In Australia we use a similar scoring system for the girls as they use in the elite program. The girls have set skills in their routines but can replace them with bonus skills and encouragement skills which make their start value's higher. Which means you can have a level 4 competing a round off and cartwheels in her floor routine against another level 4 doing round off back handspring back tuck, and front handspring front tuck in her routine.
You have one level 4 doing back hip cirlces, horizontal casts and pullovers in her bars and another doing cast handstands, clear hips and layout flyaways. Same on beam some doing a handstand and some doing a back handspring and everything in between.
The idea of the system was to allow girls to develop with in their level and work on some harder skills. If for example a girl struggled with bars but excelled on floor and was quite good on beam. She could do the basic level 4 requirements on bars and compete level 4 but still get a challenge doing the slightly harder bonus skills on beam and the much harder encouragment skills on floor. Or something similar.
But this is causing huge problems with level repitition. Many coaches are now keeping their kids in level 4 until they have every single encouragement skill and bonus skill and increasing their hours. So that there are level 4's training 22 hours a week.
It is very rare to see a kid in level 4 for less than 2 years, and 3 is common, 4 or 5 is not uncommon. It is crazy as newer level 4's or those who train less than 16 hours a week find it impossible to compete and are feeling down and quitting. Those spending years and years at the same level are also quitting as they feel they are not progressing.
Competitions have hundreds of girls competing in each of the level 1, 2, 3 and 4 divisions and around 10 in level 5 and 6, and around 3 in each of the higher levels.
It's crazy. For example level 5 the girls have to pick an acro skill on beam out of - cartwheel, back walkover, front walkover, tic toc, back handspring, front handspring or back tuck. Imagine that, a level 5 doing a cartwheel competing against one doing a back tuck.