I'm hopefully (!!!) going to pass my intermediate moves at the beginning of March. Then for various reasons I need to get through my novice moves as quickly as possible.

Just curious--in my area they have a reputation for being very hard to pass, and many of the kids take them over & over.

How long did it take you to get your novice moves, from the time when you learned them to passing the test?

Depends on what's required, and what you get stuck on. Back edges are holding me up on pre bronze readiness and I can do other elements for higher tests!

I've been working on them for just over a year, and they're almost ready to test. I skate 6 hours a week, half of that moves, but I only skate every other week because of my evil work travel schedule. If I hadn't been travelling, I think I would have been able to pass them in about a year - coach made some comments last week that I probably would have passed at the most recent test session. I think about a year is pretty standard at my synchro-oriented rink, but I've also seen much faster and much slower.

And just a side tip, a lot of the novice moves are quick turns, so if something isn't working I try to really focus on twisting my hips. Helps me a lot on those days when nothing seems to work.

Good luck on the intermediate test!