What can I do to earn experience faster in Bad Company 2?

I currently own Battlefield: Bad Company 2 on my PS3, and was just getting started on the game. It seems that between each level there is a HUGE experience gap, making leveling very difficult. I'd like to unlock more weapons, but getting a few thousand XP can take me up to two hours. What are some tactics that will help me to gain more XP as an assault or recon player?

Not sure what your previous Battlefield experience level is, but the biggest thing that sets it apart from most other multiplayer FPS is its focus on teamwork. Stick close to your squad, and work together to accomplish the given objectives for a map. Killing enemies will net you points, but unless you're lucky or the Angel of Death, it's unlikely that kills alone will be able to net you points quicker than playing strategically. I've listed some general information and some more specific class tips below.

General Tips:

Stay near your squad

While you generally get points for helping out your team, you get more if the person you helped was also in your squad. For example, a squad kill assist is worth more than a normal assist.

Spot enemy players!

On XBox this is mapped to Back, so I imagine it'd be Select on PS3. When your crosshair is over an enemy, press this button. This will drop an orange arrow over their head, showing their position to your team. You get points for spotting, and if a teammate kills somebody you spotted, you get bonus XP for a Spot Assist.

Go for objectives

In Conquest and Rush, objectives are huge sources of points. Capping a base in Conquest nets 150 points for the first person to start capping, and 75 to each person who joined later. Always a good idea to stop and help cap, as the more players capping the faster the process. Similarly, planting or disarming explosives when playing Rush can net you a ton of points as well.

Get in a vehicle

Kills are easy to come by in vehicles. You'll also get assist points for kills made by others in your vehicle. They're great at locking down choke points, or securing an objective. Watch out for mines and Engineers, and players running close to plant C4.

Get some bling

If you perform a certain action enough times in one round, you'll be awarded a pin. For example - repair a vehicle 7 times, get the Vehicle Maintenance Pin, worth 200 pts. Go on a kill streak of 5 or more, get a Combat Excellence Pin. Work well with your squad and best the squad with the most points at the end of the match, and the Best Squad pin is yours. The points from these pins get added after the match is over, and are not added into the scoreboard standings you see in-game. You'll see a list of them in the breakdown screen when switching rounds/maps.

Class Specific

Assault

Drop ammo like it's candy! Supplying your teammates is essential to victory anyway. Engineers with love you for this, since their rockets can only carry limited ammo without sacrificing a perk slot. Same goes for Assault/Recon classes who take C4.

Engineer

My personal favorite. Hang out near vehicles. Repair friendly vehicles, shoot enemy vehicles. Hop in a friendly vehicle, snag some kills, then hop out and repair once it takes some fire.

Recon

Spot like crazy. If you use a sniper rifle, being able to spot from miles away is great. Throw motion sensor mines for automatic spotting. Use C4 to blow up buildings, objectives, and enemy vehicles. If you're a crack shot, headshots from beyond a certain range award bonus points. I play as more of a saboteur when I play recon, opting for a shotgun instead of a sniper rifle. Wide open vistas make for some good sniping vantage points if you feel like camping all match, but this is generally frowned upon, and isn't the fastest way to do things, either.

Medic

Drop those medkits! Revive players as needed. Medics are one of the easiest classes to level up, because people are always getting shot and/or killed. Lay down suppressing fire for some assists and to give your squad a chance to maneuver. Try to avoid reviving somebody in the middle of a crossfire - while it may be good for points to chain-revive the same person, nobody likes getting revived only to immediately go down again.

Hope this helps. Happy fragging!

1. Try to earn badges they give 5k (and some of them are very easy to get)
2. City maps are better
3. Go to knife and pistol only servers
4. Use noobtube
5. As a recon on a city map hang out close to assault and throw motion mines out
6. Find a good pilot-driver and stick with him
7. Throw supply and med kits at choke-point
8. Initiate squad actions to get bonus points for each kill etc

Most of general points are already mentioned. But still.

My advice? Play Squad DeathMatch. I can easily earn 7k-10k XP on a 100Kill SQDM.

All Classes : -Spot. Keep spotting. Spam the spot button before you even shoot. -STAY WITH THE SQUAD.

Assault : -Drop a Ammo Box & keep tossing grenades(40mm & Hand).

Engineers : -SMGs are more effective than they look. Use them.

Medic : -Revive, but only when the coast is clear.

Sniper : -Throw motion mines. Keep throwing those motion mines until you run out of them. -Plant C4 in general areas & throw a motion mine. KABOOM! -Use mortar instantly when it recharges. Don't wait.