There should be a mandatory 20 to 25 hours dual logged before anyone can be released for solo, even if the instructor thinks the student is ready before then. That way, there's none of this race for the quickest time to solo to gauge how good a pilot you are.
That is going to the extreme and does nothing except line the flying school pockets and gives more employment to junior instructors. There is no race for quickest time to solo - at least not in my experience. Some students are absolute naturals while others are plodders and often under confident. So much depends on the skill, attitude and personality of the instructor himself - and of course how often the student is able to attend flying lessons - and how many different instructors he has over his flying training to first solo.
At one of the flying schools I worked, a student arrived with over 40 hours of dual from a previous school. Her log book revealed over 30 hours of circuits and landings with numerous instructors - mostly grade 3. No sign of the CFI flying with her to check on quality assurance of his instructors. They flew virtually unsupervised it seems. On her first trip with us and after one hour of upper air work and circuits including three practice EFATO and low level go-arounds to ensure she knew what she was doing, our CFI sent her solo. From the deck we watched her do a perfect circuit and a greaser landing. She later told us that at the other flying school she came from, some of the newer instructors were constantly on the controls with her as she could see and feel their input and she never quite knew who was flying at any one time - the instructor or her.
Interestingly, when our flying school requested her progress reports from the CFI of her previous flying school, prior to her starting with us, the request was ignored despite repeated requests. It was only when CASA stepped in and directed we be given the progress reports that we finally got them. They consisted of a two page list of the dates and how many hours flown and nothing else. No instructor comments - no nothing, which was useless.