“Cinquième” would correspond to the seventh grade in the US but the system is different in France and in the US. In the US, 1st grade is our “CP” (“cours préparatoire“), and they count going up, but we count going down starting at “sixième” which is the US “6th grade“.

For “école primaire”, we have:

• CP   US 1st grade
• CE1 (cours élémentaire 1)
• CE2
• CM1 (cours moyen 1)
• CM2   US 5th grade

For “collège” we have:

• sixième (6e)   US 6th grade
• cinquième (5e)
• quatrième (4e)
• troisième (3e)   US 9th grade

Then “lycée” is:

• seconde   US 10th grade
• première
• terminale   US 12th grade

More details here.

After that, it is pretty complicated, with options not quite available in the US. That would deserve another post.

It’s the French denomination for “7th grade”.

We count down from 12th grade, which marks the end of secondary education after a big and important exam, the baccalauréat or “bac“.

It’s a little weird but it kind of makes sense to us. Basically, if you’re in cinquième you have 5 years left before you finish your studies (or before you go to University).