Elementary school is typically 5 year olds in Kindergarten through 12 year olds in 6th grade. Junior high school is typically 13 and 14 year olds in 7th and 8th grade. High school is typically 15 to 18 year olds in 9th through 12th grade. College is typically 4 years from age 19 to 22. All of this is typical, but not absolute. For example, some communities three years of junior high and three of high school. Also, many Americans take 5 years to complete college.

pre-school generally goes until kindergarten, although some pre-schools include kindergarten. what age pre-schools start at varies widely and whether they just baby-sit or teach varies too the law on this basically lets people set up home pre-schools and a the restrictions on these are not great and are not well enforced. many of these are unsafe. many are great. be really careful inspecting these types of pre-schools kindergarten, generally, age 5, can be separate, a part of pre-school or a part of elementary school elementary school, can start as early as kindergarten (though kindergarten is NOT required in the US, first grade is the first level of schooling required). elementary schools generally go to 5th or 6th grade the ones that go to 5th grade feed into middle schools which are grades 6 though 8 the ones that go through grade 6 feed into junior high schools which cover grades 7-9 high schools cover grades 9-12, though some high schools start at grade 10 there are also combo schools, more in the private sector then the public, but some schools go from grades 7-12, or K-12--there are a bunch of variations college is for after graduation from high school, however, there are some systems in place where they can overlap. there's the AP system, where high school students take a college level course in high school and take a test at the end of the year to see if they should get college credit. almost all colleges allow students to use their AP test scores as college credits--most don't require them to re-take those classes. if the class is a pre-req for something, they just go onto the next thing. some colleges or majors within colleges require that even if they have passed their AP, they take the class anyway another overlap is high school students who are advanced enough are often allowed to take courses at local colleges--often local colleges have programs worked out with the high schools allowing the students to go back and forth between the campuses easily. the college class they take goes on their high school transcript, but they also have now started a college transcript and when they go to college full time, they will already have passed certain classes and have credits college is generally four years, though students finish in less time, and in more time. generally, if they pay, colleges let students stay until they finish. however, with more and more colleges becoming crowded, and not having enough space for applicants, colleges not only have a minimum number of credits you need in order to graduate, many now have a maximum, so that you eventually have to leave there is also post-college schooling, graduate school, law school, med school also, some students choose to attend technical colleges, or community colleges--these last two years not four, and students get an associates degree not a bachelors degree, often particularly at technical colleges, their study is aimed at a particular field with immediate real world applications