Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-50.4.53.215-20200305041615/@comment-6697950-20200305082413

That's because the academy ranks students based on more than just battle outcomes. Style and Sacred Arts mastery are also taken into account in the first year. And Kirito sucks in both departments: his swordstyle can be considered quite crude, while memorising spells is just not his forte. Eugeo does slightly better in both fields, hence why he's ranked higher than Kirito, but still not at the top, because the Aincrad Style that he was taught just doesn't put much of any emphasis on form.