See, in the US, we start kindergarten when we're 5 or so, then we go to 1st grade, then we do 11 more grades until we hit 12th grade, then we graduate and get a high school diploma. And then you can optionally go to college, which is school at a university. If you don't finish up to 12th grade, you're considered a drop-out, and will have a hard time getting anything but the suckiest of jobs, if that.

There are no real standardized tests, and the grades are broken into elementary school, middle or junior high, and high school, but where you break them apart is different from school to school, even school districts from the same state. It might be 1-6, 7-9, 10-12, or it might be 1-5, 6-8, 9-12. It depends a lot on where they can physically fit kids into buildings I think. We have SAT tests which people take in 11th grade, but those are pretty much only to help you get into college.