How to be sub 20

[SuperNerd]

Uhh... I need help getting faster D:. Just started speed-cubing a couple weeks ago.. Experienced a lot of growth in the first couple days but, I seemed to stop improving.
Currently, it takes me 4-6 Seconds for Cross, 12-15 Seconds for the F2L(not including cross time), and 14 seconds for LL. I create a cross on the last layer and use a OLL with cross already in it, then PLL Corners and Edges separately. Would learning the rest of OLL and PLL dramatically improve my time? =/ 34 Second average altogether =/

NO NO NO NO NO

Cross: 4-6 seconds? wat. Try this:

Scramble a cube, then spend 15 seconds or less examining it. Put on a blindfold, or close you eyes, and then solve the cross.

You're cross times are, in my opinion, waaaay out of proportion to your solve times.

Then, for the F2L, go slow and look ahead. Try not to focus on what you're doing. While you are solving one F2L pair, look for another, because you should already know exactly what to do to solve the pair you're working on. It's kind of confusing, but once you get it down, you've got it down. You really want to practice mainly F2L, as that is the majority of the solve.

For your LL, I think that after the cross is taken care of, full PLL is nice. Get all the Edge perms and corner perms, then go for the J's and the T and Y. After that, The V, F, N's, R's, and finally, the G's. But before learning full PLL, work on your cross and a little bit of the F2L. Learning PLL's is a little time consuming.

Really, I think that the F2L, including the cross, should be under 13-15 seconds before moving on to full OLL. Full OLL should be one of the LAST things you worry about. Sub 20, and probably sub 15 is very possible with 2LOLL, if you have a good F2L.

 

[Away]

Uhh... I need help getting faster D:. Just started speed-cubing a couple weeks ago.. Experienced a lot of growth in the first couple days but, I seemed to stop improving.
Currently, it takes me 4-6 Seconds for Cross, 12-15 Seconds for the F2L(not including cross time), and 14 seconds for LL. I create a cross on the last layer and use a OLL with cross already in it, then PLL Corners and Edges separately. Would learning the rest of OLL and PLL dramatically improve my time? =/ 34 Second average altogether =/

NO NO NO NO NO

Cross: 4-6 seconds? wat. Try this:

Scramble a cube, then spend 15 seconds or less examining it. Put on a blindfold, or close you eyes, and then solve the cross.

You're cross times are, in my opinion, waaaay out of proportion to your solve times.

Then, for the F2L, go slow and look ahead. Try not to focus on what you're doing. While you are solving one F2L pair, look for another, because you should already know exactly what to do to solve the pair you're working on. It's kind of confusing, but once you get it down, you've got it down. You really want to practice mainly F2L, as that is the majority of the solve.

For your LL, I think that after the cross is taken care of, full PLL is nice. Get all the Edge perms and corner perms, then go for the J's and the T and Y. After that, The V, F, N's, R's, and finally, the G's. But before learning full PLL, work on your cross and a little bit of the F2L. Learning PLL's is a little time consuming.

Really, I think that the F2L, including the cross, should be under 13-15 seconds before moving on to full OLL. Full OLL should be one of the LAST things you worry about. Sub 20, and probably sub 15 is very possible with 2LOLL, if you have a good F2L.

Thank you for your response. I'm currently practicing the blindfolding thing(well, with my eyes closed). I'm already seeing a bit of improvement- I no longer get the 6 second crosses, it's more 4 second-ish now. Umm, F2L, it's strange. When I slow down to look ahead, I get the same times as when I'm rushing.(I guess this is a good thing? :O)

Lastly, is there a reason for the order in which to learn PLL?

On a side note: My Type FII, Mini DS, and QJ 4x4x4 just arrived in the mail

 

[SuperNerd]

Uhh... I need help getting faster D:. Just started speed-cubing a couple weeks ago.. Experienced a lot of growth in the first couple days but, I seemed to stop improving.
Currently, it takes me 4-6 Seconds for Cross, 12-15 Seconds for the F2L(not including cross time), and 14 seconds for LL. I create a cross on the last layer and use a OLL with cross already in it, then PLL Corners and Edges separately. Would learning the rest of OLL and PLL dramatically improve my time? =/ 34 Second average altogether =/

NO NO NO NO NO

Cross: 4-6 seconds? wat. Try this:

Scramble a cube, then spend 15 seconds or less examining it. Put on a blindfold, or close you eyes, and then solve the cross.

You're cross times are, in my opinion, waaaay out of proportion to your solve times.

Then, for the F2L, go slow and look ahead. Try not to focus on what you're doing. While you are solving one F2L pair, look for another, because you should already know exactly what to do to solve the pair you're working on. It's kind of confusing, but once you get it down, you've got it down. You really want to practice mainly F2L, as that is the majority of the solve.

For your LL, I think that after the cross is taken care of, full PLL is nice. Get all the Edge perms and corner perms, then go for the J's and the T and Y. After that, The V, F, N's, R's, and finally, the G's. But before learning full PLL, work on your cross and a little bit of the F2L. Learning PLL's is a little time consuming.

Really, I think that the F2L, including the cross, should be under 13-15 seconds before moving on to full OLL. Full OLL should be one of the LAST things you worry about. Sub 20, and probably sub 15 is very possible with 2LOLL, if you have a good F2L.

Thank you for your response. I'm currently practicing the blindfolding thing(well, with my eyes closed). I'm already seeing a bit of improvement- I no longer get the 6 second crosses, it's more 4 second-ish now. Umm, F2L, it's strange. When I slow down to look ahead, I get the same times as when I'm rushing.(I guess this is a good thing? :O)

Lastly, is there a reason for the order in which to learn PLL?

On a side note: My Type FII, Mini DS, and QJ 4x4x4 just arrived in the mail

Well, I chose that order for the PLL based on how easy they are to recognize and how easy the algs are.

You don't really have to work on the PLL's in that order.

You can also try solving the cross with your eyes open, but also looking for the first F2L Pair while finishing it up.

One last thing that I recommend, is to get out a metronome, or an online one such as this one, and set it to 45 or so BPM. Then try to solve the cube, turning at every beat. Once you can successfully do that without pausing, speed it up. Keep doing this, and your look-ahead should dramatically improve.

 

[fastcubesolver]

I now average around 35 seconds, but I'm trying to get faster. The Fricrich Method is really helping me. I recommend it to anyone.

 

[TheCubeMaster5000]

I think you can get sub 20 easily if you memorize full pll and oll. 2look oll takes forever for me.

 

[Dfgged]

I think you can get sub 20 easily if you memorize full pll and oll. 2look oll takes forever for me.

Really? I use 2L OLL and I can avg sub 20 easily, 18 normally and 17 or below with a lot of warm up. Still slow, but not terribly slow

 

[TheCubeMaster5000]

Oh............ well, at 20 seconds I have most likely just finished f2l... so 2LOLL takes another 5-7 seconds and PLL takes 3-7. I'm trying (trying) to look ahead in f2l and not just solve in short bursts.

 

[ProfilesRubiks]

Eh, after learning full pll and 2 look oll, it took me awhile to get to sub 20, a few months, but since then i'm getting more and more avg's under sub 20, and now i'm learning full OLL.

 

[cincyaviation]

Oh............ well, at 20 seconds I have most likely just finished f2l... so 2LOLL takes another 5-7 seconds and PLL takes 3-7. I'm trying (trying) to look ahead in f2l and not just solve in short bursts.

3-7 seconds? practice until its at least 2-5, no excuse for going over 5 seconds if you know 1 look PLL

 

[TheCubeMaster5000]

I don't yet have all of the PLLs memorized. So I use 2look PLL for the ones I don't know for now. (I'm learning them in a specific order)

 

[oprah62]

This is mefor full pll and 53 olls cubing for 3 months now.
Cross:2
F2l:12
Oll:2-3
Pll:2-3

Overall average is about 20secs

 

[Daniel Wu]

This is mefor full pll and 53 olls cubing for 3 months now.
Cross:2
F2l:12
Oll:2-3
Pll:2-3

Overall average is about 20secs

Learn those last four OLLs. You'll feel much better.

 

[oprah62]

This is mefor full pll and 53 olls cubing for 3 months now.
Cross:2
F2l:12
Oll:2-3
Pll:2-3

Overall average is about 20secs

Learn those last four OLLs. You'll feel much better.

im too lazy hahaha. now:54

 

[cuberkid10]

SLOW DOWN AND LOOK AHEAD is much more important than GET GOOD ALGS, in my opinion. Case in point: it's well within the realm of possibility to reach sub-20 without knowing full OLL.

Its also possible to get sub 20 while only knowing 9 PLL's. And 6 OLLs.

 

[TheCubeMaster5000]

I just got 3 sub-20 singles in the past 2 days.

I only know like 11 PLLs and 6 OLLs.

 

[Matt S]

I just got 3 sub-20 singles in the past 2 days.

I only know like 11 PLLs and 6 OLLs.

How many of those singles were four step last layers?

I know there are people who can average sub-20 with a four-look LL, but the path of least resistance with CFOP definitely involves learning all 21 PLLs (2-look OLL is fine).

 

[Rpotts]

i finished OLL this weekend and am working on committing the last 7 or so to memory and decreasing recognition time. Yesterday also marks the day I broke sub 20 avg12 sooo for me I believe finishing CFOP gave me motivation to cube more, and also gave me tons of f2l practice which I am also getting substantially better at. I regularly get 15-16 second solves in my averages now, which feels great because I used to freak out when i would get a solve like that, now it's just an everyday occurrence.

 

[TheCubeMaster5000]

I just got 3 sub-20 singles in the past 2 days.

I only know like 11 PLLs and 6 OLLs.

How many of those singles were four step last layers?

I know there are people who can average sub-20 with a four-look LL, but the path of least resistance with CFOP definitely involves learning all 21 PLLs (2-look OLL is fine).

Most of them were probably 2look OLL and 1L PLL...
I'm still learning the rest of the PLLs I just haven't had the time lately to seriously get into memorizing more algs.

 

[theace]

I know full pll and 2 look oll with a few easy cases (the ts, h, and the variation of h, and the kite). But somehow, i can't even go sub 25. I average between 26 and 35. Any tips? I.ll post detailed solve times soon

 

[Inf3rn0]

I know full pll and 2 look oll with a few easy cases (the ts, h, and the variation of h, and the kite). But somehow, i can't even go sub 25. I average between 26 and 35. Any tips? I.ll post detailed solve times soon

Slow down and look ahead. Try to be constantly turning during F2L