Turns Per Second Calculator
Work out your turns per second from a solve, or project a solve time from a method's typical move count and your TPS.
Move counts are typical figures for each method, not a hard rule. Your own solves will vary with the scramble.
How it works
Turns per second (TPS) is just your move count divided by your solve time. In measure mode, enter how many moves you made and how long the solve took, and the calculator divides one by the other and rounds to the nearest tenth. In project mode, pick a method and it uses that method's typical move count, then divides by your TPS to estimate a solve time.
Worked example: a CFOP solve that takes 55 moves and finishes in 12.5 seconds works out to 55 / 12.5 = 4.4 TPS. Now project that same 4.4 TPS onto a different method's move count. CFOP itself, at 55 moves, projects to 55 / 4.4 ≈ 13 seconds. The beginner layer-by-layer method, at roughly 110 moves for the same scramble, projects to 110 / 4.4 = 25 seconds at that identical turning speed. Same fingers, same speed, double the time, because the method needs twice the moves.
That gap is the real lesson here. A beginner who turns at 4.4 TPS but switches from layer-by-layer to CFOP doesn't need to turn any faster to cut their time roughly in half. The move count did the work.
FAQ
Is a higher TPS always the goal?
Not by itself. Raw turning speed matters less than most beginners think, since look-ahead (planning your next moves while your hands are still executing the current ones) is usually the real bottleneck once you know a method well. A cuber with a modest TPS but no pauses between steps often beats one who turns in fast bursts and then stops to think.
Why does the beginner method need so many more moves?
The layer-by-layer method solves one layer at a time with separate algorithms for each stage, which adds up to roughly twice the moves of CFOP for the same scramble. CFOP folds several of those stages together, most notably solving a corner and its matching edge as one paired move instead of two separate steps.
Should I practice turning faster or turning smoother?
Smoother almost always wins. Steady, even turning with no dead pauses between algorithms beats short fast bursts followed by a stall while you figure out the next step. If your TPS looks low, check whether the real problem is hesitation rather than slow fingers.
Does this account for the specific scramble I get?
No, the method move counts here are typical averages, not a fixed number for every scramble. Some scrambles need a few more or fewer moves than the typical figure, so treat the projected time as a reasonable estimate, not an exact prediction.
For more on the ideas behind these numbers, see what cross efficiency is and why it matters for speed, what look-ahead is and how to practice it, and how to learn finger tricks for faster turning.