This week I focused on learning new algorithms to help me solve the cube faster. I decided to use a website online called jperm.net, as it has a section dedicated to learning these algorithms found here. It’s very simple as it shows the case in a picture which is imply what the top face of the cube will look like as well as the turns to complete the algorithm. It is simple but effective for learning the algorithms and I found it to be a good way to learn. The site also has multiple ways to solve a case which was great as it gave options for me to try and find the one I liked the best. Overall, I was able to learn a total of 10 new algorithms with this site. There is still many to go and I still need to practice implementing and executing them but it was a great start.

I also continued to practice on my times this week. There is still a lot of variability in my averages, but they have come down to under 30 seconds for the most part. In total I did 65 solves on the cube, which is 13 averages of 5. The best average I achieved was as follows: 25.38, 21.10, (26.97), (17.74), 20.44 = 22.31 seconds. The full average is shown in the video below.

So that begs the question, have I already achieved my goal? No, while this average is under 23 seconds I am not consistently averaging under 23 seconds as my goal states. However, I am happy with the results I achieved this week. The 17.74 second solve is actually my second fastest solve ever. I wasn’t expecting to get a solve under 20 seconds let alone under 18 seconds this quickly so I am very happy, even though I totally screwed up the last move and could have gotten under 17 seconds.

I still have lots of work to do when it comes to implementing the algorithms I’ve learned as it can slow down my solves trying to recognize which case to use and I’m scared to actually do it in timed solves. I will be working on this more in the coming weeks by doing untimed solves to work on implementing what I learn. Next week I will continue to learn more algorithms using a different source and continue to practice solving.