Is my F2L time OK for my level?

Jeff Dunham

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Sep 22, 2019
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I use CFOP for the 3x3, and I've been cubing for about 3 months (I spent a few months last year then didn't cube for a while and now I have been cubing for a couple of weeks). My average time is 25 seconds. My cross is fairly bad, as I still do it with white on top, which costs me a couple of seconds turning and finding my first f2l pair. I think my f2l is decent, but not great for my level. I'm not sure though.

As for last layer, I know full PLL (except for Na, but I don't really plan on learning that for the time being) and I know a good chunk of full OLL (and 2 look of course). About 33 out of 57 algs but about 28 of them proficient, the other 5 my recognition is a bit rusty. I know that full OLL shouldn't be a priority but I do like to learn a few algorithms a week.

My times are as follows:
Cross: 5 seconds (I think this is pretty slow and I can feel that when I am solving it)
F2L: 11.8 seconds including turning the cube from Cross, 10.8 on its own.
OLL (Semi-Full): 3.5-4 seconds (The Full OLL algs that I have learned have shaved my OLL by a second, not bad but I wasn't really expecting much, I just learned it for fun).
PLL (Full): 3.5-4.5 seconds (depends on the case. Edge swaps, T, y and J perms are about 3-4, and the question mark R perm and similar are about 4-4.5)

For F2L, I know pretty much all the algorithms for the main slot (I think it is the 40-something alg set), but these are all in my muscle memory, and I know most of them pretty intuitively as well. But is my time for F2L good, decent, bad even?

I want to learn look ahead as well since I can definitely see that shave a lot of seconds off F2L, it feels like I've hit a plateau for F2L.
 
I use CFOP for the 3x3, and I've been cubing for about 3 months (I spent a few months last year then didn't cube for a while and now I have been cubing for a couple of weeks). My average time is 25 seconds. My cross is fairly bad, as I still do it with white on top, which costs me a couple of seconds turning and finding my first f2l pair. I think my f2l is decent, but not great for my level. I'm not sure though.

As for last layer, I know full PLL (except for Na, but I don't really plan on learning that for the time being) and I know a good chunk of full OLL (and 2 look of course). About 33 out of 57 algs but about 28 of them proficient, the other 5 my recognition is a bit rusty. I know that full OLL shouldn't be a priority but I do like to learn a few algorithms a week.

My times are as follows:
Cross: 5 seconds (I think this is pretty slow and I can feel that when I am solving it)
F2L: 11.8 seconds including turning the cube from Cross, 10.8 on its own.
OLL (Semi-Full): 3.5-4 seconds (The Full OLL algs that I have learned have shaved my OLL by a second, not bad but I wasn't really expecting much, I just learned it for fun).
PLL (Full): 3.5-4.5 seconds (depends on the case. Edge swaps, T, y and J perms are about 3-4, and the question mark R perm and similar are about 4-4.5)

For F2L, I know pretty much all the algorithms for the main slot (I think it is the 40-something alg set), but these are all in my muscle memory, and I know most of them pretty intuitively as well. But is my time for F2L good, decent, bad even?

I want to learn look ahead as well since I can definitely see that shave a lot of seconds off F2L, it feels like I've hit a plateau for F2L.
This might help: https://www.cubeskills.com/blog/cfop-solve-splits-tool
Your cross is well below average unfortunately, your F2L is slightly above average, your OLL is average, and your PLL is above average.
Work on cross. First, do it on bottom. This is really really important, it will shave off at least a second from what you said, and it downgrades lookahead to be doing it any place else. Next, make sure your cross is efficent (7 moves will be good). Think out of the box, work with cross trainers. And then start planning cross in inspection, so when you start the solve, you know instantly what to do and can prepare for F2L. You can take this slowly, gove yourself unlimited inspection at first, and go a piece at a time, maybe from 2 pieces in inspection to 3, to 4, then to below 15 seconds to plan.
CN is optional, it will be quite beneficial but you don’t have to and it will set you back a while short term.
Your F2L is fine. All your algs should be optimal and well drilled. Try to start looking for your first pair while doing cross, if you’ve planned it out you don’t need to look there. Don’t zoom in on one pair all the time, take a little bit of time to find the best option. Turn reasonably throughout F2L to give yourself time to look for the next pair and to not mess up turns and lockup, same thing with OLL and PLL. Don’t rotate too much, but also don’t start doing awkward B moves when you can just rotate, if you’re stuck frantically looking for pieces at any point, slow down and don’t miss anything.
Make sure your OLL and PLL algs are good and well drilled, again, and practise Last Layer scrambles. Any hard algs, any slower than usual algs, practise them especially. Maybe finish Full OLL.
 
Your F2L is fine for now but you should focuse on doing the cross more efficiently and doing it on the bottom, so it only takes 2-3 seconds of your time. And finally you should just learn that Na perm because at the end is going to be faster than doing 2-look PLL.

Here is a video from J Perm, hope this helps.

 
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