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Speed techniques
Finger tricks, look-ahead and a practice routine to bring your times down.
Knowing the algorithms is not enough: speed mostly comes from how you turn and how you look.
Finger tricks
Don’t turn faces with your whole wrist: use your fingers.
- U: push the back-right corner of the top face with your right index finger; U’ with your left index finger.
- R and R’: turn the right face with your right wrist, thumb on the front, without letting go of the cube.
- Keep both hands on the cube and avoid regripping between moves.
Start with short algorithms (Sune, R U R’ U’) and repeat them until they are smooth, without looking at your hands.
Look-ahead
The biggest time saving comes from removing pauses. While you insert an F2L pair, your eyes should already be looking for the pieces of the next one. To practice, turn slower but never stop.
Fewer rotations
Every whole-cube rotation (y, x) costs time. Prefer a U move to bring a piece around, and gradually learn the “mirror” versions of the cases (left side) so you don’t have to rotate.
Practice routine
- 5 minutes: plan crosses during inspection, then do them with your eyes closed.
- 10 minutes: slow solves focusing on F2L look-ahead.
- 5 minutes: the OLL/PLL trainer, until you recognize every case instantly.
- Then a few timed solves, watching your average rather than your best time.
Time benchmarks
| Stage | Typical time |
|---|---|
| Beginner method | 1 to 2 minutes |
| Two-look CFOP, intuitive F2L | 40 to 60 seconds |
| With good look-ahead | 25 to 35 seconds |
| Full OLL and PLL | under 20 seconds |
Tips
- A speedcube (magnetic, well tensioned) saves several seconds: it is the first thing worth buying.
- Do slow solves without any pause: it works better than turning fast and stopping to search.
- Film yourself from time to time: you will see where you lose time (often between two F2L pairs).