The start folder is a starting point for the tutorials. The finsih folder contains the pages the way they are suppose to look after completing the tutorial. As you have already discovered, there are a lot of discrepancies between the old tutorials and the new extensions.
BTW Thank you for starting separate threads for each topic. So many people start one thread and add on to it forever making it impossible to follow. It also decreases the chances that the person with the answer finds the question. :)