the algorithm should be implanted into your muscle memory so that when you do the algorithm, you don't have to look at it, and during that time you can search for other pairs around the cube.

Hope this helps you get to sub-1 minute!

 

[dirkgroot]

DEFINITELY focus on improving cross and PLL. On any random given scramble, a cross can be solved in 8 moves or less with reasonable fingertricks. For your stage, work on reducing cross time to sub-5.
I know you use 2 look OLL and 2 look PLL, so your PLL should be around the same time with OLL. I'd recommend you learn all the EPLLs, which are Ua, Ub, H, and Z perm, because these all might show up during the second part of 2 look PLL.

F2L lookahead just comes with practice. Once you know all the algorithms, you might want to learn some advanced ones that deal with harder cases. Also, the algorithm should be implanted into your muscle memory so that when you do the algorithm, you don't have to look at it, and during that time you can search for other pairs around the cube.

Hope this helps you get to sub-1 minute!

Thanks for your advice, very helpful! Do you also have some time goals to strive for for 2LOLL and 2LPLL?

I already know the EPLL's, I just need to get faster and more consistent with them. Also, I sometimes have trouble distinguishing between Ua and Ub. For the corners of the last layer, I use the T and Y permutations, which I can perform almost without thinking about it.

 

[Imsoosm]

Thanks for your advice very helpful! Do you also have some time goals to strive for for 2LOLL and 2LPLL?

I already know the EPLL's, I just need to get faster and more consistent with them. Also, I sometimes have trouble distinguishing between Ua and Ub. For the corners of the last layer, I use the T and Y permutations, which I can perform almost without thinking about it.

For Ua and Ub, just look at the L face. If the edge is opposite of the corner (red edge, orange corners), do Ub, if it's adjacent colors (red edge, blue corners), do Ua.
If you know these pretty well, then you should improve on your fingertricks to execute the algorithm faster. 2 look OLL should be sub-5, same goes for 2 look PLL.

You can also start learning some easy PLLs, like T and Y (knowing where to execute the alg in the U layer), and Jb perm.