Method
How to Solve a 3x3 Cube
The beginner's method, step by step.
Last updated: 10 March 2026Written by The Cube Guide team
This page teaches the beginner's method for solving a 3x3 cube — sometimes called the layer-by-layer method. It is the standard starting point for almost everyone who learns to solve a cube, because each step makes visible progress and the moves you need to memorise are short.
What you need is simple. Any standard 3x3 cube will do — the one sitting in a drawer at home is fine. Set aside an afternoon. You will memorise five short algorithms (an algorithm is a short fixed sequence of moves), none longer than eight moves. The rest is recognising patterns.
One reassurance before you start: you cannot break the cube by turning faces. Every mixed-up state is reachable from every other state, so even if a step seems to make things worse, the method below will take you back to a solved cube. By the end of this page, you will have solved one.
First things first
Before you start
How to hold the cube. "Front, back, top, bottom, left, right" all refer to the cube as you are currently holding it. The face you are looking at is the front. When the guide tells you to turn a face, you are turning one slice — not the whole cube.
Anatomy. The cube has three kinds of pieces. Edges have two colours each (12 pieces, 24 stickers). Corners have three colours each (8 pieces, 24 stickers). Centres have one colour each (6 pieces) — and the centres never move relative to each other. The centre colours tell you what each side will eventually be.
Which colours go where. White ends up opposite yellow, red opposite orange, blue opposite green. You do not need to memorise that — the centres of your cube already know.
Where to start. For Steps 1 to 3, work with white on the bottom. From Step 4 onwards, flip the cube so yellow is on top. The guide reminds you when to flip.
- Edge — two colours
- Corner — three colours
- Centre — one colour
Step 1 of 6
White Cross
Make a white cross on one face, with the side colours lined up with their centres.
The white cross is the only step in this guide with no algorithm. You work it out by looking at the cube and moving pieces by hand. That sounds harder than it is. There are only four white edges, and once you have placed one, you only have to be careful not to disturb it while placing the next.
Hold the cube with white on top. Look for a white edge — there are four of them. Each one has two stickers: the white one, and one other colour. That other colour tells you which side of the cube the edge belongs on. If the second colour is green, the edge belongs between the white centre and the green centre. If it is red, it belongs between the white centre and the red centre.
The trick is the order. First, line up the edge's side colour with its centre on the middle layer, so the side colour is directly below where the edge will end up. Then bring the white sticker up onto the top face. If you do it the other way round — top first, then trying to slide the side colour into place — you almost always knock another edge out.
Two cases will trip you up the first time. An edge where the white sticker is on the side, not on the top, needs to be rotated into place rather than dropped straight up. And an edge stuck in the bottom layer needs to be brought up to the top first — turn the face it belongs on twice (a half turn), which moves it from bottom to top without disturbing the cross you have already built.
When an edge is done, look at the front of the cube. You should see a vertical T: the white sticker on top, and the matching side colour directly below it. Four T-shapes — one on each side — and the cross is complete.
Common mistakes
- White stickers face up but the side colours don't match the centres — it looks like a cross from above, but the cube is unsolvable from there.
- Turning the whole cube while solving an edge, then losing track of where the other edges have ended up.
- Starting on a colour other than white. You can — but every step below assumes white.
Reference
Cube notation
Step 1 did not need any moves you could not work out yourself. Every step from here uses short sequences of moves — algorithms — written using the letters below. Read them once, then come back when you need to.
| Letter | Face | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| R | Right | Turn the right face clockwise. |
| L | Left | Turn the left face clockwise. |
| U | Up | Turn the top face clockwise. |
| D | Down | Turn the bottom face clockwise. |
| F | Front | Turn the front face clockwise. |
| B | Back | Turn the back face clockwise. |
Step 2 of 6
White Corners
Finish the white side by slotting the four corners into place.
Now flip the cube over so that white is on the bottom and yellow is on top. The white cross is now underneath, out of the way, and you are working on the top layer to find the four white corners.
A corner piece has three stickers. The four corners you need to place all have a white sticker on one of them. Find a white corner in the top layer and look at where its white sticker is sitting — it will be on the top face, on the right face, or on the front face.
Each white corner has a slot it belongs in — the gap in the bottom layer between the two side colours that match its non-white stickers. Turn the top layer (U) until the corner is sitting directly above its slot, at the top-right-front position. Now you are ready to insert it.
The algorithm is R' D' R D. It cycles the corner in and out of the slot. How many repetitions you need depends on where the white sticker is sitting:
- White on the right face — apply it once.
- White on the front face — apply it three times.
- White on the top face — apply it five times.
If a white corner is already in the bottom layer but pointing the wrong way, you can pop it out: hold it at the top-right-front position of the bottom (so the corner is directly under where you want it), run R' D' R D once to lift it out, then put it back correctly using the rule above.
Algorithm
Apply it once, three times, or five times — until the corner clicks into place.
Common mistakes
- Forgetting to flip the cube white-down before starting. Steps 1 and 2 are held the opposite way up.
- Picking a corner that doesn't have a white sticker on it.
- Running R' D' R D once, panicking at the mess, and stopping. Keep going — after the right number of repeats the corner clicks into place.
Step 3 of 6
Middle Layer
Fill in the middle layer — the four edges with no yellow on them.
With the first layer done and yellow on top, you now have four slots to fill — the four edges of the middle layer. These are the edges sitting between the side centres. None of them is yellow: yellow edges belong on the top, and they are solved later.
Look at the four edges in the top layer and pick one that has no yellow on it. That is the rule for choosing a candidate. The edge has two stickers, and neither will be yellow.
Look at the side sticker — the one on the front, left, right, or back face, not the one on top. That colour tells you which side of the cube the edge belongs against. Turn the top layer (U) until that side sticker is directly above its matching centre. You will see a vertical T-shape on the side of the cube: the edge on top, the matching centre below it.
Now look at the edge's second colour — the one still pointing up. It points either to the right or to the left of the T-shape's side. That tells you which insert to use:
- Second colour points to the right of the front face — use the right insert:
U R U' R' U' F' U F. - Second colour points to the left of the front face — use the left insert.
If a middle-layer edge is already in its slot but turned the wrong way around, take it out first. Run either algorithm with that slot at the front-right (or front-left), which kicks the edge into the top layer. Then insert it correctly using the rule above.
Left insert
Use this when the second colour points to the left.
Right insert
Use this when the second colour points to the right.
Common mistakes
- Picking an edge that has yellow on it. Yellow edges belong on the last layer; they are solved later.
- Forgetting to line up the edge's side colour with its centre before running the algorithm.
- Holding the wrong face as the front. Both algorithms assume the target slot is at the front-right or front-left.
Step 4 of 6
Yellow Cross
Make a yellow cross on the top face.
You should already have yellow on top from the last step. Look at the yellow stickers on the top face — ignore the corners for now, and focus on the centre and the four edges around it. You will see one of four patterns:
- Dot — only the centre is yellow. None of the edges show yellow on top.
- L — two adjacent edges are yellow on top, forming an L with the centre.
- Line — two opposite edges are yellow on top, forming a straight line through the centre.
- Cross — all four edges are yellow on top. You are done with this step.
The same algorithm — F R U R' U' F' — walks you between the patterns. How you hold the cube depends on which pattern you have:
- Dot: hold it any way. Run the algorithm once and you will have an L. Re-orient as below, and run it again.
- L: hold the L so the two yellow edges point to the back and the left (think 12 o'clock and 9 o'clock as you look at the top). Run the algorithm and you will have a line or a cross.
- Line: hold it horizontally, running left to right across the top. Run the algorithm and you will have the cross.
Hold-orientation is the most common stumble on this step. If you run the algorithm from the wrong angle, the L turns into a different L instead of a line, and the line turns into a dot. If that happens, do not panic: re-orient and run it again.
Algorithm
Apply once per pattern: dot becomes L, L becomes line, line becomes cross.
Common mistakes
- Not flipping the cube yellow-up before starting.
- Holding the L with the yellow stickers at top-right or bottom-left. They go at the back and the left.
- Holding the line front-to-back instead of left-to-right.
Step 5 of 6
Last Layer Corners
Turn the last four corners yellow-side-up.
The yellow cross is in place, but the four corners on top probably are not yellow-side-up yet. This step orients them — "orient" just means making the right colour face up. You will use one algorithm, called Sune, and run it once, twice, or three times depending on what you see.
Look at the top face and count how many corner stickers are yellow. You will see zero, one, or two — never three. (Three is impossible: if you count three yellow corners on top, look again, because one of them is on the side rather than the top.) How you hold the cube depends on the count:
- Zero yellow corners on top. Hold the cube so any corner with yellow on the left face is at the front-left. Run Sune. You will now have one yellow corner — re-check and continue.
- One yellow corner on top. Hold the cube so the one yellow corner is at the front-left position of the top layer. Run Sune. You may need to run it once or twice more from the same orientation.
- Two yellow corners on top. Either both yellow corners are next to each other, or they sit diagonally opposite. Either way: hold the cube so the front-left corner has yellow on its left side, then run Sune. Re-check and repeat.
The cube will look chaotic in the middle of Sune. The bottom layers visually scramble during the algorithm and always restore by the end. Do not undo the algorithm halfway through because it "looks wrong". Finish the seven moves, then re-check the top.
When all four corners show yellow on top, this step is done — even if the side colours of those corners look out of place. Sorting out their positions is the next step.
Sune
Apply once from the right hold, then re-check. Repeat as needed.
Common mistakes
- Rotating the whole cube between runs instead of just the top layer with U.
- Stopping because the cube looks scrambled mid-algorithm. It always does. Finish the algorithm before judging the result.
- Not picking a fixed reference corner before starting.
Step 6 of 6
Last Layer Edges
Move the last corners and edges into their final positions.
This last step has two parts. The corners need to move to their correct positions — "permute" is the technical word for this: move it to the right spot. Then the edges. Once both are done, the cube is solved.
Corners first. Look at the four corners on the top layer. You are looking for two adjacent corners that are already in the right place — their side colours match the two centres next to them. If you find such a pair, hold the cube so the matching pair is at the back-right, then run the corner-cycle algorithm: U R U' L' U R' U' L. The other three corners cycle round, and the matching pair stays put. You may need to run it twice — that is normal.
If no two adjacent corners match, run the algorithm once from any orientation, then look again. At least two corners will line up after one run. Hold those two at the back-right and run the algorithm again.
Then edges. With the corners in their correct slots, the only pieces left are the four top edges. Look at them. You will be in one of three states: all four are already in place (in which case the cube is solved), one edge is in place and the other three need cycling, or none of them are in place.
If one edge is already correct, hold the cube so that edge is at the back. Run the edge cycle: R U' R U R U R U' R' U' R2. The other three edges cycle into position. If the cycle goes the wrong way round, you may need to run it twice from the same orientation.
If no edge is in place at all, run the algorithm once from any orientation. One edge will land in place. Hold that one at the back and run the algorithm again.
When the last edge clicks into position, the cube is solved.
Edge cycle
Hold the already-solved edge at the back. Repeat once if the cycle runs the wrong way.
Corner cycle
Cycles three of the top corners while leaving one fixed. Hold the already-solved corner at the back-right.
Common mistakes
- Running the corner cycle and assuming it didn't work because the cube still looks wrong. It often needs two runs.
- Doing the edge cycle without checking whether you actually need it. If all four edges are already in place, you are done.
- Not identifying which corner or edge is already-solved before holding it at back-right (corners) or back (edges).
You solved it
That is a solved cube in your hands. Now scramble it and do the whole thing again. The third or fourth solve feels dramatically easier than the first — muscle memory for the algorithms builds faster than most people expect.
Where to go from here
The method above is one of several. It is the standard beginner method — sometimes called layer-by-layer — and it works on any 3x3 cube. If you want to go faster, look up intermediate methods like CFOP, Roux, or ZZ. Those are out of scope for this guide, but it is worth knowing they exist. The World Cube Association is the official body for speedcubing and a good next reference.