So - let's be clear. Your year reset in May 2015 and you've made it to Silver within 2 months?

In which case - gold should be easily within your reach before May 2016 assuming your travel patterns remain consistent.

What's happened is that you get your status for the current year, and the following year. So if your year renews on May 8th - the best time to re-qualify is May 9th as you get the entire year of status and the following year.

If you hit gold - your 'downgrade' point of May 2017 won't change further. It'll remain May 2017 (unless - of course - you fail to hit Gold before May 2016 - in which case it'd be May 2018).

So - yes - it doesn't matter if you qualify for gold today, or by May 7th - your 'end' point for Gold (assuming no re qualification) would be May 8th 2017.