cubers

You are faster with the layer but layer method because you are used to it and have practiced it a lot. Just keep working at f2l and you will get faster with it before long.

The only difference between layer by layer and f2l is there is less steps. Your still putting the same 2 pieces in the corner, just hitting them together first.

How long does it take to get faster? Well it's kinda a little bit at a time. I managed to drop 10 seconds in a few months then stopped practicing and now I'm back where I was...

Honestly when I was where you are the greatest revelation was learning sledgehammer. It has so many uses, more than sexy move in my opinion.

This is a necropost but I have just gone through this.

First I learned to do the cross in 8 moves or less.

For the L1 corners and L2 edges, there were so many F2L algorithms I did not end up memorizing them. I learned 3-4 with the intent of memorizing but once I saw how they worked it was easier to figure it out in the fly based on location and orientation of the corner and edge I need.

My solutions are probably not optimal, but I am getting much faster at identifying and executing the F2L moves through practice; it is becoming intuition and muscle memory through repetition. I also started incorporating empty corners into my solves before I got good at “normal” F2L but I’m not sure if that helped me or hurt me. It feels good to save turns and often times I can use that to pull pieces I need to the top.

Eventually I am going to try each F2L algorithm at least once to see if I am missing any clever tricks. I am waiting until I have a better feel for doing it on my own so that I would recognize potential improvements.