I've heard that the difficulty significantly bumps up after black belt. Technically a black belt means that you are a Beginner because after black belt you get dans and "dan" is the Japanese word for "level." So by its very definition, 1st Dan means "Level 1" (so I guess by default a pre-1st Dan black belt would be level 0). This may very well depend on the actual style/school as well though as different schools often teach to different curriculums.

I once spoke to someone who told me that after he got his black belt the training after that was nothing like pre-black belt. He described pre-black belt training as just "preliminary basics" and training at black belt and beyond as the _real_ training. He did complain that as a result the fundamental techniques he learnt at white and yellow belt were counterintuitive to what he was learning beyond black belt; e.g. at white/yellow belt level he was taught to block in a certain way, then after he got his black belt he was effectively told to disregard that technique in favour of an entirely different way of blocking. While he conceded that the new way was better, he argued that beginners should never be taught something entirely different if it's going to be scrapped at the advanced level.

I'm inclined to agree with this sentiment... I think what is taught at beginner's level SHOULD compliment with what you learn at advanced level. That's why I refuse to use Romaji (Romanised Japanese) in my teaching. One of the first things I teach my students is to learn to read and write Hiragana - then I start teaching them more vocabulary and grammar etc. There are some teachers who will start off using Romaji and others who won't - and there are pros and cons to both methods. But IMO Romaji is counter-productive in the long term for students who seriously want to learn the Japanese language (and will need to be able to be literate in Japanese script).

By all means simplify techniques for beginners, but I don't agree with teaching them something entirely different and counter-intuitive to what they will learn at the advanced level.

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Disclaimer: I'm not saying that all martial arts schools teach basics at that are counter-intuitive to their advanced syllabus. But it would appear that there are a few that do.