Is it harder to get to lvl 2?

Yes, they seem to have changed the points required for levels lately in response to some members levelling up faster than they anticipated. They also started investigating at least several members for gaming points, and as far as I know, no one has received any notice or bonus for reaching level 6 or 7, even though several members are beyond those point numbers.

I also had to get 1500 points to get to level 2.

@Kent T. I think there are two set of points involved. To achieve level 2 in your profile it is 1500 points, and has always been. The post you linked are referring to points in the community, which are awarded differently and is where it showed Apprentice 1/5, Apprentice 2/5 etc. (You see this by clicking on your name on the upper right hand corner which brings you to the summary of your activities and points below your avatar).
For profile points, I think we get 3 points for each answer, yet for community points we get 10 per answer, but none for kudos. But the level for community is not quite right either, as I just got to Apprentice 2 while getting only 306 points (Shown with 306/750). I got to profile level 2 a bit earlier.

You all got Fizzted