chen style taijiquan tai chi

Hey, i heard from a reknown warsaw chen only tai chi master that the first part of the old form compounds earth a then proceeds to continue with form. That thats the difference between chen and other tai chi styles. Is that true? Is the hit in the first few moves necessary to not have something...

I am a relative newbie to Chen style taijiquan. So far (~1 year) it's been primarily learning the forms and have not done any partnered drills or training. I was wondering for the "average" student in taijiquan schools, Chen specifically, how soon into the training do you typically get...