Why can't I improve?

[CUBENERD101]

i have been cubing since Nov 13 of 2012 And i am 23 average
But why the F cant i get sub 20 average i have been practicing look ahead and i know full pll but i can't get sub 20 average
Why can anyone give me tips

 

[Riley]

Patience is key. Don't get discouraged if you can't beat a certain time barrier; just keep practicing.

You can try timing F2L only. If you want to be sub 20, I think sub 15 F2L is reasonable.

 

[CUBENERD101]

My F2L is 11-13 sec average with Cross 1-2
F2L+Cross= 13-15
Oll(2 look ) 3-3.5
Pll ( full ) 3.5 ( plus recognition) for all

 

[Riley]

Okay, your F2L is pretty good then. I suggest using qqTimer's last slot + last layer function (Scramble type > 3x3x3 subsets > last slot + last layer). Then just practice with that, to improve your LL, without using just an LL scrambler so you don't know what the OLL case will be before you do it. I think your PLL recognition needs a bit of work, and maybe the speed of your algs. I think sub 2ing each PLL at least would be good.

 

[somerandomkidmike]

I'm pretty sure it took me around 2 years to reach sub-20. I suggest that you calm down and be patient.

 

[ottozing]

Your F2L is almost good enouugh for sub 20 times. Try and get it down to 12-13 by practicing look ahead and planning more efficient and fingertrick friendly crosses. Your PLL stage needs improvement too, I say re-learn some of your PLL's that have "bad algs". I may not be equally fast with all of my PLL's, but I can do all of my algs reasonably fast and I like the fingertricks they have. Hope this helps

 

[bobthebuilder]

i have been cubing since Nov 13 of 2012 And i am 23 average
But why the F cant i get sub 20 average i have been practicing look ahead and i know full pll but i can't get sub 20 average
Why can anyone give me tips

All the bros' comments are really helpful.... and also maybe let us know what cube you using ?

 

[PeelingStickers]

lol thats nice times for only 1 and a half months cubing, why are you impatient?

Sub 20 is the first barrier IMO that you will find you cannot get over in a couple of days.

I was sub 30 after two months but it has taken me another four months to finally break sub 20 and even now I get the odd 20-21 average.

Just keep practising and recognition is key for OLL's and PLL's. Maybe it might be good to learn the dot cases in 1 look OLL as they can really hinder your times in two-look.

 

[Smiles]

sub 20 takes consistency. practice = experience, which makes consistency in every aspect and any pauses, hesitations, or things you might be overlooking like PLL speed and cross efficiency will improve. to get from average 25 to 17 for me didn't really require working on anything in particular. just a lot of practice.

 

[o2gulo]

Calm down, I have been cubing for 2 3/4 years now and so far I am still struggling to reach sub-25 lol. Just utilize the inspection time and improve your F2L. LL can go later just focus on your F2L and cross

 

[Daniel H]

i've been cube since around the same time and i still havn't gotten a sub 1 minute.

 

[god of rubic 2]

Improve your TPS on last layer, start practising 2 side recognition and use fast algs that are good for you.

 

[DNFphobia]

Even though my averages are slower than yours, here's 2 tips that helped me break time barriers.
Take a break. I've had a time barrier that I couldn't get past (30 seconds) for about 2 months until stopped cubing for a week or so. When I started solving again, I found myself solving under 30 and got a sub 20 PB.

Don't time yourself. This might sound weird, but this actually helped me go from sub 30 to sub 25. Just spend some time solving without timing yourself. Solve over and over again. Once you finish a solve, scramble it right away. After a few days of untimed solving, start timing yourself again. If you haven't improved, go back to untimed solving and repeat.

 

[uvafan]

Mix it up. What is happening is your brain is in what is called the autonomous stage of learning a task, it thinks that it does not need to improve at it anymore. So don't do normal practice solves. Switch to a different 3x3 to force your brain to work. Switch to a different size cube and get faster on that then come back. Do lots of slow solves in which your only focus is to look ahead and have no pauses. Maybe try using a metronome. Really do anything besides what you are used to doing to practice, and you will break your barrier.

 

[Ninja Storm]

SLOW

Take it slowly. Instead of timing yourself 24/7 and trying to speed up, take some time out and look at what you're doing. Instead of looking at the time for F2L, look at the amount of moves it takes you. If you can reduce your movecount by 5 with 2 TPS, you just dropped your time by 2.5 seconds. That is HUGE at your level, especially since that would bring you closer to the sub-20 goal you want.

Find which F2L cases have really long sets of moves in them. Try and find algorithms for those cases, so you can achieve a more efficient F2L.

 

[A Leman]

You can't improve because you think you can't improve. It is a mind game. Accept that you will improve and constantly think of how you intend to get there. Also, avoid thoughts like I Can't, I won't, I don't, I could have, would have and should have. They are like curse words and will not help you improve.

 

[Cheese11]

GO SLOW.

I used to freak out cause I would practice and practice but never get sub-30's. Then, I quit practicing and just started casually cubing and then BAM! Sub-30 in 1 month. Then sub-20, then sub-15.

 

[CUBENERD101]

Thx for a the help, tips, and hints i am managing to get 19-21 singles+average of 5 more and more often

 

[JHB]

lol thats nice times for only 1 and a half months cubing, why are you impatient?

Yeah champ, some of us have been stuck on 50 second averages for months I'd love to have your problem, but even I'm getting better. Good luck!

 

[YddEd]

Same here.. My times are like 40 secs+ now :/ (Because of study, study and more study)