How to get faster

[mark49152]

I'm only concerned cause this guide said to not learn F2L till I average 40-50 secs. And i feel years away from that lol..

There is lots of advice on this forum on how to practice F2L. I recommend searching and doing focused F2L practice using some of those techniques, rather than just relying on full solves for practice.

My favourite F2L practice techniques include solving cases blind, metronome, and using a training cube with no LL stickers to make it easier to see the F2L patterns.

Stick with it, it will get much easier and faster!

 

[kunparekh18]

I'm only concerned cause this guide said to not learn F2L till I average 40-50 secs. And i feel years away from that lol..

It took me 2 weeks from 1:15 to 50 haha. Don't worry. But if the guide says so then by all means, follow the guide Have you learnt 4LL? I would suggest learning it from thomasje.webs.com

 

[TP]

I'm only concerned cause this guide said to not learn F2L till I average 40-50 secs. And i feel years away from that lol..

I learned intuitive F2L when averaging 65-70s, 40-50 should be taken more as a guideline than a rule. Just start learning new things when you feel you´re ready or want to.

 

[Sungjin Kim]

What should I learn

Hi, I've been cubing for quite a while. I actually started around 6 years ago when I was 9~10. However, I only knew the beginner's method with a time of around 1 minute and only solved when I was in front of people. I stopped after a while and only solved my cube every couple of months. A few months ago, I found out that there was a girl who could solve one in the mid 30s in my year. Being the competitive person I am, I bought myself a Guhong v2(after lots of research) and started practising. Unfortunately, I live in New Zealand, so the only lube that was available for me to buy offline was CRC 808. I started solving and got times around 45~55 sec. I realised that in order to get faster, I needed a better method. I decided to learn 4LLL and a couple of extra algorithms. It took me around 4 days to learn 18 and about another week to be able to fluently carry them out. Now I average 31 +/- 3 sec with my PB being 24.47. I've wanted to get down to sub 25, so I tried to learn intuitive f2l, but it's just too hard and there are way too many algorithms the non-intuitive way! I also don't understand how the keyhole method will get my times down. It has less moves, but it's just complicated. Do you have any tips for me? Should I really just try to learn f2l? And can you recommend me and OLL and PLL algorithms that will be good to know? Also, how much will my time go down by after learning algorithmic f2l or full PLL? I can't put as much time into cubing now.

 

[Tenaji]

Hi, I've been cubing for quite a while. I actually started around 6 years ago when I was 9~10. However, I only knew the beginner's method with a time of around 1 minute and only solved when I was in front of people. I stopped after a while and only solved my cube every couple of months. A few months ago, I found out that there was a girl who could solve one in the mid 30s in my year. Being the competitive person I am, I bought myself a Guhong v2(after lots of research) and started practising. Unfortunately, I live in New Zealand, so the only lube that was available for me to buy offline was CRC 808. I started solving and got times around 45~55 sec. I realised that in order to get faster, I needed a better method. I decided to learn 4LLL and a couple of extra algorithms. It took me around 4 days to learn 18 and about another week to be able to fluently carry them out. Now I average 31 +/- 3 sec with my PB being 24.47. I've wanted to get down to sub 25, so I tried to learn intuitive f2l, but it's just too hard and there are way too many algorithms the non-intuitive way! I also don't understand how the keyhole method will get my times down. It has less moves, but it's just complicated. Do you have any tips for me? Should I really just try to learn f2l? And can you recommend me and OLL and PLL algorithms that will be good to know? Also, how much will my time go down by after learning algorithmic f2l or full PLL? I can't put as much time into cubing now.

Hey Sungjin,
I'm currently sub 25 with intuitive F2L, 2 look OLL and 2 look PLL but most of my PLL cases are just 1 look straight ahead. I'd say try to learn 2 look OLL. Learn algs for flipping, all edges and flipping 2 edges. Refer to speedsolving wiki if needed.
Practise doing cross to F2L efficiently. Learn look ahead. Try to look for your first F2L pair while you do cross if possible. When doing F2L, if you have trouble with algs, try to learn intuitive F2L if you can. Break up the F2L pair, line them up and insert.
My 2 look OLL algs
For flipping up edges:
4 edges: F R U R' U' F' f R U R' U' f'
2 edges with left and back edges already flipped up: R' U' F' U F R
2 edges with left and right edges already flipped up: F R U R' U' F'
Corners:
Sune: U2 L U' R' U L' U' R
Antisune: U2 R' U L U' R U L'
Double sune: R U R' U R U' R' U R U2 R'
Bruno: R U2 R2 U' R2 U' R2 U2 R
Headlights: R2 D' R U2 R' D R U2 R
Chameleon: r U R' U' L' U R U'
Bowtie: (x) R' U' L' U R U' L U

Try to learn as many PLL algs as you can. I've learnt all except for G perms because they're a pain the a** for me. I'm still working on execution of half of them though, I can recognise and execute about half of them quite quickly and efficiently, other half still to learn. Find algs that suit you and are most comfortable with you. Try to find ones that you can efficiently execute and recognise. You don't have to recognise the algs as shown on the speedsolving wiki, you can learn to recognise them and execute them from a different angle like I have with a few of my algs. If the algs have 'annoying' B turns then adapt them and change them to F turns for example.

With this method I've achieved a PB of 15.81 with full method and 12.34 with a skip.

I hope this helps and I wish you the very best with your cubing.

 

[Sungjin Kim]

@Tenaji
Thanks for your reply. Maybe I wasn't clear on this, but I currently DON'T know f2l. However, I DO know 2 Look OLL and 2 Look PLL. I also know about 3 extra OLLs. Should I learn f2l first?

 

[Genesis]

@Tenaji
Thanks for your reply. Maybe I wasn't clear on this, but I currently DON'T know f2l. However, I DO know 2 Look OLL and 2 Look PLL. I also know about 3 extra OLLs. Should I learn f2l first?

F2L helps more

 

[Sungjin Kim]

How long would it take till my times start going down if I learn F2L? I am a pretty quick learner

 

[KongShou]

just mess about with your cube and see how some f2l cases can be solved. it is dead easy once you understand it. it only about 5-6 concepts you need to get then you can do all f2l cases.

edit:^ it'll take you a few month to get down to sub 20 after you learnt f2l. if you practice. oh, it will start to go down in a straight line as soon as you start to learn it. thats what happen to me. didnt stop going down until i reached sub 17. then it required a whole 2 weeks of constant practice to get sub 15. trust me its worth it.

 

[Sungjin Kim]

I can match up easy pairs intuitively, but when it comes to a harder case, I just can't figure out how to match them without doing a billion turns. If I learn algorithmically, is there a certain order in which I should learn them?

 

[Tenaji]

With learning F2L, try some youtube videos and just try understand the concept of F2L. For me, it's about matching the corner with the edge.

I solve with white cross, I immediately look for a white corner. Let's say it's white - blue - orange, I let it 'hover' over the white - blue - orange slot on the top face. I then look for the blue - orange edge, I place this opposite to the white - blue - orange corner.
Let's say I have broken up the edge and corner and place it so I can insert the F2L pair. In terms of faces, orange is in front of me, blue right and white bottom. On the top layer, the white - blue - orange corner is in front of me and is on the right side of the top layer on the side closest to me if this makes sense. The white side of the corner is on the right, orange front and blue top.
On the back side of the cube, on the top face is the blue - orange edge. The edge is orientated so that orange is on top and blue is at the back. I insert by doing R U R'.
I pretty much use this concept of breaking apart and inserting for each pair.

 

[KongShou]

I can match up easy pairs intuitively, but when it comes to a harder case, I just can't figure out how to match them without doing a billion turns. If I learn algorithmically, is there a certain order in which I should learn them?

DO NOT LEARN IT ALGORITHMICALLY!

for harder cases:look at the algs, do the alg a few times. try to understand WHY the alg solve that particular f2l case, once you UNDERSTAND why it work. you have now learn 8 f2l cases, one for each slot and mirror cases. some case are also extremely similar to each other, using the same concept, so there is only AT MOST 10 CONCEPT TO LEARN.

 

[Sungjin Kim]

Thanks for the answers. I'll just practice F2L both intuitively and algorithmically, finding the most efficient ways. I won't even solve the LLs and just focus on the F2L. Hope I'll be able to get my current times by May with F2L
Edit: Just saw your other replies. I'll try to avoid algorithms as much as possible.

 

[KongShou]

good luck

 

[JamesB]

Can you learn everything and then work on your speed?

For speed cubing I look at many tutorials that say to move on to something only after achieving a specific time. For example one tutorial says to learn F2L only after you are able to solve the cube in under 90 seconds using the beginner method (It takes me around 2 minutes and 45 seconds ). But I ignored it and learned it partially. The thing is I want to learn at my own pace. I want to learn all the algorithms and then later work on the speed, is that fine? Will it affect my speed?

 

[Hypocrism]

For speed cubing I look at many tutorials that say to move on to something only after achieving a specific time. For example one tutorial says to learn F2L only after you are able to solve the cube in under 90 seconds using the beginner method (It takes me around 2 minutes and 45 seconds ). But I ignored it and learned it partially. The thing is I want to learn at my own pace. I want to learn all the algorithms and then later work on the speed, is that fine? Will it affect my speed?

You shouldn't concentrate on algorithms. It will make your solve robotic and you will have to work later to correct your fluency. Learn F2L intuitively, and only when you're already quite good at F2L (say sub-45) you can look at the F2L "algs" to see how you can be more efficient, or learn cases you might not have picked up intuitively, or reduce rotations. Learn as few LL algorithms as possible for now and concentrate on entire solves, not necessarily aimed at speed. I would say you just need the two algs for cross on top+sune&antisune for OLL, and then a 2-look PLL with the three-cycles of corners and edges. Using those, get under a minute and you'll start adding more algs gradually. More important is to really understand how the cross and F2L works, and get them really fluent, as they'll make up by far most of your solve by the time you get your times down. You can also start to look ahead, I don't see why people need to get fast and then slow down to learn look ahead. Learn it as you go! This means being able to execute F2L pairs without looking (close your eyes and try a pair you've already found), then when you're solving looking for the next pair.

You could also look at the many methods and choose which one you want to improve your speed with; CFOP is easy, but it's not necessarily the best for your longterm speed prospects. If I were starting again I'd choose Roux. Even at a 15s avg I'm considering the switch.

 

[Dapianokid]

I f I were starting again, I would simply choose to be color neutral. Method neutrality is possible, but the smartest thing to do is find something that is entertaining and fun, explorable, and works best with your mind. Don't be afraid to combine multiple methods and solve the cube in creative, new ways. I use Petrus as my main. If you'd like, I can give some tips about getting faster with it? I don't know how many Petrus users are out there. Just remember: Algorithms aren't evil. But they must be utilized properly. If you don't know WHY an algorithm does what it does, or don't even know WHAT exactly makes this certain alg suddenly form a whole new cube, then you shouldn't even attempt to learn it, and probably avoid that method until you have a better understanding of the cube. Use Heise once to solve the cube, pure Heise, and suddenly, so many things make so much sense. Algs that move more than 3 or 4 faces of the cube and are extremely short but difficult to execute may not be suitable for speedsolving. The best ones do a little at a time, and are easy to remember and execute.