How old were you when you finished Hifaz?
How long did it take you to become a haafiz?
What were the difficulties you came across?
How did u organise your time?
E.g. schoolwork and haafiz at the same time, etc.
I finished memorising the Quran at the age of 18 (even older then brother mizan_aliashraf I know)
I used to do hifdh on my own and was very inspired by Shuraim and Sudais and I always thought if they can do it so can I! Alot of brothers always ask me how come you made your quran so strong? And the truth is I dont see it as very strong, brother Muhammad was also one of my motivations since he finished the Quran before me and alhamdulilah he still is.
The story of how I enrolled into a madressah is quite strange, it all happened a few ramadans ago now, I love to pray in the first row and special when its taraweeh but then the spots just behind the imam are always "reserved" so I sat in the second row right behind the "big" guys so I sat there and when it was time for salah I read along with the imam every single ayah in my head then the imam slipped and I rememeber til this day what ayah it was, it was surah Mujadilah "Wat-taqullaha Lathi ilayhi tuhsharuun" and the Imam said "Wat-taqullah Lathi antum bihi mu'minuun" so before thinking twice I read out in a soft voice "Wat-taqullaha Lathi ilayhi tuhsharuun" and then when the salah was over the "big" guys looked around to see what kinda of hafidh it was that had corrected the imam when all of them hadnt noticed, so they turned back and saw a skinny somali they looked passed me and asked the other people who corrected the Imam!
The people pointed at me and I get abit worried what will they do to me now? But alhamdulilah they smiled at me, and guess what? I got to stand in the first row for the rest of the taraweeh. So they started asking me, are you a hafidh? And I was like no, but id like to be one? Then they said but how did you manage to correct the Imam? I said I listen to tapes some times and I have done 10 juzz. So then the Imam tells me come to my office tomorow Dhuhr and Im even more worried now. But Alhamdulilah I went to him and he put me in a class (even tho they said the madressah was full and alot of people were on the waiting list) and alhamdulilah I became the first somali to finish by them and they were very proud of me. This was when i was 16.
I didnt face any difficulties as such, the only thing that was important was to organise your time and be consistent making time for your revision and learning 2 pages every day even when you didnt feel like it. I usually read my revision after college at least once before i went to masjid and I learned my new lesson after isha and read it again after fajr.
Also rememeber to make alot of Dua as this is Allah's Book its not everybody He lets it be preserved in their hearts
Sorry if its hard to read i am in abit of a hurry