You can identify all three types of pieces.
Yellow centre up, white down. Choose a front face and keep it facing you.
1. Name the faces as you hold the cube
| Letter | Face to turn |
|---|---|
| U | Up: the top face |
| D | Down: the bottom face |
| F | Front: the face toward you |
| B | Back: the face away from you |
| R | Right |
| L | Left |
These letters describe positions, not colours. If you rotate the whole cube, a different colour may become F. During an algorithm, keep your front fixed unless a whole-cube rotation is explicitly written.
2. Read the direction
Imagine looking straight at the face named by the letter. A plain letter means a 90° clockwise turn. An apostrophe means a 90° counterclockwise turn. A 2 means 180°, in either direction.
R: turn the right face clockwise, viewed from the right.R': turn the right face counterclockwise, viewed from the right.U2: turn the top face halfway around.
The bottom and back faces often feel reversed because you are viewing them from the front. Judge clockwise from the face being turned, not from the front of the cube.
3. Read left to right
R U R' U' means four separate turns: right clockwise, top clockwise, right counterclockwise, top counterclockwise. Finish one move before starting the next.
To undo a sequence, reverse its order and invert each move. The undo for those four turns is U R U' R', not the original sequence with all apostrophes swapped in place.
4. Match the demonstration
The next-move caption gives the face and direction. Advance one move, perform it on your cube, and compare. Dragging the on-screen cube changes only your viewing angle and leaves the move sequence unchanged.
Watch, then try
Work through an example
Start by going through the example one move at a time. It shows a specific action from a prepared position. Use the lesson’s setup instructions to recognize when that action applies to your own scramble.
Watch one worked example
Practise on this scrambled cube. Do R, then undo it with R′. Doing U2 twice also returns the cube to its starting position. After all four moves, the scramble is unchanged.
Example grip: yellow up · blue front · red right at the start. Follow any written whole-cube rotations.
0 / 4
Loading 3D cube…
Prepared position · 0 / 4 moves
Use Next move to follow the sequence.
Drag to inspect other faces. Use the arrow keys to rotate the view when the cube has focus.
Copy this exact example on your own cube
Start with a solved 3×3 with yellow on top and blue in front. Follow the setup moves below from left to right to create the example’s starting position. Keep this example separate from the scramble you’re solving throughout the course.
R U R' F2 D L2 B U2Then follow the lesson sequence. If your cube’s colour scheme differs, match the piece relationships using your own colours.
Compare the starting position and the result
Drag each cube to inspect its other faces.
Explain it to yourself
Check your understanding
Now use your own cube
Your turn
Do R, then undo it with R′. Do the same with U and F. Finally, do U2 twice. Before each move, say which face turns and in which direction.
Open a 3×3 Digital Cube for practiceOpens in a new tab so you can keep this lesson open while you practise. Check for yourself whether you’ve met the lesson goal. The Digital Cube doesn’t grade your work.
If you get stuck
My R looks counterclockwise from the front.
Look directly at the right face to tell which way is clockwise, even if the turn looks different from the front.
Before moving on
Check your result
Preparation · no solving yet
Return to the same scramble
Each move is followed by its inverse, so the cube returns to the same scramble. You’re practising turn notation. Solving begins in the 3×3 Beginner course.
Confirm these on your cube. Watching the animation alone does not complete the lesson.
Check off each item once you can do it yourself.