Tier lists have become very popular online. But usually the tiers are F, D, C, B A and S, which confuses me.

Where is E? And why is there an S above A?

s is the special rank. that's where the s comes from.

and most tier systems don't skip the E.

Cos american schools skip it too

they don't do S, I think that's a japanese thing where S is equivalent to A+ and got westernised by JP Video games

A-D is the base grade.

F is a fail, like not even worth grading.

S is superior. Like a A++

They're from (one of?) the Japanese school grading system. S stands for special.

If you Google search tier list, about half the image results skip and half don't.

Many tier lists to have an s rank

They're using a grading system from US education, in Canada we don't use the D grade.

S tier is considered Superior or special, The very Best of the Best

Sorry, unclear wording on my post, i meant american schools don't do s

Inserting an E is a misunderstanding of the original system.

A, B, C, D, F is the standard grading system in the American education system. E is skipped.

In the Japanese system, the top tier is 秀 or shu which is given the letter S. (The full list is shu-yu-ryo-ka and fuka is fail).

When the two cultures combined in the online and gaming space, the novelty of shu / S meant it was used as something above A tier.

We definitely use D grade in Canada. It’s the 50-59% range. C is 60s, B is 70s, A- is 80-84, A is 85-89, A+ is 90+. At least in Ontario.

Cuz the 4.0 grading scale gives not enough numbers for an E before a failing grade. If 4 is an A, 3 is a B, 2 is a C and 1 is a D. Lower it again and it's no credit, a fail.