Rubik's Cube for Beginners

Faster Methods

Note: Is your goal to get your time faster? Check out the Get Faster page if you have not already. This page is about moving to a faster method that requires more algorithms, but a faster method will not help if you cannot get the general techniques down.

Introduction

After some time of practice with the beginner solution (it could be a few days or a few weeks, depending on how much you are into the cube), you should be at least under 90 seconds. It is possible to get under 30 seconds with the solution, but it takes a lot of practice. For those people who want to get faster faster, changing to a faster method will help. The methods are usually faster because they take less moves, but require more algorithms. The Fridrich method, the most popular method for speedcubers, requires over 70 algorithms! I think the order presented below is the best for the transition. For now, I only outline the steps you need to take to move on to that level.

Level 1

The goal of this method is to do the last layer in 4 "looks" (aka 4-look LL). That means each of the four steps will only require one algorithm to be done before moving on to the next step.

Note: It is not necessary to learn an algorithm for state 3 of step 4, because the two-step method for that case is faster than any algorithm.

Another note: For step 6, it is impossible to only swap two corners. Therefore, two edges will also be swapped.

Level 2

For this level, the only thing you need to do is combine steps 2 and 3 into a single step known as F2L (first two layers). When executed correctly, F2L will cut your time down a lot. This step requires no algorithms to be memorized. (Actually there are some, but only in special cases.) Everything is intuitive. You just have to know which faces to turn.

Level 3

The advanced level combines the last two steps into one, which is known as PLL (permute last layer). After orienting the last layer, you should be able to solve the cube with one step. There are 21 different possible states (not including the solved one) so there are 21 algorithms to memorize. Check the links page for sites with algorithms. Look in their PLL section.

Level 4 (Fridrich!!)

This level combines the orienting of the last layer edges with the orienting of the last layer corners into a step known as OLL (orient last layer). There are 57 states (not including the completed one) and 57 algorithms to memorize in this step. It might sound like a lot, but just take them one at a time and you'll be fine. Check the speedcubing sites in the links page and look for their OLL section. When you reach the expert level, you will be using the Fridrich method.