Flight training, if you had to do it over...

I think you are asking something that has so many variables that it
cannot be answered as simply as you would like. No two students, and no
two instructors are alike. My first instructor told me I would never
learn to fly, and to stop wasting my time and his. My next instructor
recognized my problem in 1 flight and soloed me 2 flights later. There
is just too much human nature involved with egos, mental practice,
actual desire to learn, etc. When I learned to fly, even an instructor
with a negative attitude and a huge ego problem couldn't stop me. I
wish I could have had a different guy to start with, but it was not to
be. The bond of trust between instructor and student is much more
important than the frequency of flights. The encouragement it fosters
is paramount to learning. I flew about once every 2 weeks, because
that's what I could afford at the time.