3x3 Beginner's Guide: The Layer-by-Layer Method

Layer by Layer is widely considered the best way for beginners to learn the 3x3 cube. It breaks a scrambled cube into three parts (the bottom, middle and top layers), so with a bit of spatial intuition and just a handful of algorithms, you can solve it one layer at a time.

1 Getting to Know the Cube

Before you start solving, let's go over how the cube is built and the terms we'll be using.

1.1 How the Cube Is Built

The 3x3 cube has 6 faces and is made up of 26 moving pieces. These pieces come in three types:

Centers (6)

Sit in the middle of each face and never move

A face's center decides what color that face will be when solved

Corners (8)

Sit at the eight corners of the cube and have three colored stickers

Edges (12)

Sit between two corners and have two colored stickers

Every time you turn the cube, you're turning all the pieces on one face together.

The standard color scheme is yellow on top, white on bottom, blue in front, green in back, orange on the left and red on the right.

In other words, if you hold the cube with white on the bottom and blue facing you, orange will always be on the left, red on the right, green in the back and yellow on top.

1.2 Holding the Cube

While solving, you'll need a clear mental picture of where everything is on the cube.

We usually keep the white face on the bottom, which puts yellow on top: yellow up, white down. Any side can be the front.

Most of the time, you should be looking at the cube from this angle:

From here you can see both the front and the top, and you can easily peek at the sides.

To hold the cube, put your thumbs on the front, your index, middle and ring fingers on the back, and let your pinkies rest naturally on the bottom:

As a beginner, keep white on the bottom at all times, except while solving the bottom layer, when you'll temporarily hold it with white on top.

1.3 Move Notation

Solving a cube takes a lot of steps, and sometimes you'll need to remember long sequences of moves. For that, you need a clear, compact way to say which face to turn and in which direction.

Singmaster notation is the standard way to write down cube moves worldwide. It uses letters to describe turns of every face on the cube.

Each layer is named with a capital letter, and each letter means turning that face by 90°:

Letter	Meaning	Direction	Diagram	Letter	Meaning	Direction	Diagram
R	Right	90° clockwise		B	Back	90° clockwise
U	Up	90° clockwise		M	Middle - slice between L and R	90°, same direction as L
F	Front	90° clockwise		S	Standing - slice between F and B	90°, same direction as F
L	Left	90° clockwise		E	Equator - slice between U and D	90°, same direction as D
D	Down	90° clockwise

What does "clockwise" mean here? It's clockwise as if you were looking straight at that face.

Note that "front", "top" and so on don't refer to a particular color. Whichever face is pointing at you is the front.

Building on these letters, we can describe other kinds of moves:

• R' — a prime (apostrophe) means turn counterclockwise 90°
• R2 — a 2 means turn 180°
• r — a lowercase letter means turn two layers at once

Move	Diagram	Move	Diagram	Move	Diagram	Move	Diagram
R		R'		R2		r
U		U'		U2		u
F		F'		F2		f
L		L'		L2		l
D		D'		D2		d
B		B'		B2		b
M		M'
S		S'
E		E'

Sometimes we also need to describe rotating the whole cube. This doesn't move any pieces relative to each other; it just changes the angle you're looking at the cube from.

These rotations are named after the axes (x, y, z), and they turn in the same direction as (R, U, F) respectively:

2 Solving the Bottom Layer

Solve every piece in the bottom layer.

2.1 The White Cross

What a Correct Cross Looks Like

The first step is to solve the edges on the white (bottom) face, forming a cross.

Just having a cross shape isn't enough, though. All four edges in the cross also need to match the colors of their side centers.

For example, this cross is wrong:

No matter how you turn the bottom layer, you can't get all four edges to line up with their centers.

How to Approach It

The cross isn't hard, and you can work it out by intuition: find each edge with white on it, one at a time, then figure out how to bring it to the white face so its other color matches the side center.

Many beginners find this step tricky with white on the bottom, so we suggest holding the cube with white on top for now.

Here's how to handle a few common cases, using the white-red edge as an example:

Edge in the middle layer

U'

R

U

Edge on the bottom face

F'

U'

R

U

Edge on the top face

F

U'

R

U

You can figure out the remaining cases the same way. Just be careful not to break the edges you've already solved.

2.2 The Bottom Corners

In this step, you'll put the four bottom corners in their correct spots.

What Correct Corners Look Like

Each corner has three colors, and a corner is only solved when all three match the pieces around it.

This bottom layer, for example, is solved incorrectly:

The white face is complete, but the corners are in the wrong places.

How to Approach It

The bottom corners are also simple, and you can easily solve them by intuition.

The basic idea: find a corner with white on it, then turn its target spot down so it can "catch" the corner. Here's the most straightforward example:

D'

R'

D

R

There are shorter solutions too, but they take a bit more thought. Using the white-red-blue corner as an example:

White sticker facing front

F

D

F'

White sticker facing the side

R'

D'

R

White sticker facing down

F

L

D2

L'

F'

These solutions twist the corner at the same time as they bring its target spot down. They can be hard to follow at first, so watch how the corner moves during each algorithm and try to understand it rather than just memorize it.

If all your corners are in place, congratulations! You can now turn the cube back over so white is on the bottom.

3 Solving the Middle Layer

In this step, you'll solve the four edges in the middle layer.

You'll need to learn two algorithms here, and they're mirror images of each other.

You can usually find an unsolved middle-layer edge in the top layer. Line up the edge's side color with the matching center, then turn the cube so that face is in front of you.

Using the red-blue edge as an example, there are only two cases:

Once the edge is lined up with its center, you'll see that its target spot is either on the left or on the right.

Here's the idea behind the algorithm:

• First move the edge away from its target spot, lift the target spot up, bring the edge back, then turn the target spot back down
• Now the edge is paired with its corner, and you can insert them into the target spot together

Here's a 3D animation of both steps, with the target spot on the right:

U

R

U'

R'

U'

F'

U

F

Put these two steps together and you have the algorithms for this chapter, one for each side:

Target spot on the right

U

R

U'

R'

U'

F'

U

F

Target spot on the left

U'

L'

U

L

U

F

U'

F'

Use these two algorithms to solve the four edges one by one, and the middle layer is done.

4 Solving the Top Layer

Finish the top layer and the whole cube is solved. This part takes four steps.

4.1 The Yellow Cross

First, make a cross on the yellow top face. Don't worry about whether the side colors match the centers yet.

You only need one algorithm for this step:

F

R

U

R'

U'

F'

Look at the yellow stickers on the top edges. You'll see one of these patterns: a dot, an L shape, a line, or a cross:

• If you have a dot, do the algorithm once to get an L shape
• If you have an L shape, hold it so its arms point to the back and left, then do the algorithm to get a line
• If you have a line, hold it horizontally, then do the algorithm to get the yellow cross

4.2 Positioning the Top Edges

Now you'll put the four top edges in place, so that each edge's side color matches its center.

To move the edges around, you'll learn an algorithm that swaps two adjacent edges:

R

U

R'

U

R

U2

R'

U

Hold the cube so the two adjacent edges you want to swap are at the front and right, then do the algorithm:

Look for which pair of edges will end up in the right place after a swap. After a few swaps, you'll always get every edge where it belongs.

4.3 Positioning the Top Corners

In this step, you'll move the four top corners to their correct positions.

What counts as the correct position? Picture the solved cube and where each of these four corners would be.

Take the case below. The yellow-red-blue corner isn't facing the right way, but it's in the right position: you'd just need to twist its yellow sticker up to solve it. We don't care about how the corners are twisted in this step.

To position the corners, you'll learn one algorithm, which cycles the corners like this:

U

R

U'

L'

U

R'

U'

L

Find a corner that's already in the correct position, hold it at the front right of the top face, then do the algorithm.

Do it one to three times, and all the corners will be in place.

4.4 Orienting the Top Corners

Here's the exciting final step: twist the top corners the right way and the cube is solved!

After the last step, every top corner is in the right position. Now we just need to twist each one so its yellow sticker faces up.

You only need one very simple algorithm for this:

R'

D'

R

D

Hold a corner that needs twisting at the front right of the top layer, then do the algorithm 2 or 4 times until its yellow sticker faces up.

But wait, the middle and bottom layers look scrambled now!

Don't panic. Turn the top layer to bring the next unsolved corner to the front right, then repeat the algorithm. Once every corner is twisted correctly, the middle and bottom layers will magically fix themselves.

Here's an example:

Once every corner is twisted correctly, the whole cube is solved!