Wow, 47 hours to the exam is unbelievable, especially so far split apart!! Even though its past the required 40 hours, the average is probably 80, and I've met people at 110 hrs that haven't gotten their license yet.
Anyhow thanks for all the info, very much appreciated!!
Yeah the reality is that unless you are very dedicated, go every day you can in succession, the weather cooperates and you are part of either a school or make a serious schedule, 40 hours is somewhat unrealistic for most people. And the fact that I was able to do it in so little time is as much a positive indication of the ability of my instructors as it is of my abilities as a pilot. I also feel that it is very important to try and get to soloing and your license in as little time as possible (meaning it shouldn't take you 50 hours to solo. I know someone who started his training in FRG and had 50 hours but hadn't soloed. Mostly, this was because instructors in Farmingdale are young and don't really know how to instruct. They are reluctant to take the risk of sending a student to solo unless they have a tremendous amount of confirmation that the student is very proficient. Also, in order to actually fly at FRG you do need to have skills in aviation, navigation and communication because it is a towered airport situated under and around congested class B airspace. In a place like MSV, only skills in aviation are required to solo. All you need to really know is how to take off, fly and land in addition to voluntary simple announcements on the com and what to do in case of emergency. Also, the place this person was training was definitely trying to milk him for his money. The reason this was so bad was that even thought he was a good pilot, he was feeling very down about how long it was taking him. When you feel like you are progressing, it gives you the push to continue. When you feel like you're stagnating, you tend to want to drop out). This is why it's very important to find a good instructor, ideally someone who trained a person you know.
One final piece of advice: If you start training with an instructor and you are not happy with him, fire him. He's working for you. I was fortunate enough to not encounter this in my training but I know people who have. It pays to have this attitude. Yes, you will become quite friendly with your instructor over the course of your training, but always have in the back of your mind that he works for you, not the other way around.