My alchemy is currently at 59. I'm trying to raise it and it is going REALLY slow. I make 10 potions and my advancement towards the next alchemy is barely perceptible. At this rate, I'll have to make about 1000 potions to raise it from 59 to 60. Am I doing something wrong? There has to be a quicker way to raise this! Thanks.

Rarer potions like invisibility raise the experience more than a common potion, like resist fire/damage health poison.

The more expensive a potion is the more it counts toward leveling the skill. Also, if you can't stand the speed of leveling then go find the thief stone. It sounds strange, but alchemy is a thief skill.

i died a little inside when i reach 100 lol but its much more rewarding than smithing because its difficult to skill up

2 suggestions

make good use of trainers
buy everything from shop instead of trying to find ingredient on your own

Off the top of my head, these potions have a very high sell value: paralyze, invisibility, regenerate health/magicka/stamina. Make them for faster alchemy skill increases.

And alchemy is a good example of how difficult it should be to level a crafting profession.

Thanks for all the advice guys. I admit, getting smithing to 100 was way too easy.

Funny, I was just about to make a nearly identical post. It's odd how hard alchemy is to level in comparison to enchanting and smithing, I thought maybe I was doing it wrong.

Anyone know if using 3 ingredients per potion instead of 2 will level it faster?

The reason Enchanting and Smithing are so easy to level is because you gain the same EXP for whatever you make. Meaning you get the same amount of EXP for crafting an iron dagger as you would from a deadric warhammer and you get the same amount of EXP for enchanting an item to grant +1 fire damage with a Petty soulgem as you would for enchanting an item with +50 health with a Grand soulgem. I really wish that crafting and enchanting epic gear actually granted more EXP, it just feels lame grinding EXP through iron daggers....