The Solve Critique Thread

Amress said:

I did a 2x2 average of 12. As you can tell from the vid, I'm not that good at 2x2. I recently got interested in it, but I haven't learned any CLL. I remember some of the easy ones, but i just use COLL for most of the cases. I do plan on learning CLL after nationals.
Click to expand...

Try to look ahead through the turns and the OLL case you have to predict what you have next. For example, I know for the Pi and H cases whether I am going to get a diagswap, adjswap, or PLL skip, and this helps a lot. And learning CLL is a good idea, I'm going to do the same after nationals.

Also, I'm not very good at 2x2, but this is what I've gleaned from some of Chris Olson's videos.
 
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Critique Please: Oh and please don't tell me to learn look-ahead. I am already learning it...

 
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It makes no sense for me to critique the person above me as he's way better.

Here's my average of 6 (wanted to do 5, but lost count):
The times of the solves are in the description of the video, as well as information about the cube and the timer.

Some things I noticed myself are:
1. Too long inspection time (not really a problem, as this is not official)
2. I often don't fully plan out my cross
3. It sometimes takes a long time to find F2L pairs (long pauses)
4. I sometimes make unnecessary moves whilst making F2L pairs (sometimes I even undo moves)
5. OLL is 3- or 4-look, but the execution is fairly quick
6. I don't use fingertricks for most of my PLL's

Please give me more critique and tell me what I should focus on first.
BTW, is it weird that I have never known any F2L algorithms? People always say you should do it intuitively, which I do, but should I learn algorithms anyway?
Please also tell me what you think of the camera perspective.
 
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Definately learn twolook OLL, and learn fingertricks for PLLs.
When doing F2L, try to start practicing look-ahead.

You should spend most of your time practicing Cross and F2L. OLLs and PLLs will become faster over time, but you still need to learn how to fingertrick them.

I think that you should learn a few F2L algorithms (I'll list a few below), but do most of it intuitively...

Some F2L Algorithms. I will list them like this: How to "setup" the case| How to solve the case

(R U R' U')3 | (R U R' U')3
(R U R' U')2 | (R' F R F')2
(R' F R F')2 | (R U R' U')2

Also, as you go along with OLLs and PLLs, try messing around with the letter "case" like swiwtching all the "r"s to "R", etc. Some will lead to new F2L algs that are really easy, some will lead to new OLL algs, and some will lead to nothing.
 
Chrizz said:
It makes no sense for me to critique the person above me as he's way better.

Here's my average of 6 (wanted to do 5, but lost count):
The times of the solves are in the description of the video, as well as information about the cube and the timer.

Some things I noticed myself are:
1. Too long inspection time (not really a problem, as this is not official)
2. I often don't fully plan out my cross
3. It sometimes takes a long time to find F2L pairs (long pauses)
4. I sometimes make unnecessary moves whilst making F2L pairs (sometimes I even undo moves)
5. OLL is 3- or 4-look, but the execution is fairly quick
6. I don't use fingertricks for most of my PLL's

Please give me more critique and tell me what I should focus on first.
BTW, is it weird that I have never known any F2L algorithms? People always say you should do it intuitively, which I do, but should I learn algorithms anyway?
Please also tell me what you think of the camera perspective.
Click to expand...

1. Don't worry about your inspection time - use as much as you need to plan whatever you feel comfortable planning, and as you practice, this time will decrease.
2. It's normal not to be able to plan out your cross at this point, but try to push your comfort zone. If you can pretty easily plan out part of your cross, try doing a bit more for a while, and that will soon become easier. Also, try doing your cross with your eyes closed (as an excercise, not during normal solves). As you become faster, you should be able to do the cross while looking for your first F2L pair.
3. You need to slow down and look ahead to avoid this. It's better to do slower turns with fewer pauses than fast turns with pauses in between pairs. Try practicing with a metronome, where you must make a productive (not just U U U U) move every beat.
4. As you get used to doing F2L, your movecount should go down. Don't worry about this too much.
5. 2-look takes only a few algs - you probably know about 3 already, so it should be pretty easy to learn. Look around on algdb.net's OLL section and find algs that fit you.
6. Spend some time with each alg to see how you can optimize your execution. By the way, what PLLs do you know?

Other: Most people do F2L intuitively, which gets much easier the more you practice in, since the "algs" get into your muscle memory. However, when you get an annoying case that takes you many moves or is hard to execute, it can be helpful to look online for a nicer alg for that case. The camera perspective is good I guess, I honestly don't care unless it's hard to see the cube. The main thing to work on is to practice F2L slow-turning and looking for the next pair, and also getting used to the execution for cases, as well as making sure your OLL is 2 look and PLL is 2-look. Also, you should go to some competitions around your area, you might benefit from talking to other cubers in person. Good luck!
 
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I was thinking about creating a thread for ZZ solve critiques, since it seems like this would be better than one thread for everything (so that there are actual ZZ solvers critiquing solves). What do people think about this?
 
Cut down on your cube rotations and pauses. Get better at your lookahead. Start with turning slowly with no pauses, tracking F2L pairs. Also, improve your cross a bit.
 
mrtomas said:
So I've been stuck at these times for a while.. any tips?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aiz1K8LlhRk
Click to expand...

I wish I had your "problems" :). I should not say anything as I'm struggling with more than twice your times myself but, just in case a patzer's observations can be of any help to you here they come. If not please disregard all of this and accept my apologies before hand:

- I only saw white crosses. Perhaps at your speed it is a bit late to try full color neutrality (they say the sooner you start with CN the better) but I guess dual color should be easy to achieve for you and it should help your averages a bit by letting you choose white or yellow, the one that gives you the best cross in each case. I see that you don't use much time on inspection so you have plenty of time to look for both in the 15 sec limit.

- I see that your TPS is crazy fast in LL and also in F2L but there are slight pauses in between and I think those are the ones that stop you from getting to sub-10 more easily. So, you either don't do much F2L lookahead or you can't lookahead well at that lightning-speed turning rate. Also during OLL & PLL recognition you have small pauses but I don't know how to help you here. You are supposed to be able to anticipate the OLL you'll get while you finish your last F2L pair and the same with the PLL while you do the OLL but I don't know how to do that myself so... I'm sure some more advanced cuber can give some specific advice here.

- Avoid the few rotations while doing F2L. I saw some, even if not many, but at that speed even "some" is perhaps too many. Perhaps this is related to lookahead as well?

Also I don't know (I don't have the knowledge to judge) if you do some partial edge control while in the last F2L pair or other stuff like that but if not perhaps that could help as well.

Again, sorry if I said something stupid, as I started saying, I wish I had your problems :D

Happy cubing!
 
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mafergut said:
I wish I had your "problems" :). I should not say anything as I'm struggling with more than twice your times myself but, just in case a patzer's observations can be of any help to you here they come. If not please disregard all of this and accept my apologies before hand:

- I only saw white crosses. Perhaps at your speed it is a bit late to try full color neutrality (they say the sooner you start with CN the better) but I guess dual color should be easy to achieve for you and it should help your averages a bit by letting you choose white or yellow, the one that gives you the best cross in each case. I see that you don't use much time on inspection so you have plenty of time to look for both in the 15 sec limit.

- I see that your TPS is crazy fast in LL and also in F2L but there are slight pauses in between and I think those are the ones that stop you from getting to sub-10 more easily. So, you either don't do much F2L lookahead or you can't lookahead well at that lightning-speed turning rate. Also during OLL & PLL recognition you have small pauses but I don't know how to help you here. You are supposed to be able to anticipate the OLL you'll get while you finish your last F2L pair and the same with the PLL while you do the OLL but I don't know how to do that myself so... I'm sure some more advanced cuber can give some specific advice here.

- Avoid the few rotations while doing F2L. I saw some, even if not many, but at that speed even "some" is perhaps too many. Perhaps this is related to lookahead as well?

Also I don't know (I don't have the knowledge to judge) if you do some partial edge control while in the last F2L pair or other stuff like that but if not perhaps that could help as well.

Again, sorry if I said something stupid, as I started saying, I wish I had your problems :D

Happy cubing!
Click to expand...
Thank you for taking your time and writing this long answer to me:) I'm trying to slow down more often to improve my look ahead... I'm really bad at yellow cross so I don't do it very often. Thanks again for your advice :)
 
samuelqwe said:
Hey guys so im into 5x5 lately and i would like to know how i can improve.:)

So here is one of my solves:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRynSHsjyx8
Click to expand...

A couple of tips:

I noticed you were turning fast while you were doing centers, but it was very choppy and it looked like you didn't quite know what you were doing. In the time it took you to do your first center (about 25 seconds) you could have done the first two plus some of the third with the exact same turnspeed. Plus, on big cubes, turning fast can equal lockups, which dramatically detriments your times. So not exactly "slow down and look ahead" but "turn more accurately and know what you're going to do"

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS do your last 2 centers adjacent to each other. Unless you have a 2x3 block already in an opposite center to your third or something dramatic like that, always do your last 2 centers adjacent to each other.

Also slow down during your edges, you're turning very dramatically and too fast, and it's easy to lock up that way. Learn little slice flip tricks as well, they help a lot.
 
goodatthis said:
A couple of tips:

I noticed you were turning fast while you were doing centers, but it was very choppy and it looked like you didn't quite know what you were doing. In the time it took you to do your first center (about 25 seconds) you could have done the first two plus some of the third with the exact same turnspeed. Plus, on big cubes, turning fast can equal lockups, which dramatically detriments your times. So not exactly "slow down and look ahead" but "turn more accurately and know what you're going to do"

ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS do your last 2 centers adjacent to each other. Unless you have a 2x3 block already in an opposite center to your third or something dramatic like that, always do your last 2 centers adjacent to each other.

Also slow down during your edges, you're turning very dramatically and too fast, and it's easy to lock up that way. Learn little slice flip tricks as well, they help a lot.
Click to expand...

I knew about last 2 centers but i think i messed up a center so i had to go back.
Could you point me to a good video on how to improve centers?
(If you know any)
 
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samuelqwe said:
I knew about last 2 centers but i think i messed up a center so i had to go back.
Could you point me to a good video on how to improve centers?
(If you know any)
Click to expand...
Hmm, I don't know of any specific 5x5 centers videos, but cyoubx has a good series on how to get sub 2 on 5x5, which I think is still relevant in your situation. Also watching example solves.
 
goodatthis said:
Hmm, I don't know of any specific 5x5 centers videos, but cyoubx has a good series on how to get sub 2 on 5x5, which I think is still relevant in your situation. Also watching example solves.
Click to expand...

Big cube centers were the hardest for me to get good at, and I still struggle with them. If there could be one or two general tips I could give you, it would be to always be mindful of what moves do what and what exactly you're going to look for/do next. Centers can be done many different ways, but indecisiveness can be bad. Keep this in mind when you're practicing, and make sure you practice a lot period!
 
I posted in this thread a few weeks ago and since then, I learned 2 look OLL and some new PLL's. My F2L is smoother now, I don't have extremely long pauses anymore, I don't think my cross improved very much. Overall I'm about 15 seconds faster now. Here's another average of 5 that I made today:
Times:
31.24
32.61
28.15
(37.32)
(25.68)

Some things I notice myself is that I use quite a lot of cube rotations, cross is pretty slow and I still make it on the upface.

Please give me some more critique and tell me what I should improve next, and also how I can do that.
 
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