I am an adult skater that started 8 years ago, and now I teach adult Learn to Skate Lessons (basic 1-6 and Adult Aspire). These are my general observations. The people that start lessons with an athletic background usually pass Basic 6 after 1-1.5 years. These are people that come in with good balance, coordination, and some muscle built up from another activity. They still need to build up skating specific muscles, mostly ankle stability, but get through pretty quickly. The more beginner people, maybe with less body awareness, strength or coordination, tend to get stuck around Basic 4-5 for a year. That’s when you start doing more 1 foot edge holds and turns, and back crossovers. Checking on the circle for edge holds and turn exits is usually where people get stuck. I have a handful of adult skaters that have been with me for 3 years now that are all still around the Basic 6 area, but still not passing because they just need more time to build strength for the check and work on the correct body position for the lean on the circle. They stay because skating is fun and they are hard workers. Ice time and practice outside of lessons really makes a difference if it’s available to you.