Lookahead Progression Framework

7 years ago

Speedcubing Advice

Lookahead - Planning future stages of a speedsolve whilst executing moves to solve the pieces of the current stage.

 

Developing your lookahead ability is one of the most challenging and frustrating aspects of speedcubing. In my experience, it is largely something you develop with time and increased familiarity and knowledge of the cube. However, I’ve written a simple framework for the main stages of lookahead progression, and I’ve also added my tips and thoughts for improvement at each stage. Throughout this blog, I mainly refer to lookahead improvement in the context of solving the F2L using the CFOP method. Some of the lookahead tips in here are specific to F2L, whereas some are universal.

 

Firstly, I’d like to briefly describe what I believe to be the three main levels of lookahead ability. These are certainly not comprehensive, and some people may disagree with them, but I think they can serve as a nice guideline.

 

The three stages in my framework are “Spotting”, “Tracking”, and “Knowing”. I’m also interested to hear if anyone has better name suggestions, but I think these will do for the moment. Broadly speaking, I think they are equivalent to beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels of lookahead ability. In the following examples, I will describe these three levels in the context of F2L pairing.

 

Spotting: You see F2L pair #1, and watch the pieces as you solve it into its slot. After doing this, you look around the cube to “spot” F2L pair #2.

 

Tracking: You see F2L pair #1, and as you solve the pieces into their correct slot, you look for, and then “track” the pieces of F2L pair #2, so that you can then solve them immediately after you have solved F2L pair #1.

 

Knowing: You see F2L pair #1 and #2. In your mind, you already “know” the moves you will use to solve F2L pair #1, and exactly how they will affect F2L pair #2, so that you can solve pair #2 immediately afterwards.

 

So to summarise, “Spotting” is a beginner level of lookahead where the solver is only focused on the pieces that they are currently solving. “Tracking” is the intermediate level where the solver is focused on solving the current pieces whilst looking at upcoming pieces. “Knowing” is the level at which the solver can visualise/predict where future unsolved pieces will end up on the cube before performing the moves to solve current pieces.

 

There are, of course, gradual stages of improvement in between these three main levels of lookahead ability. An example of a level in between “spotting” and “tracking” in the context of F2L pairs would be when a solver is only able to track one F2L piece from pair #2 (an edge or corner) whilst solving F2L pair #1. An example of a level between “tracking” and “knowing” would be when a solver is able to predict the end location of the pieces of F2L pair #2 only once F2L pair #1 has been reduced to a 3 move insertion case. To keep this framework simple, I have focused on what I see as the three main levels.

 

It’s all well and good to have a nice neat framework for the stages of progression, but that doesn’t tell you much about how to actually progress. Below, I’ve outlined a bunch of tips and thoughts around improving your lookahead at these different levels. Attempting to teach lookahead is particularly difficult, because it’s not just a “method” that you can show someone, and in my opinion, a big part of lookahead improvement comes naturally from lots of solving and practice. Just as a reminder, most of these tips are mainly applicable to the cross and F2L stages of the CFOP method, but can certainly be adapted in some fashion to working on lookahead in different stages/methods/cubes.

 

 

Improving from "Spotting" to "Tracking"

 

By far, the most important thing for progressing from just “spotting” pieces to “tracking” pieces is confidence in your solving techniques and algorithms. Again, it’s easiest for me to talk about this in the context of F2L. When you start out learning F2L, a lot of mental effort and thought goes into solving each F2L pair. However, after a certain period of time and practice, your solutions for each F2L pair will become standardised, so that once you see the F2L edge and corner, you know what moves you will do to solve them before executing any moves at all.

 

Once you’re at the stage where you can confidently solve individual F2L pairs into their slots without looking at the cube, then you can start to work on your ability to track pieces. The simplest and most fundamental drill to practice this is the following:

 

  1. Solve your cross

  2. Look for your first F2L pair

  3. Determine the moves you will use to solve that F2L pair into its slot. I would advise against memorising the notation to do this, but rather, just thinking about it in terms of the required fingertricks and hand movements, or like “Pair up the corner and edge by hiding the corner over here, bring the connected pair around to the front, and insert it into the front-right slot”.

  4. Before executing any moves, look for another, different F2L pair.

  5. Execute the solution for your first F2L pair. Whilst executing the solution, focus on looking at (“tracking”) the pieces of the second F2L pair. Follow those two pieces around the cube with your eyes until you have solved the first pair into its slot.

  6. Repeat the same process for the remaining F2L pairs on the cube, starting from step 3. Step 2 is not required for the following pairs, because you have already tracked your next pair in step 5.

 

In doing this drill (many many times!) you will train yourself to avoid looking at the current pieces being solved, and literally “look ahead” to the following pieces, so that this habit begins to make its way into your timed solves. This drill also reinforces your ability to solve F2L pairs blindfolded.

 

Before doing this drill, it’s also probably a good idea to just practice solving individual F2L pairs blindfolded. Looking ahead to the next F2L pair isn’t really possible unless you’re very confident in your ability to solve individual F2L pairs. If you’re not at that stage just yet, don’t worry, particularly if you’re new to F2L. After you learn the techniques for solving F2L pairs, it does take a little bit of time to make them subconscious in your solves. Additionally, I also recommend taking a look at the tutorial pdf in the F2L module on the website to help standardise your F2L pair solutions - but only after you learn intuitive F2L.

 

The drill described above should be practiced in isolation - obviously when you’re doing full timed solves, it’s rather impractical. In your timed practice sessions, your goal should be to try and track pieces, but not to the point where it’s detrimental to your solves. So, if that means you can only track one piece (an edge or corner) of the next pair whilst you’re solving the current F2L pair, then that’s fine, and a great start in your progression towards the “Tracking” stage of lookahead.

 

A couple of other random thoughts to help out with tracking - it can be helpful to slow down your turning at the end of an F2L pair (say, the last three moves) to allow yourself to look elsewhere without pieces rapidly flying everywhere around the top layer and slots. This should help you eliminate your pauses. RiDo has a paragraph in his blog where he talks about the end of each pair solution being a “braking point” in his cool race car metaphor for F2L. Check it out here. (Start from the “Getting a quick lap time” heading if you don’t want to read the entire thing… but you should also read the entire thing :p)

 

Maintaining a calm turning style with relatively quiet hands and keeping the cube quite still in the air will also help - it means your eyes and brain won’t have to work as hard as compared to if your cube is shaking and moving all around the space in front of you.

 

Another common drill is to make use of a metronome for F2L practice. That is, set a metronome at a particular speed, and do one turn of your solve on each beat. An appropriate metronome speed is one which really challenges your lookahead ability, but where you don’t make too many mistakes or miss many beats. The most challenging part about this drill is the transition between cross and the first F2L pair, and the transitions between F2L pairs - you will be forced to lookahead so as to not miss any beats of the metronome.

 

This last tip is more of a mindset thing, but instead of treating F2L as 4 distinct pairs that you need to solve, it needs to be viewed as a constant flow from the cross to OLL. Very often I see quite ‘choppy’ F2L styles, where the solver turns really quickly to solve a pair, pauses, and then does the same thing 3 more times for their F2L. For advanced cubers, choppy F2Ls often give the slowest results, I’d much prefer to have a smooth, rotationless F2L, with some cancellations between F2L pairs, than a really fast-turning F2L. The old adage of “go slow and look ahead” is the most fundamental way of describing this.

 

 

Improving from "Tracking" to "Knowing"

 

So, once you’re at what I have termed the intermediate stage of lookahead ability, the “tracking stage”, how do you effectively progress to the “knowing” stage, whereby you can predict the future state of certain pieces? I believe this largely comes with time and experience, but here are some of my thoughts and some exercises that may help along the way.

 

In order to predict what will happen to pieces before you execute an algorithm or even just a few moves, you really need to be able to visualise a cube in your mind. This sort of thing can certainly be trained, but it requires a great deal of familiarity with the cube and the way pieces move around. As an exercise, just take a solved cube and do the moves R U R’. Undo them to solve the cube, and then repeat the R U R’. However, this time, before doing those three moves, close your eyes and visualise what happens to the corner and the edge in the front-right F2L slot. For many of you, this will be quite easy - you’ll be able to imagine the pair coming into the top layer and the pieces ending up in the UFL and UF positions.

 

That’s a very basic level of “knowing”. You know that these three moves will move the pair from the front-right slot into the top layer. The expert level is being able to correctly predict where the pieces of a disconnected F2L pair will end up after doing more than 7 moves at high speed. That’s a bit more difficult. I can’t speak for other fast solvers on this, but in my solves, I feel like I use a combination of “knowing” and “tracking”. Before I solve an F2L pair, depending on the difficulty of the pair and depending on the location of the corner and edge of the next pair, I’ll have a certain degree of confidence regarding where the pieces of my next pair will end up. Subconsciously, if it’s an easy case to “know” and I’m very confident about my prediction, then I won’t bother too much about “tracking” the pieces, and start to look elsewhere for the pair after that. However, if it’s quite a long solution for the first pair, and it will heavily influence the pieces of the following pair, then it’s quite difficult for me to “know” where the subsequent pair’s pieces will end up, and so I have to focus on actually tracking them during the execution of my first pair.

 

I should also note that this is all just a description of what I think happens subconsciously in the minds of experienced cubers - by no means do I suggest actually trying to think about this in speedsolves, I’d only suggest doing it as a drill, if anything.

 

If the first visualisation drill was too easy, it’s time to increase the difficulty. Choose any 7 or 8 move trigger, algorithm, whatever you like, and choose any single corner or edge piece. In this example, I’ll use the F2L pair solution R U’ R’ U R U’ R’. The sorts of questions you should now ask yourself are - where will the UBR corner end up after these moves? Where will the UF edge end up? Spend some time thinking about those moves and trying to work out in your mind where certain pieces will move - don’t worry about figuring out the orientation just yet, just try and follow the permutation (location) of the piece. Don't actually make any physical turns on the cube.

 

With those seven moves above, the UBR corner moves to the ULB position, and the UF edge moves to the UB position. Because the algorithm is 2 gen, the edge (and all other edges) will remain in the same orientation.

 

One fantastic drill to practice your ability to visualise pieces moving around is the two look F2L drill. Scramble your cube, solve the cross, and then take as long as you need to plan the first two pairs. Execute the solution for those pairs blindfolded, and then take another look at the cube and do the same thing for the last two pairs. Alternatively, instead of planning out the whole solution for both F2L pairs, you can just memorise the solution for the first one, take a quick glance at another pair, and close your eyes. Execute the solution for the first F2L pair slowly enough to allow yourself to track the pieces of the next pair around the cube. Keep your eyes closed, and solve the second pair into its slot, based on the case you had visualised/predicted on the cube whilst solving the first pair.

 

Let’s go back to that R U’ R’ U R U’ R’ example. Perhaps it’s the first F2L pair that you’re solving. As is the case with many F2L pair solutions, doing those moves does not affect the pieces in any of the other F2L slots. For example, if you have the back-right edge solved, or the corner piece in the front-left slot, you will only need to try and predict one piece, and you don’t need to worry about the one already in its slot. This is because pieces in other F2L slots aren't affected by the moves R U' R' U R U' R'. Practicing and being able to “know” just one piece is very beneficial in cases like this, and will greatly help your lookahead and reduce pauses.

 

A common misconception is that lookahead is only really useful in the F2L stage in the CFOP method. It’s very easy to get to the final pair and relax, because all you need to do after solving it is recognise an OLL case. However, one thing that I do, and strongly recommend practicing, is trying to predict the OLL case that you’ll get, whilst doing your last pair. The easy mode of this challenge is to just try and predict the edge orientation. That is, solve the cube and three pairs, look at the cube, and then try and solve your last pair as well as an edge orientation algorithm. The more difficult mode is finishing three pairs and attempting to solve your last pair and OLL in one look.

 

That’s all from me for now - I hope this framework and the associated tips and thoughts can be useful for you. If you’re at all confused or need a reminder of the stages of lookahead, I recommend going back towards the start of the post and reading over the three examples which come after the introduction.


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Daeshunn Balisi

Daeshunn Balisi Posted 7 years ago

Wow, thanks Feliks! :D


Darren Dilidili

Darren Dilidili Posted 7 years ago

Very helpful!


Pranav  J

Pranav J Posted 7 years ago

Thanks feliks bro. 

 


Mahrukh  Zahoor

Mahrukh Zahoor Posted 7 years ago

Who needs a video when you have Feliks?


Mahrukh  Zahoor

Mahrukh Zahoor Posted 7 years ago

Very helpful.


Feruz Gulomov

Feruz Gulomov Posted 7 years ago

Hello, Feliks! How are you? I'm your fan from Uzbekistan! Thank you for education videos, I really like them! After watching your videos I became really - really fast ( like you ) ! And I just wont to ask, on what events you will do video lessons?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  Your fan - Feruz! Tashkent, Uzbekistan.


Zigmund A

Zigmund A Posted 7 years ago

Let's drill this ! Excellent article 


Ruimin Yan

Ruimin Yan Posted 7 years ago

Calm, uniform, slow, visualise, predict. 


Ruimin Yan

Ruimin Yan Posted 7 years ago

Hope you upgrade PDF of OH OLL algs and videos of OH OLL and PLL algs. Thanks!


Md. Sameer Shaikh

Md. Sameer Shaikh Posted 7 years ago

Thank you really needed this :)


Matteo Chancerel

Matteo Chancerel Posted 7 years ago

Very nice, thank you for this post :D


Kieren Marsh

Kieren Marsh Posted 7 years ago

Pure gold. As a newish cuber I have found genuine look ahead to be quite elusive. Now I've always understood that this will just come with experience and to do this slow down on casual solves. I think this still holds true but it's good to see the various levels broken down. I think a mixture still exists as I can predict the placement, at a really basic level, of a piece after a few algorithms but my tracking is virtually non existent. The tips you give on drilling some tracking is great and will go into my casual solves immediately! Great to have your advice back after a long tour!


Vishnu Das

Vishnu Das Posted 7 years ago

Very useful


Brad Baskin

Brad Baskin Posted 7 years ago

I would add a note for beginners that you need to avoid any unnecessary rotations before you start to track lookahead


Émile  Côté

Émile Côté Posted 7 years ago

Thanks for this tutorial Feliks, This is so helpful. 

What method do you use for 2x2?


Sarvagya  Sharma

Sarvagya Sharma Posted 7 years ago

I wish I had seen this earlier.


Wong Hiu kwong

Wong Hiu kwong Posted 7 years ago

Huge huge thank Feliks for telling us your thought on lookahead, that is really really helpful, I said that because I get the sub10 after saw your blog, yeah! That is truly helpful for me which is inspire me a forgettable ability, I can do that but I did the wrong way, thank for correcting me and I will follow your step to practice anyway ;)


yeski irawan

yeski irawan Posted 7 years ago

very helpfull


Feruz Gulomov

Feruz Gulomov Posted 7 years ago

Feliks, shall you do a video or blog on " How to use inspection " ?


Ben Warry

Ben Warry Posted 7 years ago

Hi Feliks! Great blog! Do you plan on making a cp recognition trainer? It would help a lot! Hope to see you one day at a aus comp :)


Ngọc Trang

Ngọc Trang Posted 7 years ago

Reading your posts helps me in cubing and also in improving my English. The nice thing is you combine your hobby with work, which makes happiness. I am not that competent. I wish you all good luck and achievement in the near future


Aaditya Sikder

Aaditya Sikder Posted 7 years ago

How to decrease B,B', x,x' y and y' moves. How can I increase my TPS. My average is now around 27 seconds and  my average F2L timing is 18-19 second.

Very useful post!


Me The Cuber

Me The Cuber Posted 7 years ago

nice


Nguyen Vu Hoai Nhan

Nguyen Vu Hoai Nhan Posted 7 years ago

Hi Feliks, do you attend to write any blogs about big cubes?

 


HitBrain06 Cube

HitBrain06 Cube Posted 7 years ago

Amazing.  You have taught me how I can improve my F2L. Thankyou


Cuberious The SpeedCuber

Cuberious The SpeedCuber Posted 7 years ago

Feliks, is it normal if you solve before going to sleep and then later, you have vivid thoughts or visualizations of solves and how the pieces will end up after doing "these moves"?


Feliks Zemdegs

Feliks Zemdegs from CubeSkills Posted 7 years ago

Thanks for the comments guys, here is my bulk reply!

Feruz - I'd like to get as many tutorials and resources on this website as is humanly possible :)

Ben - I'd have to have a think about exactly the best way to present a CP recognition trainer. I definitely plan on making some CP recognition tutorial videos in the near future though. Any thoughts re the trainer?

Nguyen - What would you like to see? :) 

Cuberious - Haha not too vividly, but sometimes I daydream about that sort of thing.


Nguyen Vu Hoai Nhan

Nguyen Vu Hoai Nhan Posted 7 years ago

I want to see some tips about big cubes' center and cube rotation during f2l


Spencer Caipo

Spencer Caipo Posted 7 years ago

hello. Could you make some examples solves about X-CROSS ?


Lyndon Grant

Lyndon Grant Posted 7 years ago

Damn son this blog is detailed! Honestly the effort put into this blog and website is incredible.Great job Feliks!


chenhao sun

chenhao sun Posted 7 years ago

mark before read


Caleb Shim

Caleb Shim Posted 7 years ago

Could you make a module on 2×2???


Kjell de Groot

Kjell de Groot Posted 7 years ago

Spencer, he already did


Vishant  solanki

Vishant solanki Posted 7 years ago

Truly Helpful 


Simon Cummings

Simon Cummings Posted 7 years ago

Hey Feliks, do you have any tips on how to transition from intuitive to algorithmic f2l? Because currently i use really bad intuitive algorithms that are incredibly inefficient. Thanks!


Yeisson David Vergara Mesa

Yeisson David Vergara Mesa Posted 7 years ago

Congratulations Feliks, thank you so much for so much advice, you can see the sacrifice and dedication put into this work, you are the best. Regards...


Feliks Zemdegs

Feliks Zemdegs from CubeSkills Posted 7 years ago

Simon - So, with time, your F2L will almost feel like its algorithmic because you've done the cases so many times. However, check out the PDF in the F2L module, which shows efficient intuitive solutions for standard F2L cases.

Caleb - eventually! :)

Thanks for all the comments and feedback guys!


Oska Sam

Oska Sam Posted 7 years ago

Hi Feliks! I'm happy with this blog! I really hope I will get away from my 40 second solves and get faster with cubeskills.com!  


Eduardo La Torre

Eduardo La Torre Posted 7 years ago

The Speed motor is your mind, not your hands!
Great tips Feliks!
 Greetings from Peru :D  


Jacob Lui

Jacob Lui Posted 7 years ago

Hi Felix 

great blog by the way, but can you please make a smaller blog on a 2x2 please please please

thanks and love your videos and algorithms 

Jacob Australia


Kevin Irisari

Kevin Irisari Posted 7 years ago

Hey feliks, 

What are you're tips for me to be sub 15?

Thanks in advance


Bob Swaney

Bob Swaney Posted 7 years ago

This blog is fantastic Feliks! It definetly gave me a few places to start to improve my lookahead...As you said, lookahead isnt something that can just be taught.  Thanks for the great info!


Jacob Siebert

Jacob Siebert Posted 7 years ago

Do you plan to do a megaminx Tutorial?


jon lloyd  matinagnos

jon lloyd matinagnos Posted 7 years ago

Hi feliks,

What method do you use in blindsolving?

just curious... 


Matthew Kim

Matthew Kim Posted 7 years ago

Hi Feliks! I love CubeSkills.

How do you progress to sub 15? Can you make a guide like CriticalCubing's Guide to Sub-10 where he starts from not knowing a cube to getting Sub-10? I am stuck at Sub-15 and I would love it if you did this. Thanks!

 

Matthew


Renan Saboia

Renan Saboia Posted 7 years ago

FELIKS, already learn the method cfop, oll pll and coll after coll and i go to that, vhls zbll please

 

Simon Browning

Simon Browning Posted 7 years ago

To practice lookahead, should you solve very slowly?


Feliks Zemdegs

Feliks Zemdegs from CubeSkills Posted 7 years ago

Simon - Well, slow turning will help you to the extent that it allows you to understand and feel what it's like to be looking ahead, because it enables you to actually do it. The hard part is transferring that mindset of looking ahead (and not looking at current pieces) into full speedsolves, and can be done using drills and tips mentioned in this blog, for example, gradually increasing the speed of a metronome (and doing 1 turn per beat).


Simon Browning

Simon Browning Posted 7 years ago

Thank you so much! Currently, I am a relatively slow solver (averaging around 45 seconds), so I am looking for great ways to get faster. Fortunately, cubeskills.com seems to be doing a great job!


Nick Angelo Galiza

Nick Angelo Galiza Posted 7 years ago

Hi Feliks! Should i learn all kinds of algorithms to become sub 10?


Simon Browning

Simon Browning Posted 7 years ago

When I time my solves, the times fluctuate widely. Sometimes, I'll get a 30 second solve and other times it will take 50 seconds. Is this because of a lack of look ahead, or is it another problem?


Lorenzo Cube

Lorenzo Cube Posted 7 years ago

I guess im on the tracking level then


Lorenzo Cube

Lorenzo Cube Posted 7 years ago

Nice vlog,thanks for the tips feliks, 


Aniket Kanth

Aniket Kanth Posted 7 years ago

Hi Feliks

Is lookahead related with TPS? Does turning faster can affect our lookahead?


Aniket Kanth

Aniket Kanth Posted 7 years ago

Can turning faster affect our lookahead? 

 


Will Hao

Will Hao Posted 7 years ago

Sometimes even when i do a lookahead i don't pay attention and when i'm trying to solve an F2L pair, i mess up another one. Are there any solutions to this??


HARDIK BHADAURIYA

HARDIK BHADAURIYA Posted 7 years ago

Hi Feliks.....after solving my cross i have difficulties in finding my first F2L pair...plz help me.


Feliks Zemdegs

Feliks Zemdegs from CubeSkills Posted 7 years ago

Aniket - certainly, turning at a higher speed can cause your lookahead to suffer in a solve.

Will - hmm, it sounds like you might need to work on keeping a mental note of which pairs you have already solved, and make sure never to bring any solved F2L slots into the top layer.

Hardik - Very tricky part of the solve, yep! Check out the cross-F2L transition video in the intermediate cross and F2L module. The most important thing is to not look at your cross pieces whilst you're solving them, which takes practice.

Cheers!

Feliks


HARDIK BHADAURIYA

HARDIK BHADAURIYA Posted 7 years ago

Hi Feliks.Thanks for your reply.... Suppose there is a f2l pair oriented incorrectly and is present in a different slot. For example.red and green pair is oriented incorrectly and is present in the slot of blue and orange.So i have problem solving that "red-green" pair there cause the slot colours are different.So how can i get rid of it...plz help me. 


Seth Pennell

Seth Pennell Posted 7 years ago

Harkdik Bhadauriya there is and f2l algorithms pdf if you are having much trouble with it at https://www.cubeskills.com/tutorials/f2l-algorithms-different-slot-positions


HARDIK BHADAURIYA

HARDIK BHADAURIYA Posted 7 years ago

thank you SETH PENNELL


HARDIK BHADAURIYA

HARDIK BHADAURIYA Posted 7 years ago

Feliks...im stuck...should i focuse on my solve's timings or should i only practice  cross to f2l transition..plz help

 


HARDIK BHADAURIYA

HARDIK BHADAURIYA Posted 7 years ago

SETH PENNELL if u can help me plzzzzz

 


Feliks Zemdegs

Feliks Zemdegs from CubeSkills Posted 7 years ago

Hardik - you can do both! :)


HARDIK BHADAURIYA

HARDIK BHADAURIYA Posted 7 years ago

thank you feliks


nathan agan

nathan agan Posted 6 years ago

feliks can you please show me how to solve the whole cross during inspection? I am sub 20 and I can't solve the cross during inspectin 90% of the time. This takes a lot of time off of my solve... can you please help me?


nathan agan

nathan agan Posted 6 years ago

Feliks, what was your main before you started using gans cubes for 2x2 and 3x3??


Shankar S

Shankar S Posted 6 years ago

Nathan - U gotta figure out how the edges of a cube would move if u do the R/F/D/L moves, don't time yourself when you practice.

 

Feliks didn't have a main before. he used any cube. 2x2 isn't his main event he used the 2x2 old plastic dayan and for 3x3(in order) weilong v2, aolong v3, Gan 357,356, 356v2, air, air UM, now air SM. Springs used are yellow or green


nathan agan

nathan agan Posted 6 years ago

thanks for that, I didn't know that there was an aolong v3 anyway thanks for the tips for solving the cross better, Shankar S, do you think I should learn full oll (i know half ) or work on my F2L?    Thanks for answering my ?'s


nathan agan

nathan agan Posted 6 years ago

please respond


Shankar S

Shankar S Posted 6 years ago

typo on the aolong :-), OLL will help u by around 2s. That's it. But f2l that's another route. Improving f2l will help u on the overall lookahead of the cube and your times will be more "consistent". When you're doing f2l turn at a medium pace. U should be able to see the next pair. Learn like 1 OLL a day or something


HARDIK BHADAURIYA

HARDIK BHADAURIYA Posted 6 years ago

feliks..should i learn ollcp,coll or zbll

 


Yash Raj

Yash Raj Posted 6 years ago

Your thoughts helped me a lot..thank you, Feliks


Yash Raj

Yash Raj Posted 6 years ago

Should i practice f2l lookahead or to understand last layer first...please help me...Feliks...:)


Covenant Musoba

Covenant Musoba Posted 6 years ago

1.  Learn things like vls, cls, wv, ble, f2l, coll, zbll, and keyhole these will help you improve your times.

2.  Get good speed cube.  Check out some cubes like wailing its v2 gan valk etc. find witch is comfortable.

3.  Practice in the 15 sec range practice f2l it takes up most of the solve and can drop your times by a lot learn all 77+ f2l cases.Jpermhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKRtFQmnKfs has some good tutorials. 

4.  If you hit a wall practice some other cubes such a skewb, megamix, pyramix, etc. I found that this helps a lot.  Or just take a week brake from cubing.

5. Become color neutral


Ryan Ng

Ryan Ng Posted 6 years ago

ZBLL? 400+ algs. 


William Yang

William Yang Posted 6 years ago

He means learn some of ZBLL


Ryan Ng

Ryan Ng Posted 6 years ago

Ok


Ryan Ng

Ryan Ng Posted 6 years ago

I am a sub-35 solver, and I want to improve my lookahead and colour neutrality at the same time, but it is very hard. Do you have any suggestions?


William Yang

William Yang Posted 6 years ago

Practice slow Solves on the cross color you want to learn next that way you improve your lookahead and learn more colors


Corey Woodward

Corey Woodward Posted 6 years ago

I agree with William, I'd say lookahead isn't the most important thing at the moment for you Ryan, focus on being colour neutral first :) Maybe start on lookahead when you're averaging sub-30/ sub-25

 


Vinh Hà

Vinh Hà Posted 6 years ago

how to sub 10 Feliks??

 


ednardo guimaraes

ednardo guimaraes Posted 6 years ago

estou aprendendo o f2l  mais so ele mesmo . meu tempo e de 1 minuto  pra baixar esse tempo tenho quer termina de aprender o f2l e logo apos ir pro oll pll ou  vou logo antes de aprender  todo f2l?


Cuberious The SpeedCuber

Cuberious The SpeedCuber Posted 6 years ago

I know the solution for every F2L Case, but I can only spot one piece at a time, not a full pair


Master Jamin Hendricks

Master Jamin Hendricks Posted 6 years ago

Teach me how to do all F2L pair solutions. Please?


Master Jamin Hendricks

Master Jamin Hendricks Posted 6 years ago

At least 1-10 please.


Master Jamin Hendricks

Master Jamin Hendricks Posted 6 years ago

Thanks cuberous.


Silas Lickliter

Silas Lickliter Posted 6 years ago

what should I practice to go sub 20. I need some help guys.


Silas Lickliter

Silas Lickliter Posted 6 years ago

nevermind I have a 19 second average now...


Prakhar  Tibrewal

Prakhar Tibrewal Posted 6 years ago

I used to solve at around 17 seconds (avg) about 5 years ago using moyu weilong v1. I had left the cubing and now I want to comeback and go in cubing competitions. My avg is now near 28 sec. How do I improve. And I need a new cube which one should i buy.(I was thinking to get a GAN 356 Air SM)


William Yang

William Yang Posted 6 years ago

My preference is Gan 356 X or the GTS 3


Prakhar  Tibrewal

Prakhar Tibrewal Posted 6 years ago

I think that Gan 356 X is a bit expensive for me 


Silas Lickliter

Silas Lickliter Posted 6 years ago

it doesn't really matter what cube. Just learn full oll and pll and improve your f2l cases and look-ahead. It will be hard learning all these algorithms, but it really is the only way to get sub 20. Hope I could help :)


Silas Lickliter

Silas Lickliter Posted 6 years ago

I got an eighteen second average on a Rubik's brand....sooo yeah


Jared Sikes

Jared Sikes Posted 6 years ago

Hay there Prakhar, I just wanted to say that becoming color neutral is another thing that you can do to improve your times.   I am not just talking about it because you can do easier crosses, but being color neutral can also give you more chances of doing x cross (if you do not know what that is, click here).   And aside from that, when you are learning your algorithms come up with ways to recognize them early on.   Also at the same time, if you come up with an intuitive algorithm think about how you can fingure trick it so that doing that algorithm does not make your solves slower.  

I hope this helps,  Jared.


Silas Lickliter

Silas Lickliter Posted 6 years ago

I'm already color neutral and can't improve, what do you recommend I do Jared?


Master Jamin Hendricks

Master Jamin Hendricks Posted 6 years ago

have you learnt the PLL algorithms if not you should learn them.


Silas Lickliter

Silas Lickliter Posted 6 years ago

ok :)


Haine Lim

Haine Lim Posted 5 years ago

My solves feel inconsistent. I get 5 sub 25 solves then 2 28ish solves. Any idea on how to make them more consistent? Thanks.

 


Etim Okpoyo

Etim Okpoyo Posted 5 years ago

i have to advance to knowing cuz my average is around 17 secs and i would like to get better


Jacob Shum

Jacob Shum Posted 5 years ago

If you average around 17, practicing LL and working on tracking will help to get to around sub-13, which is where I'm at. It's then where Cross to F2L transition becomes super useful


Patch Tate

Patch Tate Posted 5 years ago

uyiyi


Juan Esteban Herdoiza

Juan Esteban Herdoiza Posted 5 years ago

Im currently struggling to get to sub 30, specially cross and F2L are my weaknesses any super useful tips?

 


Noah Marsh

Noah Marsh Posted 5 years ago

Do a lot of solves. Also, it helps to do slow solves to improve lookahead.


S M Abeer Ullah

S M Abeer Ullah Posted 5 years ago

I have lookahead and I am sub - 20 but not consistently. Like 2 out of 5 solves of mine are sub - 20 in an average of 5. Can you help?


Master Jamin Hendricks

Master Jamin Hendricks Posted 5 years ago

How can I quickly distinguish the n perms from each other?


Hamish Mitchell

Hamish Mitchell Posted 5 years ago

I am at sub-25, with 2 look OLL and 1 look PLL. Are there any tips to improve lookahead at this stage? Also, how can I improve on OLL to PLL transition?


László Csonka

László Csonka Posted 5 years ago

Hamish Mitchell Do you use LBL or friedrich? If you use LBL, just practice. With friedrich, Feliks says, practice without timing and your lookahead will improve. Also your positioning and skills for problem solving.

You can practice PLLs and OLLs without timing as well but I don't think it would help. I just practice LBL with timer for 2 years, no 1-look PLL, about 25 OLL and I'm sub-13 global.

Serious speedcubers turn algorithms much faster than me, so they would reach a sub-10 global with that.

Reach high speed or improve your lookahead and you'll be faster.


Ethan Wright

Ethan Wright Posted 4 years ago

it is good and lookahead is defiantly very hard.


Nate Mochrie

Nate Mochrie Posted 4 years ago

Master Jamin Hendricks, no matter what the AUF for the n perms, there will be a block of sloved pieces either on the left or on the right, you can use this to know them :)


Devansh Kukadia

Devansh Kukadia Posted 4 years ago

 

I am practicing 6-7hours daily but I can't be sub-200


Sholom Block

Sholom Block Posted 4 years ago

How many moves ahead does a speedcuber predict during the 15 second prep?

I can't think past the cross!


Jamie A

Jamie A Posted 4 years ago

i could only predict the cross too, but just practise helped me


bob bill

bob bill Posted 4 years ago

I can ussally just predict the cross and then about half the time i can find the first f2l pair and sometimes i am able to predict the first f2l pair too

 


Tanishq SHARMA

Tanishq SHARMA Posted 4 years ago

I can only predict the cross or sometimes a X-cross and not the F2L . 

 


Arpit Mittal

Arpit Mittal Posted 4 years ago

very difficult to track pieces during a solve


Aiden L.

Aiden L. Posted 4 years ago

CubeSkills rules


דור  ביט

דור ביט Posted 4 years ago

איך בחול זאת זה חמש שניות

 


bob bill

bob bill Posted 4 years ago

השתמשתי בגוגל לתרגם את זה וזה הגיע למשהו שלא לגמרי הגיוני אתה יכול לנסח את זה מחדש?


SupperSS

SupperSS Posted 3 years ago

Hey Feliks, do you plan on making a 2x2 tutorial? If you do will it be all of the methods or just the Beginner, ortega,cll,and eg methods?


bob bill

bob bill Posted 3 years ago

to talk to feliks you need to buy premium


SupperSS

SupperSS Posted 3 years ago

oof


SupperSS

SupperSS Posted 3 years ago

What is premium? does it give you free cubes? does it give you one-on-one training with feliks? does it cost money? does it grants extra stuff? please tell me idk what it is


bob bill

bob bill Posted 3 years ago

Go to the three lines in the top right and press premium membership it will tell you everything you get and yes it costs money


SupperSS

SupperSS Posted 3 years ago

Ok thx :)


SupperSS

SupperSS Posted 3 years ago

How to you change your profile picture on cubeskills?


Jamie A

Jamie A Posted 3 years ago

on gravitar

 


SupperSS

SupperSS Posted 3 years ago

Oh thanks bc i thought you had to be premium to change profile


Caleb Hickox

Caleb Hickox Posted 3 years ago

Hello, i main Rs3m cube. Do you think it is good?


bob bill

bob bill Posted 3 years ago

I do, I'm currently averaging like 19 seconds I also main rs3m, i doubt its as good as gan 11 m pro or one of those really expensive cubes but it is one of the very best


Caleb Hickox

Caleb Hickox Posted 3 years ago

I also average 19 seconds

 


mithran nandakumar

mithran nandakumar Posted 3 years ago

the d eternal moyu is good to

 

 


Michael Castle

Michael Castle Posted 3 years ago

Reading this is nearly boring but aniways i have to learn from the perfect Feliks


bob bill

bob bill Posted 3 years ago

it's not all that boring I think


Jamie A

Jamie A Posted 3 years ago

if you think its boring, dont read it

your decision


A SpeedCuber

A SpeedCuber Posted 3 years ago

^


Jamie A

Jamie A Posted 3 years ago

+1


SupperSS

SupperSS Posted 3 years ago

Hey plz sub to my youtube channel 

Ezra Kielb   is the name


bob bill

bob bill Posted 3 years ago

why is everyone plugging their yt channels here


Jamie A

Jamie A Posted 3 years ago

lol


Speed Cuber

Speed Cuber Posted 3 years ago

Because this website is becoming famous, I guess.


Lolis Luke

Lolis Luke Posted 3 years ago

This was really helpful, I want more and more to com...


Nguyễn  Duy Phú

Nguyễn Duy Phú Posted 3 years ago

Make it more specific


Eli Carr

Eli Carr Posted 3 years ago

How do you improve lookahead?

 


Daniel Bell

Daniel Bell Posted 3 years ago

Just slow down and look at another pair and solve the first two pairs in the back and also avoid diagonal pairs, when you get consistant go faster.

I hope these tips will help you.


Amaya Brooke

Amaya Brooke Posted 1 year ago

Thanks for the tips, I have just learnt F2L and am looking to improve my times as much as possible, so these tips have helped me a lot with my practice.


Amaya Brooke

Amaya Brooke Posted 1 year ago

P.S. Feliks you are my favourite cuber!


Blessino Bonsobruce

Blessino Bonsobruce Posted 1 year ago

I just want to know my f2l faster can u help me 


Pratik Khanna

Pratik Khanna Posted 1 year ago

I keep rewatching these blogs

Thanks Feliks 


Saralina Schohl

Saralina Schohl Posted 1 year ago

I love these! They are so helpful! Thanks Feliks (my fav. speed cuber)


Zachary Bush

Zachary Bush Posted 1 year ago

feliks you are and always will be my favorite speedcuber of all time.


Caleb Shearer

Caleb Shearer Posted 1 year ago

I practiced this(and learned the g plls) and easily went from ~35 second solves to sub-20. Thanks Feliks!



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