No, we read your initial analysis, which is why we're asking to see exactly what you can see.
It may surprise you, but some of us have never seen a starter kit, its contents or any of the sketches.
It isn't unusual for noobs to miss out something important, or change a line of code inadvertently.
Try this:
const byte potPin = A0; //your analogue input pin here
void setup ()
{
Serial.begin (9600);
}
void loop ()
{
Serial.println (analogRead (potPin));
}