I guess I am slower than all of you. I never used a Sim, but would encourage everyone to use one. I use one now to keep some skills during the winter. I started in R/C in 2000 when I was about 37 years old. I have flown control line when I was younger, so I had some experience building and running engines.
My club requires that you be able to take off and land 5 consecutive flights without killing the engine. You also have to land deadstick several times and regain control after the instructor puts you in some weird attitude like inverted and flying away from the field etc. I could not go to training night every week, so I missed some weeks. I only flew on trainer night (once a week at best). I started in late May and soloed late in September. I used about a gallon of fuel.
I enjoyed training. All of us newbie’s had a kinship. Trainer nights were fun and we all tracked each other’s progress. We gave each other encouragement. The field was alive with conversation.
I still remember the last comment my instructor said to me when he sighed my club membership card. “You now have a license to crash”.

Bill