Gymnastics Code of Points Explained: D-Score & E-Score

In artistic gymnastics, every routine is evaluated using two distinct scores: the D-score (Difficulty score) and the E-score (Execution score). Together, these two numbers form the foundation of the scoring system established by the Fédération Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG). Since the current system was introduced in 2006, it has shaped the sport's direction toward greater difficulty and higher aesthetic standards. This article breaks down how the Code of Points works, what goes into each score, and what changed with the 2025 edition of the rules.

What Is the Code of Points? History and the Turning Point in Gymnastics Scoring

The Code of Points is the official rulebook that governs how artistic gymnastics is scored at every level of international competition. Published by the FIG and revised on a four-year Olympic cycle, it defines everything from the difficulty value of individual skills to the requirements for routine composition and the criteria for execution deductions. Every major gymnastics competition around the world — from the Olympic Games to regional championships — is judged according to this document.

The current open-ended scoring system was born out of controversy. Following judging disputes at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, the FIG undertook a fundamental overhaul of its scoring methodology. As detailed in the history of the Code of Points, the most dramatic change was the elimination of the iconic "Perfect 10." Under the old system, 10.0 was the ceiling — a mythic benchmark that defined the sport for decades. Under the new system introduced in 2006, the D-score has no upper limit. The harder and more complex a routine, the higher the potential score, with no artificial cap on difficulty.

This shift fundamentally changed competitive strategy. Athletes and coaches could no longer aim simply for flawless execution of a moderate routine — they were now incentivized to push the boundaries of difficulty. The result has been a continuous escalation of technical demands at the elite level.

The USA Gymnastics Men's Code of Points page provides access to the current rulebook for athletes and coaches in the United States. The most recent edition is the 2025–2028 Code of Points, which introduced several notable rule changes from the previous cycle.

The D-Score: How Difficulty Is Calculated in Gymnastics

The D-score quantifies the technical content of a routine — in other words, what the gymnast actually does, regardless of how cleanly it is performed. At competitions sanctioned under Olympic and World Championship rules, two designated D-panel judges work together to arrive at a single agreed-upon D-score for each routine.

At the heart of the D-score is the concept of Difficulty Value (DV). Every skill recognized in the Code of Points is assigned a letter grade from A through J, with each grade corresponding to a point value:

• A: 0.1 points
• B: 0.2 points
• C: 0.3 points
• D: 0.4 points
• E: 0.5 points
• F: 0.6 points
• G: 0.7 points
• H: 0.8 points
• I: 0.9 points
• J: 1.0 point

The more demanding the skill, the higher its letter grade and the greater its contribution to the D-score. A simple handstand or basic swing is an A-skill; a complex release move with multiple twists and somersaults might be rated F, G, or even higher.

One of the most significant changes in the FIG 2025–2028 Men's Code of Points is the reduction in the number of skills that count toward the D-score. Under the previous cycle, up to 10 skills were counted. In the 2025 edition, only 8 skills count: the 7 highest-valued skills in the routine plus the dismount, regardless of its difficulty ranking. Additionally, no more than 4 skills from the same element group may be credited in a single routine, encouraging balanced routine construction across different skill families.

The Three Components That Make Up the D-Score

The D-score is not simply the sum of a routine's top difficulty values. It is built from three distinct components, each of which rewards different aspects of routine construction. Understanding these components reveals why elite gymnasts spend considerable time strategizing their routine design, not just training individual skills.

① Difficulty Value (DV)

This is the most straightforward component: the sum of the point values of the 8 counting skills in a routine (the 7 highest-valued skills plus the dismount). Incorporating harder skills naturally increases this total. However, the same skill cannot be credited twice — repeating an element earns no additional difficulty points, which is why routines are designed to showcase a diverse selection of skills. The group limitation (maximum 4 skills from the same element group) also means gymnasts must draw from multiple areas of the Code, rather than simply stacking every high-value skill from a single category.

② Composition Requirements (CR)

Each gymnastics apparatus has a set of mandatory Composition Requirements (CR) — structural demands that reward gymnasts for including certain types of skills in their routine. On most men's apparatus, there are three main element groups (Groups I, II, and III) plus a dismount group (Group IV). Meeting each requirement earns a bonus that is added to the D-score.

Under the 2025 rules, satisfying a composition requirement with a D-rated skill or higher earns 0.5 points, while fulfilling it with an A–C skill earns 0.3 points (Group I requirements are always worth 0.5 points regardless of the skill's difficulty). On all apparatus except pommel horse, performing a dismount of C difficulty or higher earns an additional bonus equal to the dismount's own difficulty value — meaning a gymnast who dismounts with an F-rated skill earns a 0.6-point bonus on top of the skill's base value. This structure creates strong incentives to finish routines with ambitious dismounts.

③ Connection Value (CV)

The third component rewards gymnasts for linking specific skills directly together in sequence. When certain combinations of skills are performed back-to-back without interruption, a Connection Value (CV) bonus is added to the D-score. The specific combinations that qualify for connection bonuses vary by apparatus and by the skills involved, which is why routine construction at the elite level involves careful sequencing decisions.

Connection bonuses are a key tool for maximizing the D-score efficiently. Rather than simply including more difficult individual skills, a well-designed routine can accumulate additional points through smart skill pairings — making the total greater than the sum of its parts. Coaches and gymnasts invest significant planning into identifying which connections yield the highest bonus for the least additional execution risk.

The E-Score: How Execution Is Judged in Gymnastics

While the D-score measures what a gymnast does, the E-score measures how well they do it. The E-score begins at a maximum of 10.0 points, and deductions are applied for every error in technique, form, and execution throughout the routine. The cleaner and more precise the performance, the fewer deductions are taken, and the higher the E-score.

At Olympic and World Championship level, seven E-panel judges independently assess each routine. The two highest and two lowest scores are discarded, and the remaining three scores are averaged. That average is then subtracted from 10.0 to produce the final E-score. At standard international competitions, five E-judges are used, with the highest and lowest scores dropped and the middle three averaged.

Deductions fall into four categories based on severity:

• Small fault: −0.1 points
• Medium fault: −0.3 points
• Large fault: −0.5 points
• Fall: −1.0 point

To put this in concrete terms: a slight shuffle of the feet on landing might cost 0.1 points; a significant stumble or lurch could mean 0.5 points; touching the floor with a hand counts as a fall at 1.0 point. Bent knees during a handstand, a piked body position when a stretched one is required, legs that separate during a release skill, a flexed foot — all of these carry deductions that accumulate over the course of a routine.

This deduction-based structure is why execution remains so critical even as difficulty has escalated dramatically. A gymnast who performs a moderately difficult routine with near-perfect form can outscore a rival who attempts a more ambitious program but accumulates errors. The E-score functions as the sport's quality control mechanism, ensuring that increased difficulty does not come at the expense of technical and aesthetic standards.

Beyond the D- and E-scores, there is a third layer of scoring called the Neutral Deduction (ND). Applied independently of both panels, neutral deductions are assessed for violations such as a routine that falls below the minimum time requirement, stepping out of bounds on floor exercise, or other procedural infractions. These deductions are subtracted directly from the combined D+E total.

Key Changes in the 2025–2028 Code of Points

The 2025–2028 FIG Men's Code of Points introduced several meaningful updates from the previous cycle. As noted in Inside Gymnastics magazine's analysis of the 2028 Code, these changes have direct implications for D-score levels and routine design strategies across the sport.

• Reduction in counting skills: The number of skills counted toward the D-score has been reduced from 10 to 8 (the top 7 difficulty-valued skills plus the dismount). This change aligns men's senior rules with the junior code and effectively eliminates the strategy of padding routines with lower-difficulty skills to reach the 10-skill count. Every counted skill must now earn its place in the routine through genuine difficulty value.
• Relaxed angle tolerances for strength elements: For static strength holds such as the cross on rings, deductions will not apply if the body position is within 5 degrees of the required angle. For swing and circle elements, a 15-degree tolerance has been introduced. This represents a moderate easing of execution standards for certain technically demanding positions.
• Enhanced dismount bonuses: The new rules formally establish that successfully completing the dismount element group earns a bonus equal to the difficulty value of the dismount itself — for example, an F-rated dismount earns a 0.6-point group bonus in addition to its base difficulty value. This creates stronger incentives for gymnasts to invest in high-difficulty dismounts rather than playing it safe with simpler ones.
• Landing bonus on vault: A new 0.1-point bonus is available on vault for a perfectly stuck landing with no steps or movement. This small but meaningful addition rewards exceptional landing precision on an apparatus where landings have historically been difficult to perfect.
• Standardized warm-up time: The podium warm-up time before competition has been unified to 50 seconds across all apparatus, removing previous inconsistencies between events.

Of these changes, the reduction in counting skills is arguably the most consequential. Because it directly compresses the difficulty ceiling for routines, gymnasts who previously relied on a broad base of mid-difficulty skills to accumulate D-score points must now reconfigure their routines to front-load higher-value elements. The change particularly affects athletes at the boundary of the elite tier, where routine construction has historically been more conservative.

Balancing D-Score and E-Score: The Strategic Core of Gymnastics Competition

Understanding the structure of the Code of Points reveals the central strategic tension in gymnastics competition: the relationship between difficulty and execution. Because the final score is simply D + E (minus any neutral deductions), every decision about routine construction involves a trade-off between pushing difficulty higher and preserving the execution quality needed to maintain a strong E-score.

The arithmetic is straightforward, but the implications run deep. Consider a gymnast whose routine earns a D-score of 6.0 and who takes 1.0 point in execution deductions. The final score is 6.0 + (10.0 − 1.0) = 15.0. Now suppose that gymnast upgrades the routine to a D-score of 7.0, but the added difficulty causes execution to suffer, resulting in 2.5 points in deductions. The new total is 7.0 + (10.0 − 2.5) = 14.5 — actually lower than before, despite the increased difficulty. Chasing difficulty at the expense of execution is a losing proposition.

This dynamic explains why the most successful gymnasts at the world level are not simply those with the highest individual skill ratings, but those who can perform demanding, well-constructed routines with consistent technical precision. The optimal strategy is to find the difficulty ceiling that a gymnast can sustain with minimal execution errors — and to build a routine that maximizes D-score not just through raw skill difficulty, but through smart composition requirements and connection bonuses.

At the very top of the sport, where execution quality is relatively similar among the world's best, small differences in D-score can and do decide medals. A 0.1-point difference in D-score can swing a competition result when everything else is equal. This is why elite programs invest enormous effort in difficulty upgrades — not because execution does not matter, but because when execution is already near its ceiling, difficulty becomes the primary differentiator.

The Code of Points, with its dual-score system, ultimately encodes the sport's core values: gymnastics should be both technically ambitious and aesthetically refined. Difficulty without execution is penalized; execution without ambition is outscored. The most celebrated performances in the sport — the routines that linger in memory long after a competition ends — are typically those that manage to be both: breathtakingly difficult and executed with apparent ease.

For spectators, understanding even the basics of the D-score and E-score transforms the viewing experience. Rather than simply watching for falls or impressive-looking skills, informed viewers can appreciate the strategic thinking behind routine construction, recognize the specific moments where deductions occur, and understand why one gymnast outscores another even after what appears to the untrained eye to be an equally impressive performance. The Code of Points is not just a rulebook — it is the lens through which the sport's deepest competitive drama unfolds.