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Step 2: Complete the First Two Layers
     Solve the White Corners
     What If No White Corners are on the Top Layer?
     Solve the Second-Layer Edges
     What If No 2nd-Layer Edges are on the Top Layer?
     How to combine these sub-steps!

Step 3: Turn the Top Face Yellow!
     Make a Yellow Cross
     Make the Top Completely Yellow
     How to Improve Your Time on This Step

Step 4: Place the Last-Layer Pieces
     Place the Last-Layer Corners
     Place the Last-Layer Edges
     How to Combine the Two Sub-Steps!

The Completed "Daisy" Cross (Disregard everything but the white edges and the yellow center)

The Completed White Cross (Bottom View)

This is the front view of this cube. The white edge piece with blue (seen at bottom middle row here) must match up with the blue center as shown

The first thing that you must do in order to solve Rubik's Cube with this method is to make a cross on the white side with the white edges.  There is a catch, however.  Each white edge piece also has another colored sticker (the American cubes have Green/White, Orange/White, Blue/White, and Red/White).  That colored sticker must match the color of that particular side (see picture above).  You may be able to analyze the cube and figure out how to connect the colored sticker directly to the correct colored center.  If not, then step 1a is for you!  The honest truth is this step is often the most difficult for beginners, as it is not easily memorizable.  If you can complete the cross, you can solve the cube!

Step 1a) The "Daisy Cross"

    What you will do in this sub-step is make a white cross around the yellow center, so that the edges look like "petals" from a daisy.  What this does is allow you to match up the colored stickers with their colored tiles on each of the side faces (If Yellow is the top, then the side faces would be Blue, Red, Green, and Orange).  Since Yellow and White are opposite faces, you can make the cross around the yellow center, turn any side face twice, and that white edge will be in the same place on the bottom.

Step 1b) The White Cross

    In this sub-step, you turn the yellow face to match each white edge with the appropriate-colored center (For instance, the Red/White edge is matched so that the red sticker is by the red center and the white sticker is by the yellow sticker.  Once the colored sticker is matched with the correct colored center, turn that colored face twice, to move the white edge to the white center.  This will preserve the colored sticker's matching with the colored center.  Repeat for the other three edges, and you will be finished with this step!

How to make the white cross quickly!

1. Learn the order of colored faces if yellow is on top.  Use a mnemonic (memory) device to do this.  For instance, if I start with blue and go to the left around the cube, I have Blue, Orange, Green, and Red.  BOGR (the first letter of each--pronounce it like "booger") is how I would remember the order.
2. Once you have learned the order of colors, place the white edges directly into the white side, but in the order you have memorized.  If you place the Red first, then make sure the Green is on the right, Orange is on the front, and Blue is on the left.  Then you can simply turn the white face to match all of the colored stickers to their appropriately-colored centers.  Experts can do this in less than two seconds most of the time!
3. Learn how to place the pieces in the correct order (as #2 states), but learn how to see what moves you must do to put them there.  The cross can be made in less than eight moves most of the time.  If you can analyze the white edge positions before the solve and see what succession of moves you need to make to do the cross, it will cut down drastically on your solve time, because you are not making decisions while placing the cross.  In competitions, you have time (usually 15 seconds) to inspect the cube before being timed to solve it.

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The above is what your cube might resemble after completing step two.  This was the result of my solving to that point.  The bottom is completely white, and the top will be discussed in the following step.  This graphic is showing the blue, red, green, and orange faces as you would see them if you rotated the cube right-to-left in front of you.

Once you have completed the white cross, you will insert a pair of pieces into each white corner of the cube.  This will result in solving the first two layers of the cube.  This is the area of the solve that will take up the majority of solve time, especially if you are a beginner.  Here is what is going on in this step:

     Since you already have the white cross with its colored stickers matching their appropriate centers, you have something resembling a "bin" on each corner.  In effect, you will be pairing up a corner/edge pair and place them in the appropriate slot.  For example, between the blue and red centers, you will pair up the Blue/Red edge and the Blue/Red/White corner (matching blue to blue and red to red) and insert them white-side-down between the blue and red centers.  This will solve a 2x2 corner of the cube (on all three sides--red, blue, and white).  You will repeat this three times (as needed) to complete the Red/Green/White, the Green/Orange/White, and the Orange/Blue/White corners of the cube.  The result will be something like the above graphic.  There are 42 possible arrangements of corner/edge pairs if you were to memorize them all (necessary for sub-30-second solving), but for our purposes I will divide it into two sub-steps.

Step 2a) The White Corners

This is an example of placing the Blue/Red/White corner.  The red sticker is on the top of the cube, the blue is on one side (and so is placed on the blue side), and the white sticker is on the other side.

     In this sub-step, you will solve the white side of the cube by placing the four white corners between the four cross-pieces you placed in the previous step.  First, you must find a piece on the top layer that has a white sticker facing the side, NOT the top of the cube.  Whatever color is on the other side (not the top) is your starting color.  Match that color with its side.  It will be diagonal to the appropriately-colored center.  In the graphic above, you can see the blue and white stickers are on the side (the red would be on top).  Match the colored sticker (in this case blue) to its appropriate side, as shown above, and hold the cube so that color is the front.  Turn either the right or left side (whichever one has the white corner on it--in this case the right side), so that the white sticker goes to the upper back of the cube.  In our example, the right side will be turned 90 degrees clockwise.  Then turn the top layer so as to bring the piece back to where it was before that last turn.  In our example, we want it back to the upper right front, so we will turn the top of the cube clockwise to return it to that position.  As you can see if you practiced on your cube, it matches the red/white cross-piece with the red/white/blue corner (red-red and white-white).  Then you turn the right our left side (whichever side the white corner is in) the opposite direction as before--in this case, counter-clockwise--to bring the corner into its solved position between the blue and red cross-pieces.  Repeat for each white corner.  Now your white side should be solved, with a band of blue, red, green, and orange around the bottom of the cube's side.

What if no white corners are in the top layer, or if there is white corner with its white sticker facing up?

In this case, the Blue/Red/White corner is in the right starting place, but turned so that the white sticker is on top.  Here you would turn the right side clockwise, the top counter-clockwise, and the right side counter-clockwise.  This allows you to reposition the BRW corner over its correct spot with the white sticker on one side.

In this case, the BRW corner is in its correct spot, but twisted.  Turn one side (either the front or right side) so that the white sticker is on the side of the cube in the upper right position.  In our example, this would be the right side (turning the front side would place the white sticker on the top of the cube).  Then turn the top clockwise and the right side counter-clockwise.  Now you can solve according to Step 2a!

     If you have a situation where you do not have a white corner with its white sticker on one side, basically you need to flip the corner into the top layer, move the corner out of the way of the side you turned to get it there (using the top layer), and then return the moved side back to its position.  This is the same, whether the piece is in the top or bottom layer--whenever the piece is not turned like Step 2a requires.

Step 2b) The Second-Layer Edges

This is an example of the second-layer edge placement.  In the graphic, we have the solved white side (and you can see the blue and red part of the band on the bottom).  Now we must place the Blue/Red edge between the blue and red centers.

     Once you have your white side finished, there are only twelve pieces left to place, and only four of them do not have a yellow sticker somewhere on them.  They are the Blue/Red, the Red/Green, the Green/Orange, and the Orange/Blue.  The first thing you do in this sub-step is find a piece in the top layer that does not have a yellow sticker on it (it will be one of the four I just mentioned).  Place the piece over its correct center (the center with the same color as the side sticker of that piece, like the graphic above.  Second, turn the top layer so that the edge in question is moved away from its top color's side (in our example, the top will be turned clockwise, away from the red side).  Then turn the side that has the same color as the top sticker (Our red side), so that the same-colored corner (in our case, the Blue/Red/White) is in the upper-right front of the cube.  Then turn the top layer the same way you turned it earlier (in our case, clockwise again), so that the corner and the edge piece are not on the upper right side of the cube.  Return the rotated side (again, our right side) to its correct location.  Finally, you can solve the corner just like you did in Step 2a, and it will pair up to the edge and be placed together into its rightful place!  Repeat for the other three edges, and you have finished the first two layers of the cube!

What if no Second-Layer Edges are in the top layer (i.e. every piece in the top layer has a yellow sticker)?

     There are really only two possible ways that you will not find a non-yellow piece in the top layer.  One is that you have at least two edges that are placed in the wrong places (They switched positions), and the other is that your piece is in the right place, but flipped the wrong way.  These two problems have the same solution.  Find a second-layer edge that is improperly placed (be it flipped or in the wrong slot).  Turn the right side clockwise, the top clockwise, and the right side counter-clockwise.  Then solve your corner like in step 2a.  This will leave the second-layer edge in the top layer so that you can complete step 2b.

How to do Step Two quickly:

1. Learn to pair up the corner and edge pair that will go into the slot together (for example, the BRW corner and the BR edge) without first placing the corner.  This keeps you from doing, undoing, and redoing your corner's solve.  It is not too difficult to learn how to do this by paying attention to what happens when you turn the various faces of the cube, but there are memorization sheets that contain all 42 possibilities.  In my opinion, you will be quicker if you do a move that makes sense to you, so figuring them out for yourself may help you more in the long run.  Then you can compare to the memorization sheets and see which you like better.
2. Learn to look ahead while solving corner/edge pairs.  If you know that R-U'-R' will solve your pair, then do the move sequence without watching those pieces.  Instead, look for another pair that you can place together.  This cuts down on your pause time, because you can move seamlessly from one corner/edge pair to the next.  However, you must be comfortable with placing the corner/edge pairs together before this will be very helpful.  This ability to look forward is important in all four steps of the solution.

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     Since the final steps are mostly memorization, there will not be as much explanation for each set of moves.  Just look at the pattern and do the move that will solve that pattern.  It's that simple!

Step 3a) The Yellow Cross

     There are four possible orientations of the yellow cross-pieces, and one of those is that it is already finished!  For the other three, just follow these moves!  Just disregard the corners for now.  All you are doing here is flipping the yellow edges.

F-U-R-U'-R'-F'

F-R-U-R'-U'-F'  (Notice that this is the reverse of the previous example!)

Do one of the moves above, and it will leave you with the other arrangement.

     Be sure to hold the cube correctly.  The pictures above are only showing the top layer.  The front of your cube would be below the shown arrangement.  For the first picture, the yellow edges must be in a "9:00" formation.  For the second, the line must go left-to-right.  Again, disregard the corners for now.  The following two examples are considered the same in this step!

These are both "9:00" shapes!

Step 3b) Turning The Yellow Corners

     Again, we are faced with four possibilities, and one of those is that we can skip this step.  The other three are as follows (They will be illustrated after they are described):

1. No yellow corners are facing yellow-side-up (Leaves you with a yellow cross only).
        In this case, turn the cube so two yellow corners face to the left side (see picture below).
2. Two yellow corners are facing yellow-side-up (Can be two adjacent corners or two opposite corners).
        In this case, turn the cube so one yellow corner faces the front on the left side (see picture below).
3. One yellow corner is facing yellow-side-up (Leaves you with a "fish" or "arrow" shape).
        Point the fish toward your left elbow (see picture below).

There are two yellow corner stickers facing the left side

   ^
This is where the yellow sticker will be on the front, no matter where the other non-yellow corner is.

In all of the above pictures, perform this sequence:     R-U-R'-U-R-U2-R'

Repeat as needed to turn the top completely yellow!

How to Improve Your Times on This Step:

1. Learn the reverses/mirrors for each sequence.  For example, the mirror of 3b would be L'-U'-L-U'-L'-U2-L, with the fish pointing toward your right elbow.
2. Learn the other sequences that combine steps 3a and 3b.  There are 57 in all, counting mirrors and reverses.
3. Since these are memorized steps, the only way to get quicker on each set of moves is to practice!

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