# Success Streak/Accuracy



## AlexandertheGreat (Sep 6, 2007)

how many attempts can you guys get successfully in a row? As pretty much all BLD cubers know, DNF-ing in a blindfold event is WAY more than likely to happen than in any other type of event. So much so that the WCA website doesn't even have average times for BLD events listed. My record is only 4 in a row, for 3x3x3 (I don't have any other types of cubes). Will you guys intentionally slow down memo in order to ensure accuracy, or just try to be as fast as possible w/o much reviewing? I average about 5 min now and I was wondering if simply racing during memo will increase my accuracy in the long run.


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## AvGalen (Sep 6, 2007)

Sometimes I can get 1 and I have gotten 2 just once


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## tim (Sep 6, 2007)

I once did 10 in a row. But with more concentration, there's no limit of successful solves . Solving at competitions is completely different from solving at home, i don't think i'll get 0% DNFs at competition.


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## Mike Hughey (Sep 6, 2007)

I think my best is 11 in a row. I might have done more once, but I don't remember for sure, so I'll go with 11 in a row, which I'm sure I've done.

For me, if I'm having a good day, it seems like the faster I go, the better my accuracy. But that's only on a good day, which is probably about one out of every five days or so. It seems like there really is a big difference from day to day as to how well you do, with no real rhyme or reason as to why. But in any event, on a good day, if I try to slow down to be more careful, my accuracy actually goes down, not up. I'm not sure why. But my average is just a little under 4 minutes, so I'm pretty slow even when I'm fast.

I had originally intended to do 100 3x3x3 BLD solves on the plane when I went to the Philippines (a VERY long trip!), but I was unfortunately having a very bad day. I tried about 50 solves and only got 25 right (and my times were very slow), and I just didn't feel like doing them that day, so it didn't go so well.

Note that Mátyás would have no problems with averages if they only bothered to report them. He apparently has a bigger problem with DNFs in Magic solves than in BLD solves.  His only DNF BLD was his first competition 5x5x5 BLD attempt. Other than that, he's never had one! Now that's a streak.

I'm wondering if Mátyás just had a bad day like what I'm talking about at the Swedish Open. I could see that accounting for all his "bad" times. (It's so funny to say they're bad times when he won all but 3 events, and came in second on the rest.)

It's so funny that Arnaud's only 2 in a row ever was in a competition that gave him the ranking of (currently) 8th in the world at multiple blindfolded. But it's probably even funnier that then he tried 5 in a row at his most recent competition.


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## AvGalen (Sep 6, 2007)

I will try 5 again at the Polish Open 8 days from now. You won't find it "funny" anymore when I succeed then 

I hope that if I do 5/5 solves I will be allowed to participate in multiple blind at the World Championships. Apparantly being 8th of the world is not enough to qualify


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## hait2 (Sep 6, 2007)

if you're solving too often, you're solving too slow for yourself
that's my philosophy


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## pjk (Sep 6, 2007)

I've failed my last 5, and before that I got 1, then was on a DNF streak of like 10. I need more practice is all.


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## Mike Hughey (Sep 6, 2007)

hait2 said:


> if you're solving too often, you're solving too slow for yourself
> that's my philosophy



I think this is true for memorization, yes. I'm almost certainly spending longer than I should on memorization. I always double-check my EP and CP once I've got them. I need to stop doing that. (But it's so hard to break the habit! With visual memorization/tapping, it's really fast to double-check - only takes 5 seconds or so - so I can't resist doing it.)


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## Erik (Sep 6, 2007)

I can get a looooot if I use pochmann...


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## Pedro (Sep 7, 2007)

I think the best I did was 12, when I did my first (and so far only) average...


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## Mátyás Kuti(shaipo) (Sep 9, 2007)

My best is 12 in a row. It would be a wonder if I could get more...
But once I had 35 DNFs in a row.


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## Mike Hughey (Sep 10, 2007)

Mátyás Kuti(shaipo) said:


> My best is 12 in a row. It would be a wonder if I could get more...
> But once I had 35 DNFs in a row.



Your best ever is just 12 in a row?!?!?! And yet you've gotten 8 at one time in competition? Wow.

Obviously I don't get enough DNFs. I'm going to have to really try to speed up beyond my ability. It seems like everyone says that's the best way to speed up, and if you had 35 DNFs in a row, it seems like that just proves it. I don't think I've ever had more than about 6 DNFs in a row.


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## AvGalen (Sep 10, 2007)

If getting a lot of DNF's is good then I am world class 

I think that Mátya's is talking about single blindfolds at home. For multiple blindfoldes he takes a bit more time to be more accurate. I also think that he takes more risk at home than at a competition so he is more accurate in competitions.


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## pjk (Sep 10, 2007)

IMO, if you are succeeding more than 15 in a row, or even 12 in a row, you aren't pushing yourself enough.


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## Pedro (Sep 10, 2007)

I agree...

I did those 12 in a row just to get an avg...but wasn't really going very fast


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## AlexandertheGreat (Sep 11, 2007)

yeah, I think having that good of an accuracy is a bad thing when you're beginner/intermediate simply b/c you're prevented from going faster (unless it's your first solve of course). So based on whats been said I think purposefully limiting my memo time would help me. This has already helped me a bit, since the other day I got a PB simply b/c I forced myself to speed up memo. Despite a (purposefully) very slow execution time, I still managed to get a PB. My theory is that taking risks early on and often during practice will eventually yield both more accurate and faster solves.


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## dbeyer (Sep 11, 2007)

Seriously, I have written on this before in the Blindfolded cubing Forums in the yahoo groups. A streak of DNFs can really aggrivate you, and force yourself to go faster. The key to speed is going as fast as possible. Blindfolded cubing is just like speedsolving. You've got to go slow-fast -- which is faster than breakneck speed. You've got to pick it up, and accelerate. You can't just start off going 90mph, you've got to accelerate (practice practice practice)

I don't practice enough. (Hint 0 attempts would qualify for not enough)

I also totally agree with certain people, it was just brought back up to me, in another application to another event. Skateboarding. Taking a break, then going back into something you love, you start off a little rusty, but you pick it up real quick, and improve and actually improve quicker than you would have if you had been training that whole time up until the day that you started seeing the huge amounts of improvement after the break!

I am not saying that if you stop cubing for a year, and do a couple of solves one day, you are going to break sub 15 the next day if you were only at a 22s average.

Later,
Daniel Beyer


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## AvGalen (Sep 11, 2007)

Great example from skateboarding Daniel. It reminds me of what Frank Morris said:



> (1:36.69), 1:47.91, 1:41.59, 1:46.18, 1:50.80, (1:57.40), 1:50.86, 1:46.93, 1:54.83, 1:46.69, 1:41.46, 1:42.94
> 
> I took a break, and this is what happened.


 
http://www.speedcubing.com/records/recs_cube_555av.html


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## pjk (Sep 11, 2007)

I agree with that as well. Happened to me on a lot of puzzles... I improve a lot more if I break for awhile, then come back into it and practice more frequently.


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## ExoCorsair (Sep 11, 2007)

I tend to think that this might be a psychological thing; in actuality you do take some amount of time off which could have been used to practice...

Maybe I'm thinking too economically. (opportunity costs, anyone?)


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## AvGalen (Sep 11, 2007)

I also think it is a psychological thing, but if it works, it works!


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## Me (Sep 21, 2007)

Pretty sure that i'm about 1:7 (solve:attempt) ratio. I really need to get more consistant for the Caltech Fall


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## AlexandertheGreat (Sep 25, 2007)

The brain fatigues just as the body does, that's why after doing a bunch of BLD solves in a row (or multi) you kind of get sick of solving for a little while. At least this is what happens to me after doing a bunch of solves in a row. I have found a positive change in my endurance though, meaning I can do more solves in a row more often. The brain needs rest, but it needs stimulation just as much.


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## Mike Hughey (Sep 26, 2007)

So what is the main cause of DNFs for most people? Is it due to failed memory, or something else? Mine are almost never due to failed memory, which probably shows I spend too long on the memorization.


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## joey (Sep 26, 2007)

What do you fail by then? Only a few times have I DNFed, because I did an algorithm wrong.

Most of the time, it is through failed memory.


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## AvGalen (Sep 26, 2007)

I DNF because I forget to undo setup moves (sometimes) or because I use a cube rotation and rotate it back wrong (very often)

After driving back from the Polish Open I did the 2 3x3x3_bf solves for that weeks competition. Both of them were DNF's and took about 10 minutes. I gave the scrambles to Clément Gallet, closed my eyes and told him which pieces to orient/cycle. It turned out that I could still memorize both cubes perfectly.

When I attempted 5 cubes at the Lyon Open I still remembered all of them a couple days later.


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## Mike Hughey (Sep 27, 2007)

Usually my failures are setup move mistakes, or that I misoriented the cube (leading to fully scrambled results), or that I cycled the wrong direction. I especially have problems with cycling the wrong direction on big cubes. Also, on big cubes, I get confused with my lettering system and cycle V when I was supposed to cycle W, for instance. (I just recently did that.)

I'd say I have memory failures about 1 out of every 10 DNFs. And at least half of those are just that I substitute a few pieces of a cycle from a previous solve in my current solve.

Arnaud, I suspect you're going to be very good at big cubes BLD once you finally try them. 2 things are necessary - being able to remember them (which it looks like you will be able to do), and being able to execute commutators successfully. And I suspect you're not going to have much trouble with that part either.


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## AvGalen (Sep 27, 2007)

Thanks Mike, I think you are correct in that analysis. Memorisation and commutators won't be a problem.


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## Mike Hughey (Sep 27, 2007)

AvGalen said:


> Thanks Mike, I think you are correct in that analysis. Memorisation and commutators won't be a problem.



But that's all that's hard about big cubes BLD! (Well, other than little things like figuring out where the pieces go and keeping the lettering straight in your head, but you'll work those out with no problem.) You really need to try it. You might be the first person ever who's able to do 4x4x4 BLD quicker than 3x3x3 BLD.


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## Karthik (Sep 28, 2007)

Mike Hughey said:


> You might be the first person ever who's able to do 4x4x4 BLD quicker than 3x3x3 BLD.


 
Haha.That would be ridiculously funny!


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## TimC (Oct 29, 2007)

I've only been able to do it 5 times so far. All the other times were mostly horrible mistakes that I had no idea what I did. The good thing though, is today I actually managed to solve 2 in a row with no DNFs, which won't probably happen again in a while.


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## hdskull (Oct 29, 2007)

i find that usually i can't go over 4 or 5 solves because my brain tire out, when i do averages (of 5, which i've only done 2x), the 5th one is always a DNF, because i remember so much stuff from previous solves. and i find it really hard to concentrate and do bld, outside (80+% success rate at home vs. 10-15% success rate outside)


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## Mike Hughey (Oct 29, 2007)

I think it's fun to practice 3x3x3 BLD in restaurants and fast food joints, solving under the table. It's a great way to practice in a noisy, distracting environment, and often you even have an audience who's watching you.

It's particularly hard to do when you've brought your family to the restaurant with you, and your youngest daughter is spilling her drink that you have to wipe up with one hand while trying not to lose track of where you are in the solve.


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## hdskull (Oct 30, 2007)

Mike Hughey said:


> I think it's fun to practice 3x3x3 BLD in restaurants and fast food joints, solving under the table. It's a great way to practice in a noisy, distracting environment, and often you even have an audience who's watching you.
> 
> It's particularly hard to do when you've brought your family to the restaurant with you, and your youngest daughter is spilling her drink that you have to wipe up with one hand while trying not to lose track of where you are in the solve.



and also when u'r getting into conversations with others.


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## Derrick Eide17 (Nov 19, 2007)

wow MATYAS has gotten 35 DNFS in a row before? wow i though you got perfect most of the time.. apparently not lol then there is still hope for me in BLD cubing lol.


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## malcolm (Nov 19, 2007)

i DNF around 2/3 the time, need to work on it. But its normally in streaks, like 5 DNFs then 3 successes then 2 DNFs and a few more successes.


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## AlexandertheGreat (Nov 20, 2007)

my accuracy is betting slightly better, but my times aren't improving much. i probably need to practice more


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## KConny (Nov 21, 2007)

DNF is as good practise as a success. Keep on DNF'ing at 3 mins and you'll eventually get it. There is no point of 100% success rate at 8 minutes.


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## malcolm (Nov 21, 2007)

I think alot of mine are due to cycling the wrong way, or forgetting a piece, but my cube rotations are normally spot on. Infact, i peek after i finish corners and have over a 80% succes rate on them, but a much lower success on edges which pulls me down.


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## AlexandertheGreat (Nov 25, 2007)

KConny said:


> DNF is as good practise as a success. Keep on DNF'ing at 3 mins and you'll eventually get it. There is no point of 100% success rate at 8 minutes.



good point


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## malcolm (Nov 25, 2007)

There is a point in 100% success rate at 8 minutes - multiple blindfolded. If i was in a comp, id go really slow on my first and try to get it right. If it was wrong, I'd do the same on my 2nd, but if it was right I'd just go crazy, seeing as there are no comps here...


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## HelloiamChow (Nov 28, 2007)

Blehhhh I've had 8 straight DNF's. Still getting good practice. Memo is getting its way under a minute.


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## malcolm (Nov 28, 2007)

My memo is nearly under a minute too. Just had a 1:30 memo time =) and mostly under 2 mins except when i get nasty shapes to memo for corners instead of nice triangles or friendly squares


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## pajodaep (Dec 1, 2007)

i'm still slow at BLD, but i once did an 8 in a row successfully... couldn't do it again though...


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## amateurguy (Mar 15, 2008)

You know the funny part is... I had a very very bad DNF streak lasting a few days and I was getting rather irritated by it. So I tried solving another 3 more times today and they were all DNFs. 

Then I remembered reading this thread some time ago and started reading through again. After all the doesn't-matter-if-you-DNF-because-it's-good-practice posts, I got motivated again and decided to do one more solve, this time fast. So I sped through memo and execution and when I opened my blindfold, the cube was solved...

...and the timer showed my new BLD PB.


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## ThePizzaGuy92 (Mar 16, 2008)

I've got 7 in a row yesterday, the 4th of which was my PB of 4:21


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