Hard to get that precise.
At the beginning of the year, they have the majority of DS260s to go through, so up until now, those forms seem to be taking around 8 to 10 weeks to get through the system. However that number may come down once the initial backlog has been cleared. So, you could add 6 weeks for that as a guess.
Then you have to factor in the time before interview, they normally schedule about 6 to 8 weeks before interview.
However they schedule in batches, normally within a week or two after the VB is released. So if you miss that for a few days it could add a month.
All that means it is easy to delay your interview, but the delay might be more than you would like. If you can't interview earlier than mid February, submit your forms no earlier than early December. You might pick up the January scheduling (March interviews) or you might get pushed into April.
Thats very informative
By early dec, do you mean before the DEC/JAN bulletin is announced(Second wk) or before(First wk)?