This is a 7th degree polynomial:

This guy has 7 letters...
The degree is 7.

This is a 1st degree polynomial:

This guy has 1 letter...
The degree is 1.

What about this guy?

How many letters does he have?  ZERO!
So, he's a zero degree polynomial.

By the way, the coefficients don't have anything to do with the degree.

---

YOUR TURN:

Find the degree:

---

Before we go on, I want you to know that Algebra isn't going to be just a bunch of weird words that you don't understand.  I just had to start with some words at the beginning so you'd know what the heck I'm talking about!