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The 6.0 system was the judging system used in competitive until 2005, when it was replaced by the in international events.

The 6.0 system was split up into "technical merit" (in the free skate), "required elements" (in the short program), and "presentation" (in both programs). The marks for each program ran from 0.0 to 6.0, the latter being the highest. These marks were used to determine a preference ranking, or "ordinal", separately for each judge; the judges' preferences were then combined to determine placements for each skater in each program. The placements for the two programs were then combined, with the free skate placement weighted more heavily than the short program. The highest placing individual (based on the sum of the weighted placements) was declared the winner.

The 6.0 system[]

The 6.0 system was a ranking system. Skaters were ranked in comparison to each other in marks ranging from 0.0 to 6.0, with 6.0 being the highest possible mark.

The 6.0 system went through various different versions in terms of how scores were tabulated and compared with each other. Originally, all of the marks were added together into a total score and the highest score won.

That original system allowed skaters to take a large lead in one segment of the competition and made them effectively uncatchable in later segments. To equalize the competition segments, the score tabulation was changed from total marks to ordinals. Instead of each mark counting as a number, it counted as a placement. Placements were compared, weighted, and factored against each other to determine the winner.

6.0 as a mark[]

While the 6.0 mark by itself did not mean anything out of content, it was often used as a sign of perfection. British ice dancers & earned 9 6.0 scores for artistic impression at the , and were the only ice dancers to ever achieve that score.

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