Poll: On average, are you faster under WCA competition or at home in practice?

[cubeflip]

My general competition performance:
2x2- don't care
3x3- usually okay, sometimes good
4x4- usually TERRIBLE (last comp was GREAT!)
5x5- usually bad (but still official PBs)
6x6- set personal bests in comp
7x7- set personal bests in comp
Megaminx- pretty good
OH- pretty good when I focus actively
Feet- TERRIBLE

 

[Dacuba]

The more I care, the worse are my comp averages.
3x3 is awful, I am on my way to be sub13, but I don't expect an average that beats my 13.86 on the comp in two weeks.

 

[Mike Hughey]

For the most part, I don't see a difference. However, with big cubes (6x6x6 and 7x7x7) and megaminx, I do seem to be noticeably faster in competition. I believe that's because, for puzzles that take a long time to solve, it's often hard to stay focused and at your best when practicing at home, but in competition, you tend to stay focused for the entire solve, and not let up during any part of it.

I'm also terrible with feet in competition. I think that's simply because the conditions are so important; it's much easier to do feet solves in conditions that you've practiced regularly with (nature of the floor, lighting). (I actually use two different cubes for feet solves - one for hard floors, the other for carpets - it makes a huge difference).

 

[Coolster01]

Same as Antoine, depends on the event.

I can say that events I practice more/are better at are usually worse, with the exception of 3x3, which I do so good at during competitions. Also BLD isn't good for me.

 

[Rubiks560]

Depends how much I care about the event. Generally the less I care the better I do.

 

[JonnyWhoopes]

Depends how much I care about the event. Generally the less I care the better I do.

This is essentially what I would say. I do terrible in 3x3, but I do better in 5x5 because I really don't care at all.

 

[uberCuber]

^ yep. The amount I care about something is inversely related to how well I do. At nationals, I set a PB avg5 for megaminx, which I went into with the attitude of "I don't even know my color scheme so who really cares if I do badly?"

At my last competition, I really wanted to do well at 4x4. My first two solves were 49 and 48. After that, I thought "My average will be bad now no matter what, so I don't care aanymore." My next solve was a 37.

This is exactly the reason why, as far as school is concerned, I have observed that the better a person's grades are at any time, the less effort they end up having to put in to maintain those grades, compared with others in the same class. Good grades = less worry/stress = clearer mind = less difficulty performing well on tests. Bad grades = stress = more difficulty thinking clearly = more time required to finish homework, and poorer performance on timed exams.

 

[FinnGamer]

I do pretty bad on 3x3, but well on the rest

 

[Petro Leum]

my avg of 5s at a competition usually nearly equal my average of 100s at home.

This counts for all the events which ich are important to me and which i regularly practice. Those also have a "fail rate" officially, because on some solves i might just go super nervous and completely ruin my times.

For events which i dont pratcice and which i dont care about, i regularly break my at-home-PBs in comps.

 

[chrissyD]

I'm awful in comp. My turn speed is fairly normal but the pressure effects my solutions. At UKO12 I could get 12 second averages easy off stage but on stage it felt like a 12 second single was impossible

 

[CUBENERD101]

i just went to a comp and i did horrible didnt even get a sub20 average for 3x3x3( av 17-19) cuz it was my first one so i was nervous and hands were trembling

 

[ben1996123]

Usually better unless 2x2 finals.

Official PBs that are all time PBs: 5x5 single, 5x5 average, square 1 single, 6x6 single, 6x6 average, 7x7 single, multibld

 

[rowehessler]

I suck in competition

 

[a small kitten]

I suck in competition too.

 

[Noahaha]

I suck in competi-

owait not anymore.

 

[CarlBrannen]

ben1996 that's an impressive list of PBs in competition.

Next competition I'm going to do what I've seen other guys do, keep practicing with a spare cube while the scramblers work on the "main". That should reduce nervousness / keep hands warm.

The people I saw doing this used pretty different cubes. I like to go all-out (for me) so I'll make those two cubes as identical as possible.