CFOP Solve Splits Tool

5 years ago

Speedcubing Advice

One question I’m asked very frequently goes something like: “Hey, I average X seconds, what do you think my time splits for Cross-F2L-OLL-PLL should be at this stage?”.

 

Firstly, it depends a decent amount on your current knowledge base - consider solvers A and B, who both average 20 seconds:

 

Solver A still inserts their cross pieces one at a time into the top layer and has extremely inefficient F2L, but knows full OLL and PLL and can execute these algorithms well. Realistically, the splits for this solver could look like 4-11-2-3.

 

Solver B has a much more move efficient F2L and has quite good lookahead ability, but still uses 4 look last layer. The splits for this solver could look something like 2-9-4-5, which is a vastly different profile to solver A.

 

Without being too pedantic, a better alternative question to “What should my splits be?” is “Based on my current splits of A-B-C-D and the current techniques and algorithms that I have learned, which step(s) of my solve can be improved most easily, or what should I learn next?”

 

This is a much simpler question to answer, and going to the effort to collect the data is the bulk of the work! (CSTimer.net has a nice way to do this - option - timer, multi-phase). Of course, most people probably don’t have a glaringly obvious phase of their solve which needs improvement, but it could be a useful exercise if you're a relatively inexperienced cuber without much of a sense of your strengths and weaknesses.

 

To assist with this, I’ve created a quick tool which allows you to enter your current CFOP solve splits and then compares them to average solve split times which I have put together - partially based on sub 10 solver data gathered in this speedsolving thread. When using this tool, I would suggest that you first reflect upon your solves without gathering splits data, as in the long term, self analysis and self awareness are going to push you much further than timing your splits and typing numbers into the spreadsheet. Then, use the tool to confirm your educated guesses about your own solving.

 

This tool won’t provide any magic solutions to improve those stages (that’s what the tutorials are for!), but may help you to identify a part of your solve which can be improved more easily than others. At that point, targeted practice on that stage is something to consider, if you think that your knowledge base is sufficient. For example, if you’re sub 20, know full PLL, but it is taking up 5 seconds in your solve, then deliberately practicing either your recognition or execution of those algorithms will be beneficial.

 

The sheet works for CFOP solvers between 60 and 8 seconds. Beyond sub 8, standard CFOP splits can become a bit difficult to measure, as solvers of that speed tend to frequently use things such as extended crosses, and various OLS techniques, so it’s not particularly relevant.

 

Let me know if you have any questions in the comments section. This short post is thanks to a member of the website who suggested that I cover this topic, thanks Omkar!

 

The sheet is available here :)

 

CS Splits Tool

Thoughts on this blog

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bob bill

bob bill Posted 3 years ago

watch example solves of how people do their crosses to learn different techniques and maybe even practice solving cross blindfolded so you plan it then solve it without looking. i don't like doing the blind cross but i hear it helps

Akash Sreedharan

Akash Sreedharan Posted 3 years ago

My splits are 1  : 5.4 : 1.6 : 2 = 10

so my cross is -17%, f2l +8%, oll -3% and pll -7%

no tips for improvements, so how should I improve?

btw Julian Cheever you are probably not doing an efficient cross. You might be inserting pieces 1 by 1. Try to find a combination of moves that insert 2 or more at once. All crosses can be done in 8 moves or less. You might also find becoming colour neutral helpful.

 

Peter Watrner

Peter Watrner Posted 3 years ago

Same im 11 and i know a bit over half of oll and i finished full pll yesterday and suck at cross planning i average sub 30

bob bill

bob bill Posted 3 years ago

To improve cross planning, I suggest practicing BLD cross solutions. Scramble your cube, plan out a cross solution, put on the blindfold and see if you can solve the cross. Do not go for speed, simply try to solve the cross without looking until you get good at it. This can help you to not only crank up your time spent on the cross but also help you jump right into your first f2l pair without hesitation.

Daniel Skapinyecz

Daniel Skapinyecz Posted 2 years ago

My splits: 2 : 7.8 : 2.8 : 2.8 = 15.4

I learned full PLL when I averaged 20 seconds and have not learned full OLL yet (due to being lazy). In fact I enjoy working on my F2L more than learning new algs (which is unfortunate because 2x2 is my main event).

I think I should really work on my cross-F2L transition as that's where I wasted most of my time. I am duel colour neutral (white and yellow) but I think I can definitely work on getting that cross to sub-2. My OLL is slower than it should be (I really should learn full OLL but I'm gonna finish learning full CLL first) but my PLL is quite fast.

Daniel Skapinyecz

Daniel Skapinyecz Posted 2 years ago

So I redid it and these are my new splits: 1.9 : 7.3 : 2.6 : 2.7 = 14.5

My cross is 0.16 seconds above average and my F2L 0.05 seconds above average, but that seems to be just fine. My PLL is still faster than average (hooray), my  OLL is 0.13 seconds above average, so all in all I am 0.34 seconds too slow (which isn't bad). Again I haven't learned full OLL but that's alright, I needn't have to yet.

I'm surprised I got so much faster in just 3 weeks. During this time I updated my main to the MoYu RS3M 2020 (stickered of course) and it works great, although a bit fast.

Chucky Cheese

Chucky Cheese Posted 2 years ago

i dont have a good cube what cube do you think i should get my average is 25 using gan 356rs

 

Ciaran Parker

Ciaran Parker Posted 2 years ago

Useful, times dropped by half a second

hingle mcringleberry

hingle mcringleberry Posted 1 year ago

hi can anybody help me ive been cubing for about 8 months and my slits are 2.94,9.96,3.16 and 2.45 my speed has completely stagnated at around 19 im using  gan xs

Elias Chaghouri

Elias Chaghouri Posted 1 year ago

I am not the best at F2L and Cross Average around 25 seconds. Also, anyone who knows how to remove the smudges from the Gan 356 XS. Does anyone have any F2L and Cross tutorials?

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