I've been playing FFVI for the first time these past couple of months, and I'm having a blast. I'm right about near the end now, and there's only one thing so far that I truly cannot stand: the caves of Narshe. There are four, maybe even five, different entrances to the various sections. I realize that the whole point of Narshe is that it's a mining town, but still... the layout bugs me so much. I kept getting confused as to where I was, where I'd been, etc. Maybe I just have crappy spatial intelligence. Am I the only one?

You can find map layouts for the game online if you need them. One of the things about FF6 is that sometimes there will be an entrance/exit/underpass that doesn't seem like it's there.

Best way to remember it:

Arvis' house leads to Mog's cave and outskirts of town.
The Frozen Esper you meet in the beginning leads to the Ice Field and Umaro's Cave.

You forgot to mention that left turn from the town entrance that takes you to n00b school.

You can't progress in the game until you pass the scholar-NPCs' exam; 90% or higher is passing.