My uncle admitted me in a madrassa in Pakistan when I was 12 years old. I was studying 6 days a week, three times a day. First session was 7am to 11am, second was Dhuhr to Asr and the third was Maghrib to Isha.
Most students started backwards because it's easier to pick up and memorize. At the beginning it was hard because I had to learn tajweed and even though I finished memorising in 2 years and 2 months, the first para (30th) took me 2 months to memorize. The second (29th) took me a month and a quarter (or there abouts) then after that I had developed a technique for memorizing and was memorizing a para a month. The last few I memorised were even quicker.
When I became a Hafiz, I received a Sanad (certificate) from the madrassa and started to revise. The revision took me nearly a year and then I moved to England.