We've had an interesting year, so while my son was never told he had to repeat a level, we did have him repeat Basic 1 when we changed rinks. In GA, they moved him from the snowplow sam 1-3 about half-way through the lessons. Next session, they recommended him for Basic 1 which he did pass...however, we then moved to CO and we weren't sure how the new rink would be and he was off the ice for about 3 months during that time...so, we just signed him up for basic 1 again and he's now in basic 3. As of yet, no repeats...his last teacher wants to take him on as a private student and he is ALWAYS talking about going on the ice, so he gets about 2 free skates a week??? I have been following his lead. However, I will agree with others...he WANTS to be on the ice and "practices" about 2-3 hours a week (it's nice that he gets free "free skate" time with his lessons AND the rink is about 2 minutes from where we live). I just let him go on the ice and do what he wants...he normally practices some of the basic moves, spends a lot of time seeing how fast he can go...he recently started a basic spin and likes to see how many times around he can go...essentially, makes it game.
I will be honest though...he's only 5 and really, he does this because he's competitive with himself. In his last class (basic 2), the whole class was made up of 10-12 year old girls and he was the only boy and only 5 year old. He actually seemed to do better, but I think a huge part of it was the lack of embarrassment when he did something wrong (other parents mentioned that too)...