Just a few general questions, just to give some context I'm about 12 hours into the game and a few days away from the second full moon event.

Is levelling always this slow in the game, I seem to remember it being faster towards the end of Persona 4 but even at the beginning it wasn't this drawn out. I suppose it won't be much of an issue once I can stay in the dungeon's longer without getting tired but am I missing something or is this the way its always going to be?
 
Speaking of fatigue, can condition be dictated by a particular stat? I ask because to begin with I could only climb a few floors of the Tartarus at the most before having to back out, it has gotten better but I'm not too sure exactly how or why. I read somewhere that its directly linked to your courage stat but I'm not sure how accurate this is.

Without getting into spoiler territory is there anything I should concentrate on raising? As it stands I am spreading everything pretty evenly although I have noticed Academics takes a lot more effort and time to raise than the others so have started to focus on that.

Any answers and other tips would be appreciated.

Don't pay too much attention to your stats. What you should be worried about is your personas more than anything else. Also, there's a sidequest later on that, if completed, opens up an extra part of tartarus that lets you level up extremely fast. 
 
I don't remember what affects fatigue. I think you just start to endure more the further you get in the game.

...don't play FES, just play P3 and ignore FES.  Trust me. 
 
If you like the story of P3, don't play FES.

" ...don't play FES, just play P3 and ignore FES.  Trust me.  If you like the story of P3, don't play FES. "

" @KaosAngel said:

" ...don't play FES, just play P3 and ignore FES.  Trust me.  If you like the story of P3, don't play FES. "

I don't know what to make of this. "

I know people don't like The Answer, but The Journey is still Persona 3, with some extra stuff. You don't have to play The Answer if you don't want to.

Solution to all your problems: just grind. Seeing as how that's boring, do something else in the meantime, like listening to the Bombcast(tm). I must have dumped 120 hours into P3:FES, and most of it was grinding during my podcast times. 
 
Also, fatigue is an awesome feature. It allows you to precisely-ish level all of your characters. I'd take 3 with me, fatigue them out, then bring in the other 3.

" Solution to all your problems: just grind. Seeing as how that's boring, do something else in the meantime, like listening to the Bombcast(tm). I must have dumped 120 hours into P3:FES, and most of it was grinding during my podcast times.  Also, fatigue is an awesome feature. It allows you to precisely-ish level all of your characters. I'd take 3 with me, fatigue them out, then bring in the other 3. "

" ...don't play FES, just play P3 and ignore FES.  Trust me.  If you like the story of P3, don't play FES. "

" @WatanabeKazuma said:

" @KaosAngel said:

" ...don't play FES, just play P3 and ignore FES.  Trust me.  If you like the story of P3, don't play FES. "

I don't know what to make of this. "

I don't either. I'm about 60 hours through FES and I'm having a great time. I never had any problems with leveling, just don't worry so much about things like that, if you make your way through the block of Tartarus, 90% of the time you'll be good enough to fight the next boss. You're right, Academics takes way longer, so focus on the other ones first, they provide more immediate benefits (S Links). Tiredness also stops being a problem later in the game; to be honest, I completely forgot it existed until last week. I can fight for about two hours before anyone even thinks about getting tired. I think that's linked to your overall level, but if you make sure to go to the bathroom and become "great" before going to Tartarus, it's a lot better.  "

P3P has sucked up so much of my time that it's absolutely ridiculous. 
 
I don't recall levelling being slow, but that could just be due to the amount I've played.

XP is based on relative levels so as you gain levels and keep facing the same shadows your leveling will tail off dramatically.  It doesn't mean you should definitely stop grinding since money and persona always help, just that maybe you should.  My basic rule was that if I could easily make it from the mid-boss floor to the barrier (ie not having to go and recharge SP or heal at the main floor) then I was ready for the full moon boss.  The worst part of P3 is that there can be close to an hour (maybe even longer in some places) between your last save point and the full moon boss battle that even with skipping dialog it seems like an eternity so you do not want to lose full moon fights.