Honestly, it is likely just that optional has a whole new set of requirements. Compulsory can be harder because you have to hit all the specific moves so it seems that optional will be such a relief after that, but optional brings in a whole new set of deductions and things get a whole lot more complicated.
For example, the split leap. In compulsory if you hit the required angle and your hands and head are correct and your lines are good there will be minimum deduction. In optional there are deductions for every degree off of 180 you are and another deduction if one leg is higher than the other and another for how high the leap is (amplitude adds up fast in optionals).
There are deductions for every bent knee and flexed foot, deductions for poor foot placement, dynamics, artistry, hitting with the music, ending with the music.
If her tumbling isn't as high or powerful as the judges like to see, big deductions. There is steps and chest positions on landing and specific skills have certain requirements like turns are a huge place for deductions. They stop the turn when the support leg drops to a certain point and they deduct a lot if they don't get all the way around, more deduction if they fall out or don't control the exit from the turn.
I have also noticed that judges like routines where the movements are sharp and clean and every movement is finished. And big tumbling of course will win every time.
The point is it is just hard to tell a lot of times. I am not a judge but a serious student of the code and would be happy to look at your dds routine to see what stands out if you think that might help.
Just for the record, sometimes it can be something off with the choreography or a little thing that just hasn't been noticed before. My dd is a level 9 and this is her second year using this routine with tweaks this year to accommodate her new passes and upgrades and such. It has beautiful choreography, people always tell me how gorgeous her routine is after she finishes and her tumbling and leaps are clean, but not huge as she is just not a power gymnast and is somewhat small. It is coming along for sure, but a power tumbler she is not. Anyway. She always scores lower than anyone thinks, her score always surprise everyone. Why so low? Her coaches couldn't figure it out and just told her not to worry about it. She was super frustrated.
Fast forward to the first time she ran her routine for her new floor coach (long story) and bam! She was like, what is that? To this one little hop thing she does before her leap pass. What was supposed to be just a choreography piece looked enough like a skill that she predicted they were likely taking .3 in deductions for it every time. Crazy!
Anyway, my point is that sometimes it is something big, sometimes it is lots of small things and sometimes it is something no one even noticed. Just tell her to keep working on getting better at her tumbling and dance elements, listen to her coaches and the corrections they give her and really work hard at cleaning up all the details.
And just be proud of her, optional is a huge accomplishment all its own. Just gets harder from here and a whole lot of crazy fun. Enjoy the journey. Good luck to her this season!
