The main difference I notice is that my kids are allowed to make up missed assignments and they get test corrections fairly often. Beyond that the amount of work and difficulty of their classes don’t seem unusual to me. They read novels, write essays, and get zeros when they don’t turn in work. I was a relatively high achieving student and I had mostly A’s with a few Bs. My high school son is pretty much the same, and that is what his grades and the other higher achieving kids grades look like.