# How long did it take before you were sub40?



## DaveyCow (Nov 17, 2013)

Just a poll really - how long did it take you to get sub40? I know you might have "dabbled" a little before, but like when you started trying to get faster (be it not knowing how to solve or you knew how to solve but didn't think about speedsolving) how long did it take you to get sub40? Fun!


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## NaeosPsy (Nov 17, 2013)

I don't see a poll. 
1 month.


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## god of rubic 2 (Nov 17, 2013)

About a month of constant practice.


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## Tim Major (Nov 17, 2013)

I can't remember my cubing progress at all. I think I got sub 20 within 7 months (based on when I started and comps)

I never really did insane amounts of practise.


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## Logical101 (Nov 17, 2013)

5 weeks of unconsistant practice


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## tx789 (Nov 17, 2013)

1 and a half years. I didn't improve much in 2009 and in 2010 in the week before my first comp I improved by 10 seconds.


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## antoineccantin (Nov 17, 2013)

A year or two.


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## kcl (Nov 17, 2013)

A little over a week. Maybe a week and a half..


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## hcfong (Nov 17, 2013)

I went from a 42ish average to a 37ish average in one round of one competition. After that, it took me more then 15 months to get a sub-30 average.


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## ducttapecuber (Nov 17, 2013)

Probably 6 months or so for me.


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## AmazingCuber (Nov 17, 2013)

I don't know about sub 40, but I'm sub 16 after 6 months


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## MarcelP (Nov 17, 2013)

I took about two and half month to be steady sub 40. It took a about 6 months in total to reach sub 30. And One and a half year for sub 25.


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## yoshinator (Nov 17, 2013)

Probably about a month after I started cubing, but maybe a week and a half after I learned CFOP.


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## kcl (Nov 17, 2013)

yoshinator said:


> Probably about a month after I started cubing, but maybe a week and a half after I learned CFOP.



Yeah same for me.. I started CFOP maybe a week after I learned to solve at all. It took about a week after that.


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## Owen (Nov 17, 2013)

I know a kid who got to 40 seconds within a week, and then immediately lost interest in cubing. Kinda upsetting.


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## ScottTheCuber (Nov 17, 2013)

Month or two.


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## mangocuber (Nov 17, 2013)

A month to a month and a half. It seems like this is the same for about everyone.


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## GuRoux (Nov 17, 2013)

I think it was about 1-2 weeks when i got back into cubing.


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## Will (Nov 17, 2013)

About 2 months of practicing on and off.


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## ianliu64 (Nov 17, 2013)

About 2-3 weeks after I started.


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## Dapianokid (Nov 17, 2013)

A week or so. No more than 2 weeks. I knew all the main speedsolving methods and most of the obscure/impractical ones before I was even sub-1 min. I started focusing on the actual application and practice of speedsolving once i was avging 50 seconds. I'm now on the brink of sub 10 (my best Ao100 is 10.00! So furstrating) after just under 5 months.


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## NoobyCuber (Nov 17, 2013)

It took me 6 months after I started speedcubing to drop to sub40. However it only took me a month to drop from over a
minute to below 40 seconds.


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## TDM (Nov 17, 2013)

Took me a month from starting to solve a cube, then another month to get sub-40.
After 4-6 months I was averaging 21-22, and then stayed there until 9 months. Then I got a FangShi, and my times dropped 2 seconds. They then stayed there for another two months, then a few weeks ago my averaged went down a second in less than 24h. It was about the time I started doing some slow turning solves.


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## PokemonEggs (Nov 17, 2013)

I think it was 4-5 days. But I'm going to say 1 week to be safe. It was mostly because I learned F2L on the 3rd day i believe.


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## TeddyKGB (Nov 17, 2013)

Right around a month maybe a little more.


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## TheZenith27 (Nov 17, 2013)

I think it was under 2 weeks.


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## NZCuber (Nov 17, 2013)

I got a sub-40 second average on Snyder method 1 in the 3-4 months then I learnt F2l and got between 34 to 38 seconds in the first week.


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## sneaklyfox (Nov 17, 2013)

Honestly, I can't remember. I just know that by the 3-month mark, I was about 34-36.


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## nibble4bits (Nov 17, 2013)

.Practicing like 20 solves daily got me to sub-40 in one and a half month since I began cubing


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## JackJ (Nov 17, 2013)

I don't understand how people can progress so quickly! One to two weeks?! That's pretty ridiculous. I think I hit sub 40 at about 6 months. I know after one year I averaged 32 seconds.


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## kcl (Nov 18, 2013)

JackJ said:


> I don't understand how people can progress so quickly! One to two weeks?! That's pretty ridiculous. I think I hit sub 40 at about 6 months. I know after one year I averaged 32 seconds.



You probably practiced a normal amount. I've done a good 2-3 hours of practice.. For the 10 months I've cubed.


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## natezach728 (Nov 18, 2013)

5 months i think


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## brian724080 (Nov 18, 2013)

Sub 40 4x4?


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## stoic (Nov 18, 2013)

About six months from I learned to solve for a sub-40 single; about eight months to be sub-40 globally.
I improve slowly...


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## TDM (Nov 18, 2013)

kclejeune said:


> You probably practiced a normal amount. I've done a good 2-3 hours of practice.. For the 10 months I've cubed.


I cube for probably twice that each day, but never actually do any serious practise. I did some slow turning solves for a few days once.


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## kcl (Nov 18, 2013)

TDM said:


> I cube for probably twice that each day, but never actually do any serious practise. I did some slow turning solves for a few days once.



I cube a lot more than that also, but I guess 2-3 during the school year because school is dumb lol


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## pipkiksass (Nov 18, 2013)

I cube less than an hour a day on average (more during the week, almost none at weekends). Just looked at my solve history - first sub 40 was just over 2 weeks, first sub 40 average (of 12) about a month. Progress has slowed since, coz I don't practice properly, I just cube!


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## TDM (Nov 18, 2013)

pipkiksass said:


> Progress has slowed since, coz I don't practice properly, I just cube!


I do this as well, but it isn't good for speed (although I don't really care about speed). I've had two sudden jumps in my times, one by 2s and one by 1s, but other than them I haven't progressed at 3x3 since June/July. I feel like if I did practise properly at the weak points in my solve (cross, cross-F2L transition, lookahead during F2L, OLL TPS/learn some more algs, and learn that last PLL), I could improve a lot faster than I am at the moment.


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## thesolver (Nov 18, 2013)

2 and a half half to 3 weeks after first solve...


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## ILMZS20 (Nov 18, 2013)

i think i got sub 40 in 1-1.5 month or so. i learned how to solve a rubiks cube in mid september last year i think and i remember getting a 32 single and 38avg when i got my zhanchi at my birthday which is 24th november. i have a pb avg of 16.69 now and normally i get 19, idk if thats good or not, but i dont really care


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## MorrisKid101 (Nov 18, 2013)

Took me 2 weeks to get to sub-40 (after I first got my Zhanchi)
And reading all of these posts, I am feeling quite proud of myself 
I achieved a 13.24 second PB (Extremely lucky) a week or two ago, and average around 24 seconds.
My first Zhanchi arrived and I started competing for speed on May 1st this year
To this day, I know about half of the PLL's (I'm really lazy, need to do 'em at some point) and all of the + alg's for OLL.
I don't know how I've progressed so quickly, but it has now been slowing down. At the Cambridge Open on June 16th I got a 30-something second average (Pretty bad for me)
Now at the UK Championship I got a 25s average. And had I not been nervous, this would not have been extremelly difficult at Cambridge.
So keep trying, you'll get there eventually. I hope to be sub-20 for the next comp and sub-13 by next xmas (big goals I know)


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## KongShou (Nov 18, 2013)

a few hundred years

no im not lying i really did improve that fast


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## Kian (Nov 18, 2013)

I'm no expert, but I think being sub 40 should probably take you less than 40 seconds.


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## AFatTick (Nov 18, 2013)

About one month. It was like 3 years ago though. I average around 20 right now.


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## Rubiksfreak (Nov 18, 2013)

Two weeks probably. I'm not sure thought, that was years ago.


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## IcyBlade (Nov 18, 2013)

3 weeks. Then sub 30 in 2 weeks after that (switched from Rubik's to zhanchi). Then about 3 months to sub 20. I'm still getting to sub 15 now.


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## Shah (Nov 23, 2013)

Just a week for Sub 40.
Nearly 4 Weeks for Sub 30.
And a week for sub 25 from sub 30. 

BTW, I use Roux.


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## larosh12 (Nov 23, 2013)

4 months in about 3000 solves.


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## Peace99 (Nov 23, 2013)

Started cubing on May 2013, I became sub 50 at the first 2 weeks using LBL. sub 45 after 1 week later. Then I learned CFOP and became sub 40 in 2 weeks. sub 35 in about 3 weeks later. sub 30 2 months later and I'm sub 25 right now with a PB of 15.25. Lol


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## hkpnkp (Nov 23, 2013)

4 days after i learned to solve it


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## NikkHales (Nov 24, 2013)

about 1 months


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## JE007 (Nov 24, 2013)

5 weeks


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## CheesecakeCuber (Nov 26, 2013)

2 weeks or so


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## Mike Hughey (Nov 26, 2013)

It encourages me to see that for this particular milestone, I wasn't nearly as bad as I've been since then. I'd say I did it in about 3 months. But that has several caveats:
1. I had known how to solve the cube for about 25 years prior to starting real speedcubing. So (as requested in the original post) I'm not counting those years.
2. I used a keychain cube (with the keychain removed) to learn CFOP with 3-look LL. That was the first month or so of that 3 months.
3. Once I got a "real" cube, it was a Rubik's, unlubed.

Given 2 and 3, I'd say I did pretty well getting to 40 seconds in three months. But then it took me forever to get sub-30. And even longer for sub-20 (I'm not really there yet, although I'm close).


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## Phillip1847 (Nov 26, 2013)

Around 2-3 months. I really didn't know what I was doing at the time, and I was generally not doing anything right for about a month. If I had speedsolving wiki at the time, It probably would have taken me about 1 month. 
After that, It took me 3 or 4 weeks to get a sub-30 average.


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## rj (Nov 26, 2013)

3 months. Instant once I got a Zhanchi.


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## RicardoRix (Nov 26, 2013)

quite depressing reading, gonna have to settle on being a **** speed cuber.
Been going for 6+ months and still at 47sec global average. Think I have some serious problems with recognition and pauses.


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## rj (Nov 26, 2013)

RicardoRix said:


> quite depressing reading, gonna have to settle on being a **** speed cuber.
> Been going for 6+ months and still at 47sec global average. Think I have some serious problems with recognition and pauses.



Learn Roux. Seriously.


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## pipkiksass (Nov 27, 2013)

RicardoRix said:


> quite depressing reading, gonna have to settle on being a **** speed cuber.
> Been going for 6+ months and still at 47sec global average. Think I have some serious problems with recognition and pauses.



There's no such thing as a **** speed cuber, only a **** speed cubing teacher! 

Seriously though, proper practice will help a great deal. I'm not a natural sprinter by any means, but back at school I had a coach who gave me drills which took seconds off my 400m time. I was still MILES slower than natural 400m runners, but faster than I'd ever have been without the proper advice and guidance. You might not be sub 10 any time soon, but there's no reason whatsoever why you shouldn't be able to be sub 40 or even sub 30 if you start working on some of the bad habits you've probably taken on over time. Post a video in the solve critique thread, and get some specific guidance. Listen to it, and practice the bits of your solve that are weakest.



rj said:


> Learn Roux. Seriously.



Yeah... maybe. There are far more resources available for CFOP than for Roux, purely because of the number of people who use the method. While dabbling with other methods might broaden your cubing horizons, starting a new method will always initially (and inevitably) slow your times down. If you're looking for a quick-fix then this is definitely not for you! 

There's so much on YouTube and this forum about how to improve at 3x3, specifically CFOP, that I'd suggest sticking with CFOP is probably a reasonable course of action for now, especially seeing as you've dedicated 6 months to it!


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## IQubic (Nov 27, 2013)

Took doing an average of 100 every day for a whole summer to get sub-1 minute.


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## cysewo (Nov 28, 2013)

2 and a Half week, with FSR as the starting cube


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## Ágoston Török (Nov 28, 2013)

6 months with LBL


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## Thatguyujustmet (Nov 28, 2013)

Can't quite remember... a couple of weeks I think... definitely under a month


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## DaveyCow (Nov 28, 2013)

It took me 1.5 years to consistently get sub40 averages


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## Potterapple (Nov 28, 2013)

Around 2 months maybe a little less though


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## Deleted member 19792 (Nov 28, 2013)

About two weeks .


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## creativecuber15 (Nov 29, 2013)

About a month and a half, I think, with inconsistent practice.


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## tomthed (Dec 6, 2013)

About 2 weeks I'd say


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## aboeglin (Jan 11, 2014)

I just got sub40, and I started serious cubing about a month ago.


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