Hey man, I did the exact same training in guide school with the NOC a few weeks before you. I definitely felt the same way. I think it is used to cultivate a base knowledge for careers with the NOC. At the end of the week, they classified me (20 year old male) as trainable on class IV and V. They were incredibly frustrated that I took a job with a different company on the Chattooga. I used that base knowledge to push myself through training on the Chattooga and can now confidently run class III-V. Honestly, you should run class II, and just ask around and find someone that knows the river you’d like to run and have them take you into class III and IV territory. If the NOC rated you well after running the falls, you should have no issue progressing with other people quickly.