[Member Intro] Newbie from Norway

[kaimitai]

Hi everyone,
I registered here recently after trying to get into speedcubing. I'm late to the game at the age of 31, but I've been having lots of fun playing with my 3x3.

I started around 2 weeks ago, and bought one of each of the most common cubes - turns out I like the GANs 365s v2 the best.

I use CFOP with 2 look OLL and 1 look PLL. Learning all the PLLs didn't do much for my solve times since most of my time is spent on F2L frantically rotating the cube looking for pairs, and spending time on figuring out the most efficient ways to pair them up - which I probably fail at anyway most of the time. I currently range between 55 and 80 seconds, with a pb of 46. Looks like I have just started out on a long journey.

 

[wir3sandfir3s]

Welcome to the forums! If you are having trouble during the F2L stage, or at least look ahead, then I would recommend slowing down your TPS during solves, but when you solve, never stop. Eventually, you will slowly speed up and you will get better at look ahead. As for not rotating during F2L, try to reduce the amount of rotations and look at all sides but the down and back side. Then, you will be able to do process of elemonation anD be able to figure out where pieces are without actually seeing the full piece. If you are forced to do multiple B moves in a row, then you rotate. Also, I wouldn't worry about full OLL till your sub 30 or 40.

 

[kaimitai]

Welcome to the forums! If you are having trouble during the F2L stage, or at least look ahead, then I would recommend slowing down your TPS during solves, but when you solve, never stop. Eventually, you will slowly speed up and you will get better at look ahead. As for not rotating during F2L, try to reduce the amount of rotations and look at all sides but the down and back side. Then, you will be able to do process of elemonation anD be able to figure out where pieces are without actually seeing the full piece. If you are forced to do multiple B moves in a row, then you rotate. Also, I wouldn't worry about full OLL till your sub 30 or 40.

Thank you for that. I do intend to spend a few hours today on slower solves focusing on minimizing rotations and keeping a uniform speed. Seems like much of F2L comes down to experience, and consciously noticing what works for what cases. And no, I have no plans of moving on to 1 look OLL before my F2L is comparatively as good as my LL.

 

[kaimitai]

I learned to solve the cube 3 weeks ago today, so I though it was time for an update on my progress;

My first timed ao50 a little over two weeks ago was 2:27 with a best single of 1:38.
Yesterday I had an ao50 of 1:07. I also got a new pb of 43 seconds on a solve with headlights OLL and V-perm PLL.

Most of my progress simply comes from noticing more in the F2L phase and lining up the pieces quicklier without so many pauses. In addition I have reduced my cube rotations somewhat. My pairings are still naive and infefficient, so I might be at a stage where I could benefit from learning some F2L "tricks". I still see noticeable daily improvements.

 

[kaimitai]

I started timing my solves exactly one month ago today, so it is a fitting time to post my current progress;

single: 33.99
Ao5: 40.65
Ao12: 43.06
Ao50: 45.87

Still slowly improving day by day.

 

[Laurie]

Wow, good job. You are improving really fast.

 

[shadowslice e]

Welcome to the forums!

 

[mafergut]

Welcome and don't forget to pay a visit to this thread, where a bunch of old cubers use to hang out and exchange experiences. Most of us are over 40 but 31 is old enough to grant you membership Hope to see you there!

 

[kaimitai]

I am closing in on the 3 month mark since I started cubing. Although I was away on a 3 week vacation recently, it didn't set me back at all it seems.
For the 3x3, I am currently at less than 2.5 look last layer, as I know more than 50% of the OLL cases. My current pb single is 24.7s, and my best Ao5 is 30.8s.

I have also learned the 4x4 recently, where I average around 3 minutes.

There is a competition coming up in a nearby city in a few months, and I hope to average below 30s on the 3x3 by then.