Solve a Rubik's Cube in Under 1 Minute: 6 Beginner Changes

Is under 1 minute hard?

Not hard, but it takes practice. J Perm, a well-known Rubik's Cube YouTuber, writes in his beginner's guide that once you are used to the layer by layer method you will usually solve in about 2 to 4 minutes, and with lots of practice you can get under 1 minute (J Perm).

He also says not to rush on to something new before you are really good at what you already know (J Perm). That is the whole idea of this post: keep the same 7 steps from the 3x3 guide, just do them more cleanly.

How to solve a Rubik's Cube faster: first find where you are slow

Do 5 solves and time each one on the 3x3 timer page. Don't look at your fastest solve; look at the average of all 5.

Then ask someone to time each step for you, or film your hands and watch it back. You may find that most of your time goes on looking for the white corner (step 2) or the middle layer edge (step 3), not on doing the algorithms. Whichever step is slowest, practise that one first.

Change 1: solve without having to think

If you still have to stop to remember the next algorithm, every stop is time with your hands doing nothing, and those stops add up fast. Before you worry about hand speed, go over the guide again until you can solve in one go without looking at anything.

Tip for going over it: pick the step you tend to forget, look again at the "what you have" and "goal of the step" pictures, then scramble the cube yourself and do just that step a few times. For example, step 4, the yellow cross:

Change 2: layer 1, pick the right algorithm instead of repeating

Many beginners put the white corner above its spot, at the front right, and then repeat R U R' U' until the corner drops in. J Perm shows this way too, because you only need to remember one sequence (J Perm). It always works, but it is slow.

Testing on the simulator, the number of repeats depends on where the corner's white sticker is:

The picture below shows the repeating way with the white sticker on top: three times R U R' U', 12 moves, for the same result the guide's algorithm gets in 7 moves.

The case with the white sticker on the front costs the most: 20 moves instead of 3. With 4 corners in every solve, getting the hang of three short algorithms is the easiest way to save time. The three pictures below hold the yellow face on top, as in the guide.

White sticker on the right face

R U R'

White sticker on the front face

The mirror of the one above, using the front face instead of the right face: F' U' F

White sticker on the top face

Seven moves: R U2 R' U' R U R'. The first part turns the white sticker onto the right face, and the rest is the first case.

Turn U, don't turn the whole cube

When the corner is in the top layer but not above its spot, beginners often turn the whole cube around to find it. Faster: keep holding the cube the same way and turn U to bring the corner over. In the picture, the corner is at the front left; U' moves it to the front right, then do R U R': U' R U R'

Remember: turning U changes which face the white sticker is on, so bring the corner into place first, then look at the white sticker. Every case is shown in the guide step First layer corners.

Change 3: layer 2, look before you turn

In step 3, each edge needs just one of two algorithms. What takes the time is looking for the edge and turning the whole cube back and forth.

A cleaner way: hold the yellow face on top and look at all four edges in the top layer at once. Pick one with no yellow on it, turn U so the colour on its side matches the centre right below it, and only then turn the whole cube (if needed) to bring that face to the front.

Place to the right: U R U' R' U' F' U F

Place to the left: U' L' U L U F U' F'

These two algorithms are mirror images of each other. Practise them as a pair, a few dozen times each, until your hands do them on their own.

All four top edges have yellow

This is where beginners tend to freeze. If layer 2 isn't done but all four edges in the top layer have a yellow sticker, the edge you need is stuck in layer 2: in the wrong spot, or in place but flipped the wrong way. Stop searching and push it out.

Turn the whole cube so the stuck edge is at the front right, then do the place-to-the-right algorithm once: U R U' R' U' F' U F. The stuck edge goes up to the top layer, and now it is an edge with no yellow, like always. Turn U to match its colour, then place it as normal.

In the picture, the front right edge is in place but flipped. Push it out, turn U2, then place it to the right: U R U' R' U' F' U F U2 U R U' R' U' F' U F

1. You start with (input)
3. After the formula

The guide step Middle layer edges also covers an edge stuck on the left.

Change 4: layer 3, set up the right pattern before the algorithm

In layer 3 each algorithm is longer, so doing one extra time costs several seconds. A good habit: pause for half a second, turn U to get the right pattern, and only then start.

Yellow cross

The algorithm is F R U R' U' F'. With the yellow line lying sideways, do it once:

With the yellow L at the back left, do it twice:

With only the yellow dot in the middle: once, turn U2, then twice more.

Yellow face

When there is just one yellow corner on the top face, put it at the front left and do R U R' U R U2 R' once to finish the yellow face:

Last layer corners and edges

The last two algorithms are the longest in the guide. Practise each one on its own on a solved cube, time it, and try to do it faster next time without mistakes.

Swap three corners: R' F R' B2 R F' R' B2 R2

Swap three edges: R U' R U R U R U' R' U' R2

Do the edge swap algorithm three times in a row and a solved cube goes back to how it was (checked on the simulator). That makes it a great drill, because you can tell for yourself if you made a wrong turn. The other cases are in the guide steps Yellow cross, Yellow face, Last layer corners and Last layer edges.

Change 5: turn with your fingers

Finger tricks are ways of turning the faces with your fingertips instead of your whole hand. According to the SpeedSolving Wiki, the aim is to let go of the cube and re-grip it less often, and to make moves flow into each other (SpeedSolving Wiki). The page gives examples: R and R' are usually done with the wrist, U is the right index finger pushing the top layer, and U' is the right index finger pulling the top layer the other way.

Your first drill is R U R' U', exactly those four movements, done in one flow without letting go. Do it six times in a row and the cube goes back to how it was.

1. You start with (input)
3. After the formula

Don't go fast straight away. The SpeedSolving Wiki says to start slowly and get the movement right first, because rushing easily builds bad habits that are hard to fix (SpeedSolving Wiki). This sequence turns up in steps 2, 3, 4 and 5, so practising it helps your whole solve.

Hand movements are hard to put into words. In the video below, J Perm films his hands up close: watch the right index finger push the top layer for U and pull it back for U', then copy it slowly.

Change 6: pause less between steps

The SpeedSolving Wiki calls look-ahead the skill of "seeing what's coming": while your hands do one step, your eyes look for the pieces for the next one, so the solve has almost no stops (SpeedSolving Wiki).

For beginners, the easiest place to practise is layer 1. When your hands are doing R U R' without thinking, don't watch the corner going into place. Look for the next white corner in the top layer instead.

When the algorithm is done, you already know how many times to turn U. A simple way to practise: solve really slowly, so slowly that your hands never have to stop. Your times will be worse at first, then you slowly speed up while keeping the rhythm.

Your cube matters too

A stiff cube that keeps catching makes finger tricks almost impossible. The SpeedSolving Wiki notes that being able to turn when the faces aren't fully lined up is seen as an important quality of a speedcube (SpeedSolving Wiki). If yours is an old toy cube, a cheap speedcube usually helps right away.

A sample week of practice

This plan is our suggestion, about 20 minutes a day:

Repeat this week until your average is under 1 minute. There is no fixed answer to how long it takes; it depends on how much you practise.

After you get under 1 minute

At that point the layer by layer method starts to hit its limit. The next steps are 2-look OLL, 2-look PLL and then F2L. J Perm points out that taking on too many algorithms at once makes them easy to forget (J Perm), so add a few at a time. For the big picture, read What is CFOP.

Sources

• How to Solve a Rubik's Cube (J Perm)
• CFOP Method (J Perm)
• Fingertricks (SpeedSolving.com Wiki)
• Lookahead (SpeedSolving.com Wiki)
• Rubik's Cube: Finger Tricks Tutorial (Beginner to Advanced), J Perm