I'd guess that Latin students would know this, but those who have studied other foreign languages may not have used this term:

preterit (American)
preterite

I took a little French in high school, but do not remember having used this term, and I certainly never heard an English teacher use it as a more formal term for the simple past tense or past simple tense, as some people call it.

Is the preterite a term that is commonly used in English grammar instruction in the British Isles, for example? Or in Canada? I'm just curious.