What do I need to practice on? Speecube Newbie asking for tips

[Akuma]

Hello there people.

I'm a newbie speedcuber. I started out about a month ago solving the 3x3 for the first time and I've been imporving since then. I started with F2L a couple of weeks ago and now my average is around 60 seconds.

I would like to know from you people what I need to practice on to get faster.
The last weeks I've practiced and practiced and practiced and my time has not improved at all - I'm still at average 1 minute.

I use the F2L Method - 2 look OLL - 2 look PLL when solving it.

In order for you to see what I need to improve on I've recorded myself solving the 3x3. I did it in 2 takes.
First take I go slow so youc an see my thought progess of solving it.
Second take I solve it as fast as I can - doing a solve of 49.44 seconds.

Please help me out. I would gladly appreciate it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_z4AXEvx38

High Quality Windows Media Video (640x480 WMV 30MB)
http://meg.ownit.nu/cubediagnostics_640.wmv

Low Quality windows Media Video (320x240 WMV 12MB)
http://meg.ownit.nu/cubediagnostics_320.wmv

 

[phases]

Too new myself to offer much but I imagine the responses will mostly be "practice practice practice" and "look ahead".

Wish I could help more...

 

[teller]

You're solving the cross one piece at a time, and sometimes you're not taking the shortest path even for one piece. Go watch badmephisto's two cross videos to learn some combos and insertion tricks. Start trying to insert at least two pieces at once.

Your F2L insertions are better, but I notice you still waste a lot of moves--like you'll set up a pair and there will be extra U turn that does nothing--try to think about where the destination column is while you're forming a pair.

For both, learn your color scheme (blue-orange-green-red) backwards and forwards. It will help you to think more about relative position.

 

[josmil1]

Well first of all, u should be averaging your times in each section to see what is ur weakest point in more detail. Second, do your cross on the bottom, learn how to do it faster in less steps, meaning your cross shouldnt take u more than 5 seconds to make. You definitly need to start looking ahead better because you do a lot of pausing. You do wayyy too many cube rotations, learn how to insert slots from different angles. Definitly time yourself in each section (cross, f2l, oll, pll) you will then see in more detail wat takes u a long time. Obviously is the f2l but see how long it takes u on average.

 

[theretardedcuber]

get a better cube for start
dont use your whole hand to turn faces use fingers instead
do cross on bottom
learn all 21 plls (http://www.cdf.toronto.edu/~g6karpat/plls/pll.html) <-- good site to learn them..
fewer cube rotations
thats all i can think of

 

[nitrocan]

Don't try looking ahead until you can average about under 40 or something. Maybe even 30 because that's the time when you start executing the solution to any F2L case without thinking (algorithmically or intuitively). If you struggle on the F2L cases while still trying to look ahead, it'll ruin your times.

And improve your look ahead on Fridrich F2L. You don't really need to improve it on LBL since (it's just looking ahead for 2 cases) you probably will stop using it soon.

 

[Akuma]

Looking ahead seems extremely difficult for me right now. I think before I start doing that I need to learn F2L by heart. I need to get comfortable enough with F2L algorithms before I start doing other things while solving the pairs.

About the white corss - you people are obviously right about that. I have not improved the slitghliest with the white cross and I am still using the beginners method when it comes to solving the White Cross.

I agree that I do too many U-turns during F2L and I should be way more selective with my moves, specially when inserting the pairs.

Regarding the cube, I realize I need to get a better one. The one I have is a store-bought Rubiks original cube. It cost me $22 (hella expensive in Sweden) but right now I'm order this DIY-cube and a cute little 2x2.

Thank you so much for the info guys. I really appreciate it.
I will come back with anotehr video once I noticed that I've made progress.

Cheers.

 

[Cride5]

Don't try looking ahead until you can average about under 40 or something. Maybe even 30 because that's the time when you start executing the solution to any F2L case without thinking (algorithmically or intuitively).

I've got to agree with introcan here. Your execution of the F2L pair-ups and insertions needs to be one fluid movement before looking seriously into lookahead. For F2L all I would suggest is just drill it. Keep practising these insertions until they become really quick and thoughtless.

I thought for the level you were at the biggest downfall was your cross. It looked like inspection involved only finding and planning the first cross piece. Look at ALL the cross pieces and try to plan you to solve them all in your first 6 moves or so. This will be very difficult (and take much longer than 15sec) to start, but gets much easier with practice.

EDIT: Sorry, never saw your last post, but your conclusion is pretty much bang on

I've bought a number of 3x3's (12 if I remember rightly) and I have to say my absolute favourite is this one (type C).

 

[blgentry]

People here harp on the cross a lot. Yours definitely can be substantially improved, but I think your F2L will give you just as big, if not a bigger improvement in your times.

Specifically for F2L:

1. I notice that if you have a pair made in the U layer, you like to insert it into one of the back slots, *even* if the correct slot is on front. I saw you rotate the cube y2, then do an insertion into the BR slot. You could have easily inserted it into the FL slot with L' U L instead. *Definitely* learn the two front slot (FL and FR) insertions.
2. When you have a corner or edge "trapped" in a slot and need to bring it into the U layer, make sure you bring it up into a position that will allow you to do one of the 7 base F2L cases. I saw you bring up the orange blue edge, and after, you had to hide the OBW corner in order to reposition the edge and corner so they could be inserted. Instead, rotate the U layer first, and bring the edge up in the right spot the first time. Same advice if it happens to be a corner you are bringing up.
3. You could use a little work on deciding which pair to work on, but that will come with time. You're doing quite well IMHO for such a short time solving the cube.

Keep at it and let us know how you progress.

Brian.

 

[4Chan]

AKUMAAAAAA~

THEY CALL ME HADOUKEN BECAUSE IM DOWN RIGHT FIERCE.
IF YOU PLAY WITH ANYTHING ELSE, YOURE DOING IT WRONG.

I assume your username is from street fighter. o:

For something constructive.. im not sure what to say which hasnt already been said. Sorry about that, your username evoked a response in me for some reason. (;

 

[zip_dog12]

You may want to learn variations to your current algorithms, ones that are easier for you to perform and/or faster with fingertricks. The U-Perm you use in the video has M-slices which can be hard to perform sometimes. I used to use that algorithm, but then I found that another one is faster for me. For that same ELL situation in the youtube video, I would use R2,U,R,U,R',U',R',U',R',U,R'. But if you like your current algs and don't want to switch to easier and faster ones, I can't make you, not that there's anything wrong with the ones you use.

Also, look for variables on the F2L or cross. Sometimes there's a better case than what you were about to do originally. For instance, you might not see a 3 move F2L, perform an 8 move one, and then mess up that other 3 move alg. In other words, work on recognition of situations by more practice and experience. If you've only been cubing for a month, you'll be a great speedcuber in a few more months.

 

[blizzardmb]

try solving your cross on the bottom and limit cube rotations.
Also you should learn full pll.

 

[cubeninjaIV]

your cross and f2l are very ineffiecient often using a long case that messes up a much shorter case in your LL you use cube rotations instaed of auf (adjust u face)
there isnt neccesarily a best side to solve the cross on i solve it on whichever side i feel the most comfortable with but alway the same color
i average around 18 seconds for 3x3

 

[Habagrachel]

60 Sec in your first month? That's pretty good compared to me. I have been cubing for about two and a half months, and I'm down to a 45 sec average. Ummm, the biggest improvement I had was when I ordered a DIY kit; my time went down about 20 seconds on my first solve. Another thing that helped was learning to solve from any side instead of going straight to the white cross. Ummm, I noticed that during your solving of the cross, you did the algorithm instead of using the "relative cross"; during your first solve in the first posted video, the last edge piece that you positioned could have been done with only three moves instead of doing the whole algorithm. I recommend learning this method:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itvH9-WLHrk
This is the method that I use. For your F2L, watch the "advanced F2L tutorials" on the same person's youtube channel. Good luck!!

 

[OregonTrail]

Try doing the cross blindfolded until you can do it.

You need to have a good sense for which colors are across from each other and which colors are to the left and right of any given color.

Make sure that during F2L you are pushing things in the most efficient direction. No U3s, and bring up middle and bottom layer pieces in the best orientation.

Also, if you're not going to do slice turns with fingers from the back, try doing faux slice turns such as r2' R2.

 

[cincyaviation]

i saw at LEAST 20 wasted moves, learn more efficient F2L cases, you know some of them, but some you waste more than 5 moves, and try and plan your whole cross in inspection...