How much experience is needed for each level?

I've made a list of data I've collected from my own saves, if anyone is less lazy or more smarter than me to figure out the pattern:

LVL  |  Experience
-----+-------------
27   |      33,075
29   |      37,375
30   |      38,927
30   |      39,277
32   |      42,527
33   |      43,517
47   |      75,728
50   |      83,343
54   |      92,793
55   |      94,693 
55   |      95,693

Does anyone know this? Does such a list exist? I've searched everywhere.

[edit: 09_26_12] thanks for scouring the internet over to the mass effect wiki for the original ME advancement system. here's how it works in the sequel:

Level  |  XP Needed  |  Shep TP* |  Squad TP**†
-------+-------------+-----------+-----------
    1  |        N/A  |        2  |         1
    2  |       1000  |        4  |         3
    3  |       2000  |        6  |         5
    4  |       3000  |        8  |         7
    5  |       4000  |       10  |         9
    6  |       5000  |       12  |         9
    7  |       6000  |       14  |        11
    8  |       7000  |       16  |        11
    9  |       8000  |       18  |        13
   10  |       9000  |       20  |        13
   11  |     10,000  |       22  |        15
   12  |     11,000  |       24  |        15
   13  |     12,000  |       26  |        17
   14  |     13,000  |       28  |        17
   15  |     14,000  |       30  |        19
   16  |     15,000  |       32  |        19
   17  |     16,000  |       34  |        21
   18  |     17,000  |       36  |        21
   19  |     18,000  |       38  |        23
   20  |     19,000  |       40  |        23
   21  |     20,000  |       41  |        24
   22  |     21,000  |       42  |        24
   23  |     22,000  |       43  |        25
   24  |     23,000  |       44  |        25
   25  |     24,000  |       45  |        26
   26  |     25,000  |       46  |        26
   27  |     26,000  |       47  |        27
   28  |     27,000  |       48  |        27
   29  |     28,000  |       49  |        28
   30  |     29,000  |       50  |        29

*  additional point earned w/ Shep bonus power
** additional point earned per loyalty power 
†  Miranda & Jacob: 31; Liara: 29;

can we go for third time's a charm and get the ME3 chart? I'll try to devise an algorithm from the data I've collected.


Solution 1:

For Mass Effect 3, single player levels are awarded based on the following experience requirements according to the game's resource files:

Level Experience Change | Level Experience Change
------------------------+------------------------
    1          0      - |    31      39850   1825
    2       1000   1000 |    32      41675   1825
    3       2000   1000 |    33      43500   1825
    4       3000   1000 |    34      45325   1825
    5       4000   1000 |    35      47150   1825
    6       5000   1000 |    36      49175   2025
    7       6100   1100 |    37      51200   2025
    8       7200   1100 |    38      53225   2025
    9       8300   1100 |    39      55250   2025
   10       9400   1100 |    40      57275   2025
   11      10625   1225 |    41      59525   2250
   12      11850   1225 |    42      61775   2250
   13      13075   1225 |    43      64025   2250
   14      14300   1225 |    44      66275   2250
   15      15525   1225 |    45      68525   2250
   16      16875   1350 |    46      71000   2475
   17      18225   1350 |    47      73475   2475
   18      19575   1350 |    48      75950   2475
   19      20925   1350 |    49      78425   2475
   20      22275   1350 |    50      80900   2475
   21      23775   1500 |    51      83600   2700
   22      25275   1500 |    52      86300   2700
   23      26775   1500 |    53      89000   2700
   24      28725   1950 |    54      91700   2700
   25      29775   1050 |    55      94400   2700
   26      31425   1650 |    56      99800   5400
   27      33075   1650 |    57     105200   5400
   28      34725   1650 |    58     110600   5400
   29      36375   1650 |    59     116000   5400
   30      38025   1650 |    60     121400   5400

Level 24 appears to have an unexpected experience requirement. Based on the deltas between the other levels, I would have expected level 24 to require 28,275 experience instead of 28,725, so it's possible that this is a minor bug.

Solution 2:

Experience Gain

The party gains experience (as a whole) by successfully completing missions / assignments, killing enemies or finding new Codex info. The experience gained is based on the level of the party. The higher the level, the more experience is awarded. The exact formula is:

Experience Gained = BASE x MODIFIER x AWARD TYPE (rounded down)

  • BASE: Levels 1-5 = 5; Levels 6 and higher = Level

  • MODIFIER: This number ranges from 2.0 to 2.4 as per which Experience Achievements have been unlocked. Variations range from 0% to 20% total.

  • AWARD TYPE: The action for which the experience was gained, ranging from codex entries to Assignments to Thresher Maw kills and so on, where BASE is a fixed value for this AWARD TYPE.

For example, codex entries have an exp. AWARD TYPE of x1. This means at Level 5 the party should get 10 experience points for finding new info (without bonuses). In the Citadel: Scan the Keepers assignment, every scanned keeper will give experience points. Here the exp. AWARD TYPE is also x1, meaning that at Level 6 (BASE 6) with a MODIFIER of 2.0, 12 points will be awarded.

This means that normally it does not matter when missions / assignments are completed. It doesn't make sense to solve assignments later to get more experience points, because there will be less experience points for all other things until then - both effects will cancel each other out.

Level  XP Required  Increase  |  Level  XP Required  Increase
------------------------------+------------------------------
    1            0        --  |     31       60,200      +300
    2          100      +100  |     32       65,200      +300
    3          300      +100  |     33       70,500      +300
    4          600      +100  |     34       76,100      +300
    5        1,000      +100  |     35       82,000      +300
    6        1,500      +100  |     36       88,300      +400
    7        2,100      +100  |     37       95,000      +400
    8        2,800      +100  |     38      102,100      +400
    9        3,600      +100  |     39      109,600      +400
   10        4,500      +100  |     40      117,600      +500
   11        5,500      +100  |     41      126,100      +500
   12        6,600      +100  |     42      135,100      +500
   13        7,800      +100  |     43      144,700      +600
   14        9,100      +100  |     44      155,000      +700
   15       10,500      +200  |     45      166,100      +800
   16       12,100      +200  |     46      178,100      +900
   17       13,900      +200  |     47      191,100    +1,000
   18       15,900      +200  |     48      205,300    +1,200
   19       18,100      +200  |     49      220,900    +1,400
   20       20,500      +200  |     50      238,100    +1,600
   21       23,100      +200  |     51      257,100    +1,800
   22       25,900      +200  |     52      278,100    +2,000
   23       28,900      +200  |     53      302,100    +3,000
   24       32,100      +200  |     54      330,100    +4,000
   25       35,500      +200  |     55      364,100    +6,000
   26       39,100      +200  |     56      406,100    +8,000
   27       42,900      +200  |     57      462,100   +14,000
   28       46,900      +200  |     58      542,100   +24,000
   29       51,100      +200  |     59      662,100   +40,000
   30       55,500      +200  |     60      862,100   +80,000

Source

More information regarding award types, maximizing your experience and the Infinite Experience Glitch can be found from the source.