Congrats on having a successful class! I’ve done the same thing before in regards to the stop sign, but once you experience more of them, you get a lot better at it stopping before the bar. Plus if you take the same route everyday, you know which stops have a limited view that requires you to move forward to get a better view. One thing I had trouble was with coming to a stop at a redlight in the right turning lane. I would have the habit of slightly turning right before I stopped completely and I almost dropped the bike.
It sounds like you guys have the better structure for the class up there. Dont get me wrong, I learned 90% of what I know about riding from the BRC, but I was still hesitant about getting on the road the first time, even with hours of practice by myself. I think if they could have worked in some road time with the instructors, I would have been feeling twice as confident.