How long do these milestones usually take?

I'm pretty new to skating still (started last October), and I have a really poor conception of how much time people generally spend learning new skills, and when they hit certain milestones. I know everybody is different, so I should take number with a grain of salt, but how long do people generally spend doing things like tests (for MIF, FS, dance), learning the six basic spin positions (not counting layback since I'm male ), and the jumps up through double Axel or so?

I don't mean to make a skating timeline or anything, but it's nice to have the idea in case you end up working on something for wayyyyy too long, that maybe I can look at things and decide it's time for a different approach. Without a general idea of how long these skills take to learn, I think I'd be doing that way too early.

I've been skating since almost a year ago, and in that time I've passed 3 standard track MIF tests (testing Juvenile next week), 1 FS test (almost done with program for Preliminary test), and the first dance tests. Haven't decided if I want to focus on singles or dance, yet. Is that normal progress or is that slower than usual?

Any input is appreciated. Thanks!

It really varies widely, depending on the individual.

Variables include the age of the skater, their natural physical talent, the quality of the coaching they receive, frequency of lessons, and number of hours of practice per week. The amount of time on the ice per week is probably the most significant.

Your rate of progress so far seems pretty good. But it will slow down as you start working on harder skills.

Most skaters never learn double axel. The average time to start working on it might be about 5 years after first starting lessons. Some natural jumpers who train seriously might be ready to start it after 2 or 3 years of lessons, especially if they started in the pre-teen years. (Those who start older are less likely ever to get there; those who start much younger will likely have had slower progress when they were little then advance more quickly as preteens.) But then getting from mastering all the other jumps to actually landing a rotated double axel at all, let alone consistently, could be several more years.

That's about the point when it becomes clear whether high-level competitive freestyle will be an option or not.

Dance is another option if the basic skating skills and music expression are strong. A male skater who is at least reasonably good in those areas will probably be able to find a partner. A female skater would find it less likely.

Have you seen this site and charts? http://www.skatingaheadofthecurve.com/TimingOfSkillAcquisition.html

loopy said:

Have you seen this site and charts? http://www.skatingaheadofthecurve.com/TimingOfSkillAcquisition.html

Click to expand...

Wow, that's really educational. Thanks for posting the link!

I am a new skater as well, since January, and I wonder about this myself. However, I think the real issue that I have to keep in mind is that I am not in a rush, I do not need to compare myself to others (even though I do), and any progress is some progress. I have noticed that competency with brand new elements can come and go at first, so I prefer to look at things from a month to month rather than week to week or skate to skate. I have only had two private lessons, my second one was this week. After my first lesson she told me to schedule another if I had major questions or when I ran out of things to practice, but she showed me so many things to work on that I did not take another lesson for months, I worked my butt off practicing. I asked my coach this week if I was progressing reasonably well for a 42 year old woman who just took up skating and she said she was very pleased with my progress. I am very self motivated and have the benefit of seeing my coach all the time and if I am having a little trouble with an element she is always willing to spend a few minutes correcting things. She seems to feel like I am doing well with this particular approach, she has other students who take private lessons weekly or more often who are also lower level but I get the impression they need a little more hand holding, everyone learns differently. The hours I skate also changed, at first I went frequently, 4 times a week, but I could only skate about 45 minutes on average. Starting in summer I was able to skate longer, about 90 minutes and went three times weekly, now I am back to four times at 90 minutes to 2 hours at a time, so much more ice time than when I first started. It is really hard to judge progress rate when the hours on the ice have changed so much. I just figure if I am better at elements or doing new elements this month, then I am better than last month.

It will really depend on you individually. Having said that, once you're at the point when you start taking the MIF tests, IIRC on average it takes about 5 years to get to Senior, and the typical skater is around 17 at that point. These are average stats though from USFSA; individual times will vary widely.

I think generally, assuming you practice say around 2-4 hours a week, you'll likely get through the first few tests relatively quickly, probably roughly every 3 months for each of the first two tests (Pre-Pre and Pre) once you have the basics, then roughly 6-9 months for each of the next 3 or so (Pre-Juv, Juv, and Int), then roughly 12 months for each of the final three (Nov, Jun, Sen). That's just my impression though, so I may be severely over- or under-estimating it. It will really depend on how much you practice, how much you're actually working on skills when you practice (instead of just messing around -- but messing around is important too since it keeps you interested), how good of instruction you get, your natural athletic ability and body awareness, your skating environment, and a host of other factors. Being willing to fall is actually an important one I think, willing to go a bit beyond what you're comfortable with will ensure that you keep improving and stretching your boundaries.

For me I'm an adult skater in my mid-30s, I've been skating for a bit over 2 years now and I passed the Adult Bronze MIF test right at the 2 year mark (I took the Adult Pre-Bronze MIF test three months before that); it's basically equivalent to Preliminary MIF. I'm now working on my Adult Silver MIF (roughly Pre-Juvenile MIF), though I don't plan to take it for another half year or so, i.e. roughly at the 3 year mark. I haven't really done much with jumps and spins though, basically at waltz jump and half flip and half lutz and scratch spin (I did do toe loop and salchow and backspin before, just haven't practiced them in a long time so I've lost them by now). I just skate recreationally though, going roughly twice a week for 2 hours each and some of that time is spent messing around or talking to people etc., so I'm in no hurry. I was in the Learn to Skate program for a year, then didn't do much for half a year, and now take private lessons roughly once a month. I'm an adult though so you'll likely progress much faster than me.

loopy said:

Have you seen this site and charts? http://www.skatingaheadofthecurve.com/TimingOfSkillAcquisition.html

Click to expand...

That's an awesome site!

I would not even look at the averages since they were no many variables that go into play.

The fastest I ever heard of anyone going through all the MIF is under 3 years. The girl LOVED learning the patterns and then practicing them so that is basically all she ever practiced. Most kids really do not like practicing the MIF so getting them to practice can be a challenge. My daughter was very young (age 5) when she start testing so early on we faced a lot of challenges that older skaters will never face. For her passing preliminary was the toughest and it took about 18 months. From the time my daughter passed pre-pre until she passed her Senior, it was just over 5 years. Most levels she passed in about 5 months or less. Everyone seems to agree that Novice is the worst - it took my daughter 13 months to pass that one which was 2-3x longer than the other levels (except preliminary). Junior and Senior were way easier to pass than Novice. fyi - my daughter had MIF lesson ~2x a week for this entire time.

Then you have the FS. There are really two different tracks here - are you testing to pass the test OR are you a competitive figure skater? The issue is the skills required to pass a test are not consistent with the skills needed to be competitive at that level. For instance, competitive figure skaters will hold off taking the Pre-Pre test until they have the axel since they know that to be competitive at the pre-pre level, they need to have an axel. But a skater that only wants to pass the test will test as soon as they have a reliable salchow and toe loop.

My daughter has not taken any dance tests so I cannot comment on them.

And that chart is great! I wish I had seen it years ago.

Yes looking at the MIF test passing rates, the Novice and Junior are the hardest (lowest passing rates, close to 50%). Surprisingly, Pre-Juv is pretty difficult too, though I'd chalk that up to skaters/coaches who breezed by the Pre-Pre and Prelim tests and weren't expecting Pre-Juv to not be a cakewalk, rather than the test's actual difficulty.

Yeah for the FS tests, the passing rates are much higher -- which indicates that quite a few skaters wait (hold back) on taking those tests in order to stay at lower levels than necessary and maintain their competitive standings relative to their peers, since competition categories are determined by highest FS test passed. Incidentally, the same is *not* true for the Adult FS tests, where the passing rate drops quite a bit after the first (Pre-Bronze) FS test, indicating that most adults tend to just take the test when they're about ready rather than delay it.

I'm glad the chart is helpful!

As a parent new to skating too, I wasn't prepared for the amount of work skaters do - there is the 6 months of working on axel, you kid gets a sticker and coach praise "She landed her axel!" but then they don't have it added to the program for another 6 months because even though they have it, it isn't competition ready. Then you see the same pattern for doubles and the combos aren't clean. It also doesn't count for injuries, coach changes, skate/blade changes etc. There always seems to be some quality issue - they learned something, but it takes time to get it looking respectable at full speed in a program.

But I think it is good to see the average.

I am 16. I started skating 3 months ago. Do I still have a chance to achieve something? Such as double jumps etc.

Hi Evelin. Welcome to the forums, and to skating!

Short answer to your question: YES!

Long answer to your question: what do you understand for achieving something? Olympics: nope. Double jumps: why not? It really depends on the amount of effort and time you put into skating (and general physical shape) and no one here is going to be able to answer that without knowing you. But most of us know cases of people starting later than you and getting some if not all the doubles, so why not. It won't come easy, and it won't come fast but then again, nothing ever does. You can also compete as an adult skater. Who knows how far you will come? If you like it keep at it, work hard and you'll achieve many milestones.
There's no good answer to "how long will it take me" because the answers differ too much. It really depends on your background too. I know many people who are amazing skaters that starter way later than you and thus that's what I'm saying.

loopy said:

Have you seen this site and charts? http://www.skatingaheadofthecurve.com/TimingOfSkillAcquisition.html

Click to expand...

Hi! I looked at this page and found it helpful but i’m still kinda confused. is the 500-2,000 how many hours in total a skater has or how many hours a year they have? How is 500 for a competitive able to land up to 2S but a STARskate (i assume this means non competitive) only lands 1A? Assume both are working with a private coach; what makes the huge difference?
*Asking because I did some math and I want to bump my skating up to 2-3 times a week, 4 ½-5 hours a week which would sort of put me a little over the 500 mark, if it’s potentially speaking for hours a year. And I wanted to work with a coach after the summer to start training to compete, hopefully by this time next year. So i had a sort of head-scratch moment.

Hi Evelin! Hi NumberOneRobot!

I read your post and thought I'd add my two cents. I'm turning 21 here soon, and I started official lessons a few weeks ago. However, I have been skating most of my life through the watchful eyes of some of my mom's old friends, the father focused on ice dancing, and their daughter, who was high ranked in my home state back in the day and was an Olympic hopeful once. So, I had a bit of an edge going into private lessons. As of now, I'm working on a few of the latter patterns of the adult silver MIF and a few adult gold MIF; also, I plan on testing both adult and the standard track, seeing there are a lot of crossovers until a certain point and I want to coach in the future. Jumping wise, I'm almost done with doubles and working on axel - my coach says I have a natural knack for jumping.

Evelin, you have a chance to achieve a lot, especially if you are doing this [ice skating] for you. It also depends on the amount of work you are willing to put in, as well as the pain that comes with this sport. Example, I have a one hour practice a week, in which my coach loads with new MIFs and jumps, technique or footwork - pretty much anything she sees to get to the next step, then I work on them throughout the week. On average, I spend 4-6 hours practices; a few of those hours I share the ice with another skating instructor who knit picks me on the side, which is a good thing in this case. When you fall it hurts. When your ankles bleed and welt up from your skates it sucks. When you land funny from a fall and tweak a wrist or elbow it's painful. However, if you can push yourself to continue despite the pain or knowing that there are high odds to hurting yourself then you know you're doing figure skating for yourself; just don't push yourself too much when you're hurt, but know the times when to rest vs when to get back up and try again.

NumberOneRobot, I hope this kind of answers your question about the average pace to achieve a milestone. Personally, I don't think there is a good average for anything in figure skating because everyone is different. I'll probably be testing Adult silver, and maybe Adult Gold depending on how much I practice, this upcoming May and I only started about a month ago, give or take. During that time I have refined techniques and learned for advanced moves, and above all else I have practiced a lot. I will be testing for adult pre-bronze and adult bronze in a week. So, it depends on how much you are willing to push yourself - just do it safely and with a coach. This sport is about dedication and practice, both of which pay off if you're strict with them. I spend more of my time at a rink than in the classroom - I am a college student - practicing MIFs, jumps, and spins.

sk8chis said:

Hi! I looked at this page and found it helpful but i’m still kinda confused. is the 500-2,000 how many hours in total a skater has or how many hours a year they have? How is 500 for a competitive able to land up to 2S but a STARskate (i assume this means non competitive) only lands 1A? Assume both are working with a private coach; what makes the huge difference?
*Asking because I did some math and I want to bump my skating up to 2-3 times a week, 4 ½-5 hours a week which would sort of put me a little over the 500 mark, if it’s potentially speaking for hours a year.

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I think it has to do with the frequency in which one skates. Let's suppose that skater 1 skates at least 1.5 hours per day, 5 days a week during the school year and that goes up during breaks. Skater 2 skates half as much as skater 2. Let's assume both skaters get equivalent coaching and they have the same prorated number of lessons.

I think will will agree that skater 1 should make at least 2x the progress as skater 2. But what this chart is showing the extra practice time is not linear progression so that skater 1 actually makes more than double the progress of skater 2. I think that is true in a lot of things.

The chart does not also show that this is only true up to a certain point. At some point, training injuries and burn out get factored in which will hamper or stop progress.

concorde said:

I think it has to do with the frequency in which one skates. Let's suppose that skater 1 skates at least 1.5 hours per day, 5 days a week during the school year and that goes up during breaks. Skater 2 skates half as much as skater 2. Let's assume both skaters get equivalent coaching and they have the same prorated number of lessons.

I think will will agree that skater 1 should make at least 2x the progress as skater 2. But what this chart is showing the extra practice time is not linear progression so that skater 1 actually makes more than double the progress of skater 2. I think that is true in a lot of things.

The chart does not also show that this is only true up to a certain point. At some point, training injuries and burn out get factored in which will hamper or stop progress.

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Oh i see. I was just confused. I thought that being a competitive skater meant that you moved up a little faster. I was wondering what the underlying factors were because essentially they’re skating the same hours per year. It just lost me there

Also wouldn’t base my progress on that but It was nice to see a chart because it’s easy to be hard on yourself when you feel slow in progress

sk8chis said:

Hi! I looked at this page and found it helpful but i’m still kinda confused. is the 500-2,000 how many hours in total a skater has or how many hours a year they have? How is 500 for a competitive able to land up to 2S but a STARskate (i assume this means non competitive) only lands 1A? Assume both are working with a private coach; what makes the huge difference?
*Asking because I did some math and I want to bump my skating up to 2-3 times a week, 4 ½-5 hours a week which would sort of put me a little over the 500 mark, if it’s potentially speaking for hours a year. And I wanted to work with a coach after the summer to start training to compete, hopefully by this time next year. So i had a sort of head-scratch moment.

Click to expand...

The chart is based on total hours skating so it is NOT that the competitive skater is skating more hours (though ultimately they will skate more total hours). As the chart explains: "Training volume does play a large part in how quickly skaters will master skills but age, maturity, basic skill, talent, mental and physical preparedness and coaching are equally important so the answer really is different for each skater." and "Even expressing volume in hours doesn't tell the whole story since skaters who skate consistently rather than sporadically are likely to progress quicker. Much also depends on the quality of training time."


The STARSkater is progressing at a slower rate for one of these reasons or a combination of these reasons:
- Their total hours are more spread out. So at 500 hours the Competitive skater did that in 1-2 years whereas the STARSkater did it in 3-5 years.
- They have less natural talent or athletic ability
- They aren't doing any off-ice training
- They are much younger and less experienced overall in athletic training (or much older and thus 'fall harder')
- Their coach is less experienced, less qualified, and/or very disorganized
- They don't relate to their coach or there's some sort of learning barrier between the coach and the skater (for instance the coach has a thick accent that the skater can't understand well or the skater is hearing impaired etc)
- The STARSkater isn't passionate about skating
- Stress, poor diet, lack of resouces etc all play a role. So for instance, a skater whose parents are going through a nasty divorce is simply less likely to progress as quickly as a skater whose parents are very stable, etc. (There are exceptions, of course, for instance the skaters who say the rink is their sanctuary from the chaos of life and who spend more time skating as a result of homelife stress, but those skaters have strong passion for skating and likely also have plenty of athletic ability etc.)


I honestly think the biggest factors are athletic ability and passion, neither of which a parent can do much about.

VegMom said:

The chart is based on total hours skating so it is NOT that the competitive skater is skating more hours (though ultimately they will skate more total hours). As the chart explains: "Training volume does play a large part in how quickly skaters will master skills but age, maturity, basic skill, talent, mental and physical preparedness and coaching are equally important so the answer really is different for each skater." and "Even expressing volume in hours doesn't tell the whole story since skaters who skate consistently rather than sporadically are likely to progress quicker. Much also depends on the quality of training time."


The STARSkater is progressing at a slower rate for one of these reasons or a combination of these reasons:
- Their total hours are more spread out. So at 500 hours the Competitive skater did that in 1-2 years whereas the STARSkater did it in 3-5 years.
- They have less natural talent or athletic ability
- They aren't doing any off-ice training
- They are much younger and less experienced overall in athletic training (or much older and thus 'fall harder')
- Their coach is less experienced, less qualified, and/or very disorganized
- They don't relate to their coach or there's some sort of learning barrier between the coach and the skater (for instance the coach has a thick accent that the skater can't understand well or the skater is hearing impaired etc)
- The STARSkater isn't passionate about skating
- Stress, poor diet, lack of resouces etc all play a role. So for instance, a skater whose parents are going through a nasty divorce is simply less likely to progress as quickly as a skater whose parents are very stable, etc. (There are exceptions, of course, for instance the skaters who say the rink is their sanctuary from the chaos of life and who spend more time skating as a result of homelife stress, but those skaters have strong passion for skating and likely also have plenty of athletic ability etc.)


I honestly think the biggest factors are athletic ability and passion, neither of which a parent can do much about.

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That’s confusing (on the hours thing). Completely ignoring the chart and hours everything in your reply makes perfect sense. That hours thing is confusing, at least to me. I didn’t know it was hours in total (3-5 years vs. 1-2), it must’ve missed my attention. So thank you!