Hi, I too was getting concerned about going over the minimum time, some of it was a financial concern, the other was pride, as I was thinking I wasn't as good as some of the other students. I am now 3 hrs over my 15hrs in the multi engine for my IR, and was begining to panic because I wasn't signed off on my last flight, ( which was a pile of horse sh....), as I was having some difficulty with ndb holds in 30kts winds, but it just dawned on me that roughly 1hr of each flight at least if not more, is to get started up, airborne, over to the ndb which is not at our airfield and back again, so a typical flight to practice ndb holds say 3 to 4 times around the hold, one or two approaches, will take 1hr45mins for 30mins of ndb practice..........so if you do that 3 times as I have done, the hours build up quite quickly!!! IT IS A MASSIVE FINANCIAL STRAIN, but I have to take it at my own pace, do what is required so that I, not anyone else, feel ready for my test as I only want to do it once. So don't worry about the time, there are other reasons, such as wx and ac going tech which will slow you down and currency in the ac is lost, which is always a small step back and may require a little extra time to get back to the standard you were at before the break in training. Lots of factors will affect training, some take longer, some do it in minimum time, some partial and some fail........don't stress or put pressure on yourself to compete with others, you will be ready when you are, if it takes 10hrs longer, so be it!