Caleb Valenzuela
Member
I didn’t really see many threads on how to be sub-10 on this forums, and most of them are outdated so I made one. Make sure you know the following:
Make Crosses efficiently
Know and be comfortable with advanced F2L
Know Full PLL
Know Full OLL
Be Sub-12
Tip 1: Cross
Make sure you can do X-Crosses and make efficient crosses (8 moves or less). Try the replacement technique from JPerm and be sure that you can do crosses without thinking. Example Solves from top solvers are great for this as well as JPerm’s cross boot camp and CubeHead’s cross videos. Cross+1 will help a lot but is not absolutely necessary unless you cannot lookahead after cross. JPerm and BrodyTheCuber have really nice videos of this.
Tip 2: F2L
Here is where a lot of your focus should be. Advanced F2L from multiple angles will be incredibly helpful in Cross+1 and lookahead. Keyhole and pseudo-slotting will be very useful in making your F2L more efficiently.
Tip 3: Look-Ahead
Lookahead is CRUCIAL in making you sub-10. There are multiple ways to practice this technique and put it in your solves. One way of doing this is by doing slow solves. But don’t just turn slow, make sure to look AWAY from the pair you are currently doing. For example, you are inserting a red-blue pair into the front, don’t look at that pair because you should already know what to do for that pair which is why it is so important to know you F2L cases and to be creative with your solutions.
Another way to practice lookahead is to solve the cross, plan as many F2L pair as you can, then solve those F2L pairs. It may be hard at first, but with enough practice, you can definitely do this easy.
Tip 3: Last Layer
This is not really a big part of becoming sub-10 unless you execute it at 1.5-2 secs. Make sure you can execute MOST PLLs and OLLs in around 0.8-1.4 secs. Fast, efficient, last layer algorithms are the ones you want to go for.
Optional Tip: Cross+1
There are three ways to do this. Tracking, Planning, and Predicting are the three main ways to do cross+1. Tracking is the easiest of the three. In Tracking, it is exactly as it implies, you track the F2L pieces you want to solve, then track them to where they will be after your cross. In Planning, you basically plan where you want your pieces to be, which is hard if you are new to cross+1. Lastly, Predicting is basically predicting where your F2L pieces are. So basically, all these are what they imply from the name. Why is this optional? Because I became sub-10 without it. But if you really can’t look ahead after your cross, this will be especially helpful.
The most important tip I have to give you is to enjoy the experience and don’t be in a rush to get better quickly. After solves and solves, it will eventually click in your head and you will be able to achieve your goals. Hope this helped.
“Don’t think, Just Solve” - Max Park
Make Crosses efficiently
Know and be comfortable with advanced F2L
Know Full PLL
Know Full OLL
Be Sub-12
Tip 1: Cross
Make sure you can do X-Crosses and make efficient crosses (8 moves or less). Try the replacement technique from JPerm and be sure that you can do crosses without thinking. Example Solves from top solvers are great for this as well as JPerm’s cross boot camp and CubeHead’s cross videos. Cross+1 will help a lot but is not absolutely necessary unless you cannot lookahead after cross. JPerm and BrodyTheCuber have really nice videos of this.
Tip 2: F2L
Here is where a lot of your focus should be. Advanced F2L from multiple angles will be incredibly helpful in Cross+1 and lookahead. Keyhole and pseudo-slotting will be very useful in making your F2L more efficiently.
Tip 3: Look-Ahead
Lookahead is CRUCIAL in making you sub-10. There are multiple ways to practice this technique and put it in your solves. One way of doing this is by doing slow solves. But don’t just turn slow, make sure to look AWAY from the pair you are currently doing. For example, you are inserting a red-blue pair into the front, don’t look at that pair because you should already know what to do for that pair which is why it is so important to know you F2L cases and to be creative with your solutions.
Another way to practice lookahead is to solve the cross, plan as many F2L pair as you can, then solve those F2L pairs. It may be hard at first, but with enough practice, you can definitely do this easy.
Tip 3: Last Layer
This is not really a big part of becoming sub-10 unless you execute it at 1.5-2 secs. Make sure you can execute MOST PLLs and OLLs in around 0.8-1.4 secs. Fast, efficient, last layer algorithms are the ones you want to go for.
Optional Tip: Cross+1
There are three ways to do this. Tracking, Planning, and Predicting are the three main ways to do cross+1. Tracking is the easiest of the three. In Tracking, it is exactly as it implies, you track the F2L pieces you want to solve, then track them to where they will be after your cross. In Planning, you basically plan where you want your pieces to be, which is hard if you are new to cross+1. Lastly, Predicting is basically predicting where your F2L pieces are. So basically, all these are what they imply from the name. Why is this optional? Because I became sub-10 without it. But if you really can’t look ahead after your cross, this will be especially helpful.
The most important tip I have to give you is to enjoy the experience and don’t be in a rush to get better quickly. After solves and solves, it will eventually click in your head and you will be able to achieve your goals. Hope this helped.
“Don’t think, Just Solve” - Max Park
