[Heibi]

Originally Posted by marsd

Pardon me, http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/sophomore

Just use first, second, third year student instead of these terms.

Yes, in a four year curriculum(I'm quite aware of that). But in Japan(and in my high school before they changed it back in 1984) a first year would be considered a sophomore. Freshman still exist/existed, they are/were just in their last year of junior high(like in my years of school).

Add to that - the same mistake often leads those groups to skip sophomore altogether. Thus they skip from being a freshman to junior suddenly, in one year.

But, as you state, it is better to just use the 1st, 2nd and 3rd year terms. That's what we do in our subs to avoid this altogether.