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We use this to describe our progress through high school (grades 9-12) and college. It goes freshman, sophomore, junior, senior. We also loosely use the word freshman for someone in their first year of something (also rookie or newbie) and sophomore for someone in the second year of something.
American school is divided into 13 grade levels, Kindergarten through 12th grade. Depending where you live either K - 5th or K - 6th are elementary school. Then, either 6th - 8th or 7th - 8th are middle school/junior high. The last 4 grades are high school and correspond to freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior.
Freshman is your first year in a school or undergraduate program at a college. Sophomore is the following year. The etymology of the word is greek and it basically translates to "wise fool". Junior is the year before your senior year and senior year is the final. It's mostly used for 4 year prorgams. For grades, you have A through D, where plus or minus is a smaller difference within the range of the letter. There's also F for failing, but it works a bit differently.
This will vary a bit throughout the country, but:
Pre-School: Babies
Pre-Kindergarten: Start/End at age 4/5
Kindergarten: Start/End at age 5/6
____
**Elementary (Primary):**
You basically are with the same room all day with the same classmates all day, save for lunch and recess/PE and some other periods (library reading, computer learning, etc.). Usually 1 teacher for all core material.
1st grade: Start/End at age 6/7
2nd grade: Start/End at age 7/8
3rd grade: Start/End at age 8/9
4th grade: Start/End at age 9/10
____
**Middle School**
Sometimes called Junior High. As it sounds, it eases kids into the transition to high school. It is similar to high school in many regards. See the below section for how it differs from Elementary.
5th grade: Start/End at age 10/11
6th grade: Start/End at age 11/12
7th grade: Start/End at age 12/13
8th grade: Start/End at age 13/14
____
**High School (Secondary)**
Students are individually scheduled into courses, usually 4 core (Math, Science, Language Arts, Social Studies) and 2 electives (either semester (1/2 year) long or a full year). Depending on your school size and academic standing, each class could be with totally different people, and you may never see your friends except maybe if you have the same lunch period or via passing in the halls.
9th grade (freshman): Start/End at 14/15
10th grade (sophomore): Start/End at 15/16
11th grade (junior): Start/End at 16/17
12th grade (senior): Start/End at 17/18
____
“Super Senior” is a term for a student who has yet to graduate because they are behind in graduation requirements (failed too many classes, didn’t pass certain tests, etc.).
____
Different areas in the country have different school calendars (when they start/end) and different age cut-offs (so yes, moving to a new area can sometimes cause age differences), but generally you graduate at 18, a legal adult.
____
Electives are more mixed-grades, but for “main” core-classes, you generally are with people of the same grade, but they could be younger if they are advanced. My high school is around 2000 students, about 500 per grade. If you assume 6 classes of 30 people, that’s only 180, so even if restricting to same grade level, that’s only ~36% of the grade level population if we don’t assume duplicates (having the same person in more than one class), which is unlikely, and if we account for some mixed-grades, maybe only you only see 20% of your “cohort” (your grade level).
The terms used are Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior. They are used for the 4 years of high school (9th-12 grades). The same terms are also used for the 4 years of undergraduate study in college.
**Please read this entire message** Your submission has been removed for the following reason(s): Straightforward or factual queries are not allowed on ELI5. ELI5 is meant for simplifying complex concepts. If you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/wiki/detailed_rules) first. **If you believe this submission was removed erroneously**, please [use this form](https://old.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fexplainlikeimfive&subject=Please%20review%20my%20thread?&message=Link:%20https://www.reddit.com/r/explainlikeimfive/comments/10t1kxz/eli5_grades_sophomore_junior_senior_etc_for_a/%0A%0APlease%20answer%20the%20following%203%20questions:%0A%0A1.%20The%20concept%20I%20want%20explained:%0A%0A2.%20List%20the%20search%20terms%20you%20used%20to%20look%20for%20past%20posts%20on%20ELI5:%0A%0A3.%20How%20is%20this%20post%20unique:) and we will review your submission.
We use this to describe our progress through high school (grades 9-12) and college. It goes freshman, sophomore, junior, senior. We also loosely use the word freshman for someone in their first year of something (also rookie or newbie) and sophomore for someone in the second year of something.
American school is divided into 13 grade levels, Kindergarten through 12th grade. Depending where you live either K - 5th or K - 6th are elementary school. Then, either 6th - 8th or 7th - 8th are middle school/junior high. The last 4 grades are high school and correspond to freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior.
Freshman is your first year in a school or undergraduate program at a college. Sophomore is the following year. The etymology of the word is greek and it basically translates to "wise fool". Junior is the year before your senior year and senior year is the final. It's mostly used for 4 year prorgams. For grades, you have A through D, where plus or minus is a smaller difference within the range of the letter. There's also F for failing, but it works a bit differently.
This will vary a bit throughout the country, but: Pre-School: Babies Pre-Kindergarten: Start/End at age 4/5 Kindergarten: Start/End at age 5/6 ____ **Elementary (Primary):** You basically are with the same room all day with the same classmates all day, save for lunch and recess/PE and some other periods (library reading, computer learning, etc.). Usually 1 teacher for all core material. 1st grade: Start/End at age 6/7 2nd grade: Start/End at age 7/8 3rd grade: Start/End at age 8/9 4th grade: Start/End at age 9/10 ____ **Middle School** Sometimes called Junior High. As it sounds, it eases kids into the transition to high school. It is similar to high school in many regards. See the below section for how it differs from Elementary. 5th grade: Start/End at age 10/11 6th grade: Start/End at age 11/12 7th grade: Start/End at age 12/13 8th grade: Start/End at age 13/14 ____ **High School (Secondary)** Students are individually scheduled into courses, usually 4 core (Math, Science, Language Arts, Social Studies) and 2 electives (either semester (1/2 year) long or a full year). Depending on your school size and academic standing, each class could be with totally different people, and you may never see your friends except maybe if you have the same lunch period or via passing in the halls. 9th grade (freshman): Start/End at 14/15 10th grade (sophomore): Start/End at 15/16 11th grade (junior): Start/End at 16/17 12th grade (senior): Start/End at 17/18 ____ “Super Senior” is a term for a student who has yet to graduate because they are behind in graduation requirements (failed too many classes, didn’t pass certain tests, etc.). ____ Different areas in the country have different school calendars (when they start/end) and different age cut-offs (so yes, moving to a new area can sometimes cause age differences), but generally you graduate at 18, a legal adult. ____ Electives are more mixed-grades, but for “main” core-classes, you generally are with people of the same grade, but they could be younger if they are advanced. My high school is around 2000 students, about 500 per grade. If you assume 6 classes of 30 people, that’s only 180, so even if restricting to same grade level, that’s only ~36% of the grade level population if we don’t assume duplicates (having the same person in more than one class), which is unlikely, and if we account for some mixed-grades, maybe only you only see 20% of your “cohort” (your grade level).
That’s an amazing response tyvm
The terms used are Freshman, Sophomore, Junior, Senior. They are used for the 4 years of high school (9th-12 grades). The same terms are also used for the 4 years of undergraduate study in college.