# How to practice individual CFOP steps?



## josh42732 (Dec 11, 2014)

This is my second new thread and I was just wondering how to improve individual CFOP steps. I average around 25-35 seconds, know full PLL( learned it around 40 seconds, I just learned it because I thought that the longer I knew them the faster they'll get) and know the concept of look ahead for F2L. With the metronome drill, I struggle at 70 BPM. I know full edge control to have all edges oriented after inserting my last F2L pair and only know the edge OLL's. My cross is decent(in my opinion), I do it in about 5 seconds with about 10-15 moves. Every solve I do, I don't look ahead but when I am in the car or something, I do slow solves and look ahead. How should I practice each and every step? How can I practice PLL's to Sub-2? How can I learn full OLL? How can I learn COLL(for edge oriented cases)? I have no idea how to even start learning full OLL and COLL for edge oriented cases. How can I apply look-ahead to my solves? How can I practice getting the cross in 8 moves or less? This may sound weird, but ever since I started speedcubing, it has been my dream to be Sub-20 and I know that improving these areas will get me there. The only problem is I don't know how to practice each and every step so they are where I want them to be. I need a consistent practice schedule and I will post an average of 5, or 12 if you need to look at my solves. I am very willing and open to anything that you can help me with. My current goals are:
1. Have all PLL's Sub-2
2. Know Full OLL
3. Finish F2L+cross in under 10 seconds
4. Know a lot of COLL cases
5. Be Sub-20
Can you give me a suggested practice schedule so I can achieve these goals? I have about 30 minutes a day to cube with school in the way. I am willing to do anything to get Sub-20. Thank you for your time and help! I appreciate it!


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## rjcaste (Dec 11, 2014)

I am currently averaging around 20 seconds and I can say that you definitely don't need full OLL or neither COLL to be sub-20. F2L is definitely the most important step, and look-ahead will probably be the main factor in getting you sub-20. Those pauses really hurt your times. I don't recommend learning Full OLL or COLL at all. You should probably be doing those at about sub-15.


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## Hssandwich (Dec 11, 2014)

I am sub 15 and only know 1-5 COLLs and not full OLL.
Also, Fabien Auroux doesn't know full OLL and has got an official sub 12 average, so you don't need to know full OLL until around 15 seconds I think


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## josh42732 (Dec 11, 2014)

We'll OLL and COLL are what I want to learn a little so that when I am sub-15 or when I need to start learning them, I will know how to learn them.


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## rjcaste (Dec 11, 2014)

Maybe some easy cases, but definitely not more than 10.


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## josh42732 (Dec 11, 2014)

Ok. And how should I practice F2L to get faster?


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## rjcaste (Dec 11, 2014)

I know this is hard, but after completing the cross (this is not timed), spot two pairs and plan them both out for insertion. Then, close your eyes and execute the solution. Do the same for the two other pairs. I personally have a lot of trouble doing this, but it works. There is alternate method where you are about 3 moves away from inserting an F2L pair and you look for the second pair. When you are 3 moves away from inserting that pair, spot the next pair. Make it so inbetween inserting the pairs there is a smooth transition. Eventually, you will not have to pause at the 3 moves away, you will already have the next pair planned. I'll link a helpful video explaining a bunch of ways to improve look-ahead and that explains it in-depth:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfE7jYOXbgg


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## josh42732 (Dec 12, 2014)

OK. And how about my PLL's to get them faster? How should I practice?


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## grel1234 (Dec 12, 2014)

josh42732 said:


> OK. And how about my PLL's to get them faster? How should I practice?


Find a PLL that you think is easy to execute and practice fingertricks on it so that you will be able to execute it more quickly.

Also, work on your recognition and find blocks that make it easier to recognise a case.
http://www.cubewhiz.com/pllrecognition.php


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## sneaklyfox (Dec 12, 2014)

josh42732 said:


> My cross is decent(in my opinion), I do it in about 5 seconds with about 10-15 moves.


Your cross sucks.  No, really... every cross can be solved with 8 moves or less (and only one case requires all 8 moves). Work on more efficient cross <8 moves. Are you able to plan full cross during inspection and execute with your eyes closed?


josh42732 said:


> when I am in the car or something, I do slow solves and look ahead.


Do more slow solves and look ahead.


josh42732 said:


> How can I practice PLL's to Sub-2?


Find good algs with fingertricks that work for you. Drill, drill, drill. Also, just more practice will naturally make your PLLs faster since you will be used to turning faster. Just a note that I am about sub-15 now and I still can't sub-2 all my PLLs.


josh42732 said:


> How can I learn full OLL?


Just learn one a day or fewer (normally I recommend as many or few as you can handle but since you have only half an hour...) Use flash cards (I made my own).


josh42732 said:


> How can I learn COLL(for edge oriented cases)? I have no idea how to even start learning full OLL and COLL for edge oriented cases.


Forget COLL for now, I say.


josh42732 said:


> How can I apply look-ahead to my solves?


Just turn slow and look ahead. Then you will practice look ahead. Eventually your look ahead will get better then you can turn faster.


josh42732 said:


> How can I practice getting the cross in 8 moves or less?


Check out other people's example solves. I watched one of badmephisto's videos on advanced cross when I learned.


josh42732 said:


> Can you give me a suggested practice schedule so I can achieve these goals? I have about 30 minutes a day to cube with school in the way.


Don't concentrate on every area every day.
1. Drill your slowest PLL over and over for a couple minutes and to warm up. (Time your PLLs if you don't know which is slowest.)
2. Review any OLLs you learned recently to make sure you still know them. If there is at least one you forgot, practice that one. If you know them all, pick a new OLL to learn (start with easier ones) and spend some time learning it until you think you know it well and drill it a bit.
3. Focus on one other area that needs work - cross or look ahead. (See above for how to work on that area.)
4. Do some full solves without timing yourself. Make sure to recognize any new OLLs you learned and perform the correct 1-look alg.
5. Maybe timed solves only once a week to see if you have any progress, but untimed solves will do you more good.



josh42732 said:


> I am willing to do anything to get Sub-20. Thank you for your time and help! I appreciate it!


More time to practice means getting to sub-20 faster. And you're welcome!

Edit: Cross focused practice - scramble cube after cross is solved.
Look ahead focused practice - do blind pairs. Someone suggested looking at two pairs. Make sure you can do one before you do two. Also, some timers can give you scrambles with the cross already done.


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## josh42732 (Dec 12, 2014)

Thank you! Do you have a recommended website that I should start learning OLL from that is in the easiest to learn and recognize to the hardest? Also a tutorial to learn them would be helpful.


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## MennoniteCuber1 (Dec 12, 2014)

I would probably be easily sub-20, but my (full)PLL takes terribly long. Usually I average around 20-25 seconds.Sometimes I have my F2L done at 13 sec., and it takes me all that time to do my PLL( 7,8 sec.). But these are also the times when I get a T perm and pb.


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## rjcaste (Dec 12, 2014)

sneaklyfox said:


> Your cross sucks.  No, really... every cross can be solved with 8 moves or less (and only one case requires all 8 moves). Work on more efficient cross <8 moves. Are you able to plan full cross during inspection and execute with your eyes closed?
> 
> Do more slow solves and look ahead.
> 
> ...



I agree with everything that you said. Practice makes perfect.


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## Ranzha (Dec 12, 2014)

rjcaste said:


> Practice makes perfect.



Perfect practice makes perfect.
Practice makes permanent.

I average sub-13 and am a horrible cuber.
I never learned G-perms until recently, and when I did, I only learned three of them and with nonstandard algs.
I haven't finished OLL and am still stuck at about 53/57.
I haven't properly learned how to do F2L.
I would rather take 15 moves to force an OLL skip than deal with OLL.
I rotate all the time and really shouldn't.

So it's possible to get sub-20 without finishing stuff, but I wouldn't recommend it. It's a long road. Practice makes permanent, and a lot of time is spent unlearning things in order to learn them another way and then properly apply the new knowledge to solves so things can be executed as effortlessly as before.

tl;dr Don't learn too fast that your memory can't keep up. Don't learn too slow to develop bad habits. Eliminate as many bad habits as you can consciously, off the clock, and then work blindly with the clock to check your progress.


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## guysensei1 (Dec 12, 2014)

Ranzha said:


> I never learned G-perms until recently, and when I did, I only learned three of them and with nonstandard algs.



Please make a video of the Algs for those. They look seriously awesome.


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## rjcaste (Dec 12, 2014)

josh42732 said:


> Thank you! Do you have a recommended website that I should start learning OLL from that is in the easiest to learn and recognize to the hardest? Also a tutorial to learn them would be helpful.



Here's a helpful site that organizes OLL's by which order you should learn them: http://www.badmephisto.com/oll.php
you should also just check out his Youtube channel, he has great tutorials: http://www.youtube.com/user/badmephisto


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## Chree (Dec 12, 2014)

guysensei1 said:


> Please make a video of the Algs for those. They look seriously awesome.



I dunno if you want that, man... I think it's his fault that I know: R U R' F' R U R' U R U' R' U' R' F R2 U R' U' R U' R' (21/22)


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## Ranzha (Dec 12, 2014)

Chree said:


> I dunno if you want that, man... I think it's his fault that I know: R U R' F' R U R' U R U' R' U' R' F R2 U R' U' R U' R' (21/22)



There's that one (credit to Nathaniel <3), and then the emerging R2' F2 R U2 R U2' R' F R U R' U' R' F R2, and then the worst of all: R2' S2 U l2' U' l2' u R2 U' r2' F2.
If you have to learn one, learn the R2' F2 one because it's actually good. The 21-mover I can get in 1.6, and the R2' S2 I can get in about 2.


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## josh42732 (Dec 13, 2014)

rjcaste said:


> Here's a helpful site that organizes OLL's by which order you should learn them: http://www.badmephisto.com/oll.php
> you should also just check out his Youtube channel, he has great tutorials: http://www.youtube.com/user/badmephisto



I know about that, but what order should I learn them in? Are they in order on his website of how to learn them?


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## mark49152 (Dec 13, 2014)

josh42732 said:


> I know about that, but what order should I learn them in? Are they in order on his website of how to learn them?


https://www.speedsolving.com/forum/...hen-and-how-to-move-from-2-look-to-1-look-OLL


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## rjcaste (Dec 13, 2014)

josh42732 said:


> I know about that, but what order should I learn them in? Are they in order on his website of how to learn them?



It's already in the recommended order on the site. The first OLL on the page you should learn first, the second, second, and so on.


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## sneaklyfox (Dec 13, 2014)

Chree said:


> I dunno if you want that, man... I think it's his fault that I know: R U R' F' R U R' U R U' R' U' R' F R2 U R' U' R U' R' (21/22)


That looks interesting. I'm going to try it...



Ranzha said:


> There's that one (credit to Nathaniel <3), and then the emerging R2' F2 R U2 R U2' R' F R U R' U' R' F R2



I actually do use that one too sometimes.


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