Cod is always telling me that no one can ever keep up with how fast I level on SW:TOR. Here's a couple tricks that help me:
1. Skip dialogues for quests (spacebar). When I level, the only quest cutscene's I watch are for my class quest, because I'm interested in how that story goes.
2. Combine quest-runs. Have 3-4 quests in a certain area? Finish all of them (and their appropriate bonus missions) before heading back to turn them in.
3. If your companion is low health but you have mostly full health, don't "rest" to heal him. Either jump on and back off of your mount, or dismiss and resummon him. He will come back with full health.
4. Stims stims stims. These can get expensive at the higher levels, but money generally isn't too much of an issue after about level 10. Their bonus may not seem like much, but it does make a difference, especially later on.
5. Don't worry about heroic missions. The amount of exp they give compared to the time it takes to find a group and do them, or to try to solo them, is horrible. If you have a buddy that you do them with, that's great. But don't sit in a town spamming general chat asking if anyone wants to do them.
6. Always log out in a cantina, on the fleet, or in your ship. Rested experience makes a massive difference.
And finally,
7. Have fun. If you just grind and bum rush to 50 (which I'm not saying doesn't have it's percs), you miss a lot of the game. Plus you will also be a low valor rank when you get there, and you will have to catch up. (Not sure how valor ranks are going to work in 1.2, I heard they are taking off the valor rank requirement on gear?) I level fast when I want to, but sometimes it's nice to just take a break and run some warzones or flashpoint for a little while.
I hope that helps =]
For reference for what I meant with Cod, I got my Shadow to 50 in about 3 days 20 hours /played time, but I was also valor rank 13 haha.
I also have a level 15 healer that I can use if you want to run through the game with someone. Seriously, don't be shy. I am more than happy to play with you or anyone. I sometimes hang in the minecraft channels but if you pm me, I'll play swtor with you. I prefer swtor, I just get bored playing alone 
. I usually play in the mornings before work, during my lunch and then after I get off.
