Road to Sub 20

[Dylan1919]

I get that practice would be a very popular response and its not like I'm gonna ditch normal 3x3 solve practice but if you have any suggestions of what would be a good way to improve, I would like to know. My method is XG which is cross, first to layers, 2 look OLL and PLL. I will definitely switch to CFOP eventually especially since all I would need to know is F2L (which I already have a pretty good idea of) but if I'm trying to get to sub 20 with this method, switching method probably won't work. I think I should try out some Perms, which ones I should learn?

 

[Riley M]

I would advise not to learn OLL before F2L, as F2L is best learned intuitively. My best advice that fit your parameters would be to practice look ahead. If you are unaware of what that is, there are some great tutorials on youtube about it. Essentially look ahead is just knowing what your next move will be during the first two layers. Also I would say get your last layer down to under 10 seconds, if it is not already there. My last layer is the same as yours and although I'm learning full OLL, I average around 5-6 seconds with 3LLL.

 

[Dylan1919]

Thanks for the advice, I already have an okay look ahead but I will try to improve upon that. My last layer has a very diverse length. It is sometimes be six seconds or if i get very unlucky it could get up to 20 seconds. I will try to fix that and hopefully keep it around 6-10 seconds.

 

[pjk]

I get that practice would be a very popular response and its not like I'm gonna ditch normal 3x3 solve practice but if you have any suggestions of what would be a good way to improve, I would like to know. My method is XG which is cross, first to layers, 2 look OLL and PLL. I will definitely switch to CFOP eventually especially since all I would need to know is F2L (which I already have a pretty good idea of) but if I'm trying to get to sub 20 with this method, switching method probably won't work. I think I should try out some Perms, which ones I should learn?

What is your current solve time and what is the breakdown of cross, F2L, OLL, and PLL? Once we know that we can give suggestions on where to work on most to improve your times.

 

[Dylan1919]

What is your current solve time and what is the breakdown of cross, F2L, OLL, and PLL? Once we know that we can give suggestions on where to work on most to improve your times.

My PB is 25 seconds and I average somewhere between 30 seconds to 40 seconds. I solve my cross on the white side facing down, my cross usually takes roughly 3 seconds. I don't do F2L, I do a slightly different version of beginners method which uses R U R' U' and R' F R F', that takes me roughly 10 seconds. Then I have just normal second layer (from beginners method) this takes 5-10 seconds. I do 2 look OLL and PLL which takes 6-20 seconds.

 

[pjk]

My PB is 25 seconds and I average somewhere between 30 seconds to 40 seconds. I solve my cross on the white side facing down, my cross usually takes roughly 3 seconds. I don't do F2L, I do a slightly different version of beginners method which uses R U R' U' and R' F R F', that takes me roughly 10 seconds. Then I have just normal second layer (from beginners method) this takes 5-10 seconds. I do 2 look OLL and PLL which takes 6-20 seconds.

So on average you finish the F2L in ~13 seconds, and the last layer takes 5-20 seconds? If that is the case, the biggest improvement would definitely be made in the last layer. What is the breakdown for OLL vs PLL? If you record an average of 5 and post it I could give better tips as well.