There are quite a few differences between the Beginners and Continuers course, and I think the main one would be that the Beginners has more of a set vocabulary and grammar structures, whereas the Continuers have the freedom to go anywhere (which is why there aren't any prescribed textbooks for them). So if you look at it that way, the Beginners won't "stand a chance", especially since Beginners are encouraged to stay "close to the syllabus", because some people can get into a lot of trouble if the Board makes the assumption that a student undertaking the Beginners course isn't a "beginner" (which I think is quite stupid, considering there may be quite a few people who may devote themselves to just 2 units of Beginners Japanese...)
So technically, Continuer > Beginner, unless the Continuer is a slackoff and the Beginner is highly self-motivated. XD