Cube Tutorial - Step 5 - The Final Layer

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Step Five!
The Final Layer

Introduction

You're almost there. In this final step you will rearrange the
pieces on the top layer to get them all in place.

This will be done in two stages. The first stage involves putting
the corner pieces in the right place. The second stage involves
putting the edge pieces in the right place. Then we are done.

Top Layer Corners

The following algorithm will switch the front two corner pieces.
You will probably need to apply this algorithm a few times to
line up all the corners.

Inspect your cube:

If all the corners are already lined up you are in luck, you
can skip this stage entirely. (though you have to be quite
lucky for this to happen)
If two corners are already lined up you are in luck. All you
need to do is rotate the top layer to place the other two
at the front, then a single iteration of the algorithm to
switch them.
If none of the above then you'll have to apply the
algorithm twice.

Reset < Play ► > 0 / 13

Switch the front two top layer corner pieces

R' F R' B B R

F' R' B B R R

U'

Tip

This is a large algorithm which can be difficult to

remember. It can help if you brake it down into
stages and try to think of it in descriptive terms as
per the comments above.

Top Layer Edges

Similar to the previous stage, this stage may need to be
repeated several times to get everything to line up.

This algorithm will rotate the left edge, right edge and front
edge of the top layer either clockwise or anti clockwise. Here is
the algorithm rotating the pieces clockwise.

Reset < Play ► > 0 / 10

Cycle top layer front 3 edges clockwise

F F U M' U U

M U F F

Tip

Remembering this algorithm becomes easier when

you see it as a pattern of flipping back and forth
between U and alternating R and R' moves.

For all other states just keep repeating the algorithm and
rotating the top face until you create the layout above. Here are
some tips to help you achieve that:

If no corners have their top panel yellow then rotate the

top layer until the top left panel on the left face is yellow.
If one corner is yellow on the top face, keep repeating
the algorithm until you have a full yellow face.
If you have two yellow corners (in any orientation) then
rotate the top layer until the top left panel on the front
face is yellow and perform the algorithm.

IQ test - What is your IQ?

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out
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Taking things further

Now you know how to solve the Rubik's cube. Congratulations.
The next step is to keep practicing. It will probably take you a
bit before you can solve all the layers without having to refer
back to the algorithms. Keep trying to work through as much of
the solution as you can without referring back to the algorithms
and only do so when you get stuck.

Check out our Cheat Sheet for a quick reference with all the
steps on one page.

Once you have this down, the next step, if you want to improve
your speed is to combine the solving of the first and second
layer into one step (steps 2 and 3 of this tutorial). This is an
approach called F2L or First two Layers. With a bit of practice
you can do this intuitively and it will drop your times by a
considerable amount.

Have fun!

 Step 4 - The Yellow Face Cheat Sheet 

By Ryan Chadwick © 2022

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