Factual error: During the Pilot of Dawson's Creek, Joey mentions to Dawson that they are about to "Start High School" soon, implying they are just entering High School for the first time. When Jen shows up in the taxi for the first time, they also tell her they are Sophomores as well as she. I assumed this must be a High School that begins with Sophomore grade, meaning Middle School in their area must have been 6th or 7th through 9th grade. The entire first two Seasons of the show are their Sophomore Year. But in Season 3, during their Junior Year Jen meets Henry, a "Freshman". He is repeatedly referred to in the show as a Freshman, although technically Capeside High is supposed to be 10th through 12th grade. This makes no sense timewise, as there are no Freshmen at that school. The main characters all started High School as Sophomores. Also-there is a trivia section on one of the DVDs that lists certain classes/teachers the main characters had as Freshman English, etc. But since they had those classes/teachers in the show, they were really Sophomores which further verifies there are no Freshmen at the school.
Factual error: Not only are the Northern Lights the wrong color, they also move far, far too fast. They look like they've been sped up. Northern Lights move slowly.
Valentine's Day Massacre - S3-E14
Factual error: This episode is set on Valentine's Day, but there is a shot of the front of the school where a girl is wearing shorts. It snows in Massachusetts in February, where Capeside is set.
Factual error: When Jack and Andie are talking at the dinner table about her cheating on the PSAT, Jack says, "Do you really want to get kicked out of school for cheating on something that has the world 'Practice' in front of it?" PSAT actually stands for Preliminary Scholastic Aptitude Test, not Practice SAT. This is the same mistake that Pacey made in an earlier episode.
Factual error: In the second segment of this episode, there is a scene where Joey bumps into Dawson on a street corner after she has just left the library. As they are talking, there suddenly appears in front of them a large square stone monument which describes the 'North Carolina' battleship. The 'North Carolina' is a large battleship that is permanently stationed at the pier in Wilmington, NC where the show is really filmed. They had to shoot around this large ship constantly, being careful not to let it show as they are supposed to be in Capeside, MA. However in this scene, they accidentally filmed right in front of the large square monument which shows several lines of writing. On screen you can read: "On the west side of the river a little south of the causeway was Beery's Shipyard, where the Confederate ironclad North Carolina." This is apparently in reference to the battle ship 'North Carolina' which is stationed nearby in their location of Wilmington, NC not MA. Oops. (00:16:25)
Factual error: When Joey is driving the light blue pick-up truck, Doug pulls her over to tell her Pacey is leaving town. Right before she pulls over, in her close-up there is a sticker on the lower corner of the driver's side windshield, which looks like it could be the North Carolina State Safety Inspection sticker (small square decal with a yellow emblem in the center, and blue writing along the top and down both sides of the decal), as opposed to a Massachusetts inspection sticker (which would be on the passenger side). (00:07:25)
Answer: It's only explained once in the series. Jack says to Andie "I tried to start kindergarten without you", meaning Andie was smart enough to start school early.