Hi Kelly!
My case is sort of odd in that I came to Aikido from 12 years of aikijujitsu so wasn't a newbie to movement and principles of Aikido. I completely understood, of course, that I was switching arts and trained in my current dojo for 5 years before testing because I wanted to focus on the art adjustment. I was surprised, however, when I was told after 5 years of training that I would have to test for go-kyu and go through the ranks one by one because "that's the policy". Seems silly to me but so be it. 6 and 1/2 years and I'm up to san-kyu. Happily, for me anyway, I'm happy just to train. Maybe I'll just stay here at san-kyu