Reference Card

Speedcubing Glossary

The course's controlled vocabulary. Every lesson uses these terms exactly as defined here.

Pieces & structure

Term	Definition
Center	The 6 fixed middle stickers. They never move relative to each other — they define each face's color.
Edge	A 2-sticker piece; there are 12. Position and orientation both matter.
Corner	A 3-sticker piece; there are 8.
Slot	One of the 4 corner+edge positions between cross and last layer, filled during F2L.
Layer	A 9-piece slice of the cube; "first two layers" = bottom + middle.

Method (CFOP)

Term	Definition
CFOP	Cross → F2L → OLL → PLL; the dominant speed method (a.k.a. Fridrich). Our chosen path.
Cross	Stage 1: the 4 edges of one color placed around its center, built on the bottom. Always solvable in ≤8 moves.
F2L	First Two Layers: pairing each corner with its edge and inserting them into slots — 4 pairs, done intuitively.
Pair	A corner and its matching edge handled as one unit during F2L. Made = joined correctly on top; split = still separate.
Door	(Course term.) One of the four basic F2L inserts; every F2L case is setup moves that reduce to a door.
OLL	Orientation of the Last Layer: make the whole top face one color. Full set is 57 algs; 2-look OLL does it in two steps with ~10.
PLL	Permutation of the Last Layer: move the (already oriented) top pieces to their homes. Full set is 21 algs; 2-look PLL uses 6.
2-look	Doing OLL or PLL in two algorithm applications instead of one — fewer algs to memorize, slightly slower.

Practice & technique

Term	Definition
Algorithm (alg)	A memorized move sequence with a known effect, written in standard notation.
Trigger	A short reusable alg fragment your fingers know as one unit, e.g. the sexy move R U R' U'.
Finger trick	Executing a move with a single finger flick instead of a wrist turn; the source of most raw speed.
Lookahead	Tracking the next pieces while executing the current step, so you never pause between steps.
Inspection	The pre-solve look at the scramble. WCA allows 15 seconds; good solvers plan the entire cross in it.
TPS	Turns per second — raw turning speed. Lookahead beats TPS at every level below expert.
Scramble	A randomizing move sequence; official ones are computer-generated (csTimer matches WCA style).
Equator glance	(Course term.) One-second cross verification: spin the cube around its vertical axis and confirm each side face shows the cross edge's side sticker matching the center above it — four unbroken columns. Catches a fake cross (white plus with swapped edges) before F2L is built on it.

Timing & competition

Term	Definition
ao5 / ao12	Average of 5 / 12 solves with best and worst dropped — the standard measures of consistency.
PB	Personal best (single solve, or best average).
DNF	Did Not Finish — an invalid solve (gave up, or misassembled at the stop).
+2	Two-second penalty, most commonly for stopping the timer with one layer misaligned >45°.
WCA	World Cube Association — governing body whose competition is this course's end goal.

Part of the speedcubing course · Notation reference · Four Doors card · Lessons: 1, 2, 3