How long does it take to move up in levels

If you post good responses all day long, and those people you help are kind enough to awards you points without your asking for them, you can move fast. If you have a life, it's not as fast.

I answer questions for about 2-3 hours every morning and am not a fast typist. Under the current forum software system, it took me just a little over four years to get from Level 8 (35,000 pts) to Level 9 (50,000 pts).

However, when you look at the the points required for each step shown in this Apple article:

Build your reputation and get rewarded in the community - Apple Support

you will see that the spread between levels is much smaller early in the journey.

Best advice: ignore the points and be helpful.

How long is a piece of string? It depends on a: the number of answers you give, b: the quality of those answers and c: the willingness of the OP to award points. You can only control two of those. Work at them.

I would say that if you're hear to simply progress up the levels then don't bother. Firstly, it's not worth it, there really is no particular advantage to being a level 10 over a level 1 or 2. Best to approach it like solving puzzles like crosswords, where solving the problem is the interesting bit.