What happens is that the gymnast gets 2 scores and they are added together to make the final score. It is changing a little this year.
They get a D score (difficculty score) and an E score (execution score). The D score is an open ended score and it is for how difficult the routine is. At the elite level these tend to rangee from about 4.0-7.0 at the moment. Then they get their execution score and it is a mark out of 10.0. So say they get a 6.0 for D score and an 8.5 for E score they are added together and they end up with a score of 14.5.
OK so how is it all worked out.
D SCORE
This scorre is made up of 3 parts. 1. is the element value's, 2. is the compositional requirments (used to be called EGR's). 3. is the connection bonus.
For vault it is pretty simple each vault just has a D score and they get that. The lowest scoring vault is a handspring and it is worth a D score of 2.4, currently and handspring double front is the hardest womens vault and it is worth a 7.1.
For bars, beam and floor it is more complicated and uses the 3 area's above. First is the element value's where they take the top 10 elements in the routine. and assign a score 0.1 for an A, 0.2 for a B, 0.3 for a C and so on up to 0.7 for a G. But this is changing a bit this year. From now on it will only be the top 8 elements. And only a maximum of 5 of those elements can be acrobatics on beam and floor. At least 3 have to be dance.
So lets say the gymnast did 1 x F skill (0.6), 2 E skills (0.5 each), 3 D skills (0.4 each) and 1 C skill (0.3) and a B skiill (0.2) and theey were the highest then so far the D score is 3.3.
Next we add the compsotional requirements. There are 5 of these on each apparatus and each one the gymnast fulfills they get 0.5. For example on bars they are
1. Aflight skill from low to high bar and a flight skill from high to low bar
2. A D value dismount
3. A release skill to catch the same bar
4. 2 different close bar elements and skills going both fwds and backwards
5. A 360 degree poriouette in handstand.
So now lets imagine the gymnast fulfilled all 5 requirements they get 0.5 for each so that adds another 2.5 to their score and now they are on 5.8.
Finally there are the connection bonus's which are either 0.1 or 0.2. So add ios say 0.2 connection bonus and the gymnast has a start value of 6.0.
So that is how it is worked out, some gymnasts go for the easier routines with lower start values but get a higher E score, while others do the opposite.
EXECUTION SCORE
Now the E score, this is a mark out of 10.0, just like the old system, but the deductions are much harsher. They lose 0.1 for minor mistakes like unpointed toes, going a few seconds over time, a small bend in arms or legs, a small wobble on beam and so on.
They lose 0.3 for moderate mistakes like leg separatation, bents arms and legs, low casts, not enough split in leaps, lack of body tension, poor body shape and so on.
They lose 0.5 for major deductions like large bends in arms and legs, landing in a deep squat, large steps on landings and so on.
And for major things they lost 0.8. like falls. But again this is changing this year and it will be a full 1.00 for a fall. so then thats the E score.
We use this system in Australia for all gymnasts from level 1 and up. For our kids getting a 9.5 would proabaly be roughly equivolent to getting a 14. I think its good we use it for all levels because it helps it to be better understood by the general public.
