Board Thread:Off Topic/@comment-25396609-20171207232020/@comment-25936766-20180129022213

Kirito Rose wrote: Do we have an answer to my question? Was it a general question?

If we're talking about 1st year teams like RWBY, in a way, yes. The Academies are fundamentally colleges with 8 semesters, or 4 years. By Vol.2 RWBY already finished the 1st semester.

While I don't recall if it was made clear if they finished their 2nd semester before/during Vol.3, I am 100% sure that if Beacon had not fallen, RWBY would already be on their 2nd year, probably already on it's 2nd half.

But officially, they are not 2nd years, since, with Beacon down and overrun by Grimm, classes have stopped indefinitely, and it's not like RWBY went to continue their studies in another Academy. So they never actually finished their 1st year.

Kinda like Naruto at the start of Shippuden, who was still officially a Genin despite his skill by then because he never took the Chunin exams before then.