<h1>We don't know for sure.</h1>

<p>As far as I'm aware, this is never explicitly addressed later on in the series.</p>

<p>However, I think we can hazard a guess based on a few other factors seen during the quirk assessment test.</p>

<p>While Midoriya may have performed as well or even better than students like Hagakure that gain no real physical advantage from their quirk, we have to remember that <strong>Midoriya's quirk injured him severely</strong> during the ball throw. While it was not as bad as Aizawa may have expected (just his finger versus his whole arm) <strong>it's entirely possible that Aizawa deducted points due to this injury.</strong> This is a quirk assessment test, after all, and breaking a finger after merely throwing a ball is a severe disadvantage to a quirk no matter how you look at it. </p>

<p>Hagakure, meanwhile, may not have had any real major advantages like Midoriya, but her quirk had no disadvantages either. I would assume she's also fairly strong herself, as mentioned in the comments to your question, so it's not unreasonable to think she had a similar (or even better) performance when compared to Midoriya in the contests that neither had any advantage in. </p>

<p>This would apply to the other students with quirks that do not enhance their physical strength as well, like Koda, Shoji, or Jiro, among others.</p>

<p>Considering that Aizawa was going to expel Midoriya before he thought to use only his finger, I'd say Midorya actually did quite well to be placed last instead.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-08-29T20:50:12.320Z
2018-08-30T14:24:30.067Z
2018-08-30T14:24:30.067Z
Chrygore
<p>My point here is, if Midoriya hasn't broken his finger <em>on purpose</em>, he would have beaten Hagakure without needing his quirk. Therefore, he never needed to break his finger in the first place, because he was clearly in a better physical condition than she was.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-01-07T11:37:35.153Z
Welcome to Anime & Manga Stack Exchange, a Q&A site about anime, manga, and related media. According to the other answer, Midoriya broke his fingers because he used his quirk, I'm not sure if that can be considered "on purpose"? Did you mean he shouldn't use his quirk during the quirk assessment test instead?
Aki Tanaka
CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-01-07T11:27:54.937Z
2022-01-07T11:34:09.103Z
2022-01-07T11:34:09.103Z
joão soares
<p>In season 1 episode 3, Midoriya is said to be placed last when compared to all other 20 candidates. Although I agree with him losing to most, I fail to identify how he could lose to a few of the candidates like Hagakure (the invisible girl).</p>

<p>I mean, which activity could she have done better than Midoriya considering that Midoriya had even trained for 10 months and that her quirk doesn't give her any apparent advantage in this test?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-04T14:51:24.877Z
They're probably more trial. In manga only 5 out of 8 trial are shown. Maybe Hagakure and others topped the other 3
Darjeeling
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-04T15:05:58.133Z
I agree Midoriya was shown excessively weak during these trials and that his training should have give him the upper hand on many of his comrades. However, we have to consider his nervous nature. Maybe the pressure and the fear of using his quirk or to loose without using it made him over thinking about it. This way, he lost his confidence and performed bad because of it.
Nevios
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-05T07:55:05.420Z
He also had to do all the trials with a broken finger and the pain that goes with it.
Alix Eisenhardt
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-17T13:04:16.500Z
Why wouldn't you assume that Hagakure did similar levels of training?
kaine
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-07-17T15:36:40.870Z
Even if Hagakure had did similar levels of training she doesn't have any event where she could leave out an outstanding performance. Even Izuku came 2nd in one event(Ball throw) and I don't think there were any event that would let here leave an outstanding result.
Nagarjun Prasad
CC BY-SA 4.0
2018-05-13T18:33:25.700Z
@Nevios Add that others had their quirk for several years giving them an advantage and this would be a nice answer :D
SK19
<my-hero-academia>
Why did Midoriya come last in the quirk assessment test when there were others worse than him?
# Why did Midoriya come last in the quirk assessment test when there were others worse than him?
Posted by: username_0 on 2017-07-04
In season 1 episode 3, Midoriya is said to be placed last when compared to all other 20 candidates. Although I agree with him losing to most, I fail to identify how he could lose to a few of the candidates like Hagakure (the invisible girl).

I mean, which activity could she have done better than Midoriya considering that Midoriya had even trained for 10 months and that her quirk doesn't give her any apparent advantage in this test?
**Tags:** my-hero-academia
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: They're probably more trial. In manga only 5 out of 8 trial are shown. Maybe Hagakure and others topped the other 3  
> **username_2**: I agree Midoriya was shown excessively weak during these trials and that his training should have give him the upper hand on many of his comrades. However, we have to consider his nervous nature. Maybe the pressure and the fear of using his quirk or to loose without using it made him over thinking about it. This way, he lost his confidence and performed bad because of it.  
> **username_3**: He also had to do all the trials with a broken finger and the pain that goes with it.  
> **username_4**: Why wouldn't you assume that Hagakure did similar levels of training?  
> **username_0**: Even if Hagakure had did similar levels of training she doesn't have any event where she could leave out an outstanding performance. Even Izuku came 2nd in one event(Ball throw) and I don't think there were any event that would let here leave an outstanding result.  
> **username_5**: @Nevios Add that others had their quirk for several years giving them an advantage and this would be a nice answer :D  
---
## 2 answers
### Answer by username_6 on 2018-08-29. Score: 3
# We don't know for sure.

As far as I'm aware, this is never explicitly addressed later on in the series.

However, I think we can hazard a guess based on a few other factors seen during the quirk assessment test.

While Midoriya may have performed as well or even better than students like Hagakure that gain no real physical advantage from their quirk, we have to remember that **Midoriya's quirk injured him severely** during the ball throw. While it was not as bad as Aizawa may have expected (just his finger versus his whole arm) **it's entirely possible that Aizawa deducted points due to this injury.** This is a quirk assessment test, after all, and breaking a finger after merely throwing a ball is a severe disadvantage to a quirk no matter how you look at it.

Hagakure, meanwhile, may not have had any real major advantages like Midoriya, but her quirk had no disadvantages either. I would assume she's also fairly strong herself, as mentioned in the comments to your question, so it's not unreasonable to think she had a similar (or even better) performance when compared to Midoriya in the contests that neither had any advantage in.

This would apply to the other students with quirks that do not enhance their physical strength as well, like Koda, Shoji, or Jiro, among others.

Considering that Aizawa was going to expel Midoriya before he thought to use only his finger, I'd say Midorya actually did quite well to be placed last instead.
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### Answer by username_7 on 2022-01-07. Score: 0
My point here is, if Midoriya hasn't broken his finger *on purpose*, he would have beaten Hagakure without needing his quirk. Therefore, he never needed to break his finger in the first place, because he was clearly in a better physical condition than she was.
> **Comments:**
> **username_8** (2022-01-07): Welcome to Anime & Manga Stack Exchange, a Q&A site about anime, manga, and related media. According to the other answer, Midoriya broke his fingers because he used his quirk, I'm not sure if that can be considered "on purpose"? Did you mean he shouldn't use his quirk during the quirk assessment test instead?  
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