Currently, in a full elite international competition, the meet is divided into several sessions: team qualifying, team finals, all-around finals and event finals.

During the team qualifying(abbreivated TQ) round, gymnasts compete with their national squad on all four/six apparatus. The scores from the session are used to determine which teams advance to the team finals and which individual gymnasts advance to the all-around and event finals. The current format of this session is 6-5-4, meaning that there are six gymnasts on the team, five compete, and four of the scores count.

In the team finals (abbreviated TF), gymnasts compete with their national squad on all four/six apparatus. The scores from the session are used to determine the medalists of the team competition. The current format is 6-3-3, meaning that there are six gymnasts on the team, three compete, and all three scores count.

In the all-around finals (abbreviated AA), the gymnnasts are individual competitors and perform on all four/six apparatus. The scores from this session are used to award the all-around medals. Only two gymnasts from each country may advance to the all-around finals.

In the event finals (abbreviated EF) or apparatus finals, the top eight gymnasts on each event compete for medals. Only two gymnasts from each country may advance to each EF.

New Life
Currently, competitions use the New Life scoring rule, which was introduced in the late 1980s (1989 or so). Under New Life, marks from one session do not carry over to the next. In other words, a gymnast’s performance in team finals does not affect his or her scores in the all-around finals or event finals; he or she starts with a clean slate.