FBLA’s 2026-27 rating sheets do not share one scale. We totalled every judged high school sheet in the August 2026 guidelines: totals run from 100 to 220 points, and the delivery rows, which score how you present rather than what you present, take about 9% of Data Analysis but about 36% of Public Speaking. If spoken English is your weakest scoring skill, that spread should shape your event choice.
How we split the sheets, and what counts as delivery
Every judged event in the 2026-27 high school guidelines, meaning the 30 presentation events, 12 role plays and 2 chapter events, prints its rating sheet at the back of its guideline. The one production event, Computer Applications, is scored on a sheet handed out on-site. We sorted every row into four buckets, starting from each sheet’s own section headings but counting the answer-questions row, which FBLA prints inside the delivery block, as its own bucket:
- Content: every row about your analysis, build, research, sources or topic.
- Delivery: the rows in the sheet’s delivery block (organisation and flow; confidence, body language, eye contact and voice), plus the extra delivery rows that speeches and interviews add, such as pace and fluency or greeting and closing.
- Q&A: the row for answering judges’ questions.
- Adherence: the guideline-compliance row, which scores 0 if the guidelines were not followed and otherwise 1-10 under FBLA’s 2026-27 change to presentation sheets.
Two cautions before the numbers. English still carries the content rows: a sound analysis explained unclearly scores as an unclear analysis, so the split shows where performance is scored separately, not where language stops mattering. And these are the national sheets, rewritten every year. Ask your adviser whether your chapter or China-level round uses the same sheets, and confirm current versions on the FBLA competitive events page. For how the formats differ before scoring even starts, see our competitive events guide.
The 2026-27 point split, event by event
| Event | Sheet total | Content | Delivery | Q&A | Adherence | Delivery share |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Data Analysis | 110 | 80 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9% |
| Website Coding & Development | 220 | 180 | 20 | 10 | 10 | 9% |
| Event Planning | 180 | 140 | 20 | 10 | 10 | 11% |
| Financial Planning | 150 | 110 | 20 | 10 | 10 | 13% |
| Community Service Project* | 110 | 75 | 15 | 10 | 10 | 14% |
| Local Chapter Annual Business Report* | 110 | 75 | 15 | 10 | 10 | 14% |
| Public Service Announcement | 110 | 75 | 15 | 10 | 10 | 14% |
| Financial Statement Analysis | 140 | 100 | 20 | 10 | 10 | 14% |
| Visual Design | 140 | 100 | 20 | 10 | 10 | 14% |
| Digital Animation* | 130 | 90 | 20 | 10 | 10 | 15% |
| Introduction to Programming | 130 | 90 | 20 | 10 | 10 | 15% |
| Digital Video Production*, Graphic Design, Supply Chain Management, Website Design | 120 | 80 | 20 | 10 | 10 | 17% |
| Introduction to Business Presentation | 115 | 75 | 20 | 10 | 10 | 17% |
| Broadcast Journalism, Business Ethics*, Business Plan*, Career Portfolio, Coding & Programming, Computer Game & Simulation Programming, Future Business Educator*, Introduction to Social Media Strategy, Mobile Application Development, Sales Presentation, Social Media Strategies | 110 | 70 | 20 | 10 | 10 | 18% |
| Eleven role plays (all except Parliamentary Procedure) | 100 | 70 | 20 | 10 | None | 20% |
| Job Interview* | 120 | 75 | 35 | None | 10 | 29% |
| Impromptu Speaking | 100 | 70 | 30 | None | None | 30% |
| Public Speaking; Introduction to Public Speaking | 110 | 50 | 40 | 10 | 10 | 36% |
| Future Business Leader* | 110 | 60 | 40 | None | 10 | 36% |
Four things the split tells you
1. Raw scores never compare across events. A score of 150 is a perfect Financial Planning sheet and about 68% of a Website Coding & Development sheet. When a chaptermate reports a number, ask for the sheet total before you react to it.
2. Heavy rows decide placings. On most rows the four performance levels pay fixed bands: a 10-point row pays 0, 1-6, 7-8 or 9-10; a 15-point row 0, 1-8, 9-12 or 13-15; a 20-point row 0, 1-9, 10-16 or 17-20. The heaviest rows therefore hold the widest gaps between competitors. In Data Analysis the single largest row is statement accuracy, worth 20 points: more than three inaccurate statements scores zero on it, and one or two inaccurate statements caps it at 9. That one row outweighs both delivery rows combined. Financial Statement Analysis puts 60 of its 140 points in four 15-point analytical rows, from financial condition to two or three recommendations. Event Planning puts 100 of 180 into five 20-point rows, and Website Coding & Development 120 of 220 into six.
3. Pre-judged work gets you into the final; the final presentation picks the winner. This is the most misunderstood rule in the guidelines, and it changes where your spring hours belong.
| Event type | What decides advancement from preliminary sections | What decides the final placings |
|---|---|---|
| Presentation events with no pre-judged asset | Preliminary presentation score | Final presentation score; judges break ties |
| Business Plan (190-point report), Community Service Project and Local Chapter Annual Business Report (100 each), Digital Animation and Digital Video Production (100 each), Future Business Educator (60) | Pre-judged asset plus preliminary presentation | Final presentation score; pre-judged score breaks ties |
| Business Ethics (70-point summary) | Pre-judged asset plus team-averaged test plus preliminary presentation | Final presentation score; pre-judged score breaks ties |
| Job Interview (50-point assets) | Pre-judged assets plus preliminary interview | Final interview score; pre-judged score breaks ties |
| Future Business Leader (50-point assets) | Pre-judged assets plus test plus preliminary interview | Final interview score; pre-judged score breaks ties |
| Role plays | Objective test score (team-averaged) decides the top 15 who reach the role play | Role play score only; the test breaks ties |
4. In role plays, the test is a gate, not a score. A strong test gets you into the room and breaks a tie; it adds nothing to the final ranking. Marketing’s guideline, for example, then gives 20 minutes of preparation, 7 minutes to present, two notecards each and no technology or props. The route from a chapter to the national conference is covered in our guide to how qualification to nationals works.
The matcher: start from the skill that costs you points
Most students choose an event by subject and then discover which of their skills the sheet actually pays for. Reverse it. Find the scoring skill that loses you the most points today, then look up where that skill is worth least and where it is worth most. The international students guide covers the wider language context for competitors from China.
| Your weakest scoring skill | Worth least in | Worth most in | What to do about it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spoken English delivery | Data Analysis and Website Coding & Development (9%), Event Planning (11%), Financial Planning (13%), Financial Statement Analysis and Visual Design (14%) | Public Speaking, Introduction to Public Speaking and Future Business Leader (36%), Impromptu Speaking (30%), Job Interview (29%) | If you still choose a speaking event, train pace, engagement, vocal clarity and poise as four skills, because they are four rows. |
| Thinking live against a clock | Presentations with a topic prepared in advance, and pre-judged events | Role plays (every content point earned on a case seen at the event), Impromptu Speaking, both interview events | Rehearse the Q&A hardest, since it is the only live segment of a prepared event. |
| Long-form writing | Topic presentations with no pre-judged document | Business Plan (190-point report), Community Service Project and Local Chapter Annual Business Report (100 each), Business Ethics (70) | The document only gets you into the final, so the presentation still has to carry it. |
| Numerical precision | Speeches and Sales Presentation | Data Analysis (20-point accuracy row), Financial Statement Analysis (60 points in four analytical rows), Financial Planning (20-point budgeting row) | If precision is a strength rather than a weakness, this column is where it gets paid. |
| Building code or designs | Speeches, interviews and Sales Presentation | Website Coding & Development (180 of 220 in content rows), Visual Design (100 of 140), Introduction to Programming (90 of 130) | Guidelines warn venue internet may be unreliable where it is provided, so keep an offline build that runs. |
Score your exposure in five minutes
- Rate yourself 0, 1 or 2 on each of the five skills in the matcher, where 0 means the skill costs you points today and 2 means it is a strength.
- For each candidate event, look up its delivery share and whether its content is prepared in advance or produced live.
- Run the exposure rules below before you commit a season.
| If this is true | Exposure | Before you commit |
|---|---|---|
| Delivery is 0 and the event’s delivery share is 25% or more | High | Book a weekly speaking slot from September, or pick from the lowest-share rows. |
| Delivery is 0 and the share is under 15% | Low | Put the saved hours into the event’s heaviest content rows. |
| Live thinking is 0 and the event is a role play, Impromptu Speaking or an interview | High | Run two timed cases or mock interviews a week, or choose a prepared event this season. |
| Writing is 0 and the event has a report worth 100 points or more | Medium | Draft the report early so revision time exists before the upload deadline your round sets. |
| Two skills are 0 and both feed the event’s heaviest rows | Very high | Choose an event that exposes only one weakness, and build the other next season. |
The point of the exercise is not to hide from weaknesses forever. A delivery score of 0 today is a training problem with a known cure, and the four separate speech rows show exactly what to train. The point is to spend one season’s single entry slot where your current skills are paid, and to know precisely which rows you are betting on.
Questions about 2026-27 rating sheet weights
Do all FBLA judged events use 100-point rating sheets?
No. In the 2026-27 guidelines, judged sheets run from 100 points for role plays and Impromptu Speaking to 220 for Website Coding & Development.
What does the adherence row check?
Guideline compliance, such as allowed devices, topic alignment and no talking to judges during set-up. It scores 0 if ignored, otherwise 1 to 10.
Does a strong pre-judged report win the event?
It helps you reach the final. The report score is added to the preliminary round, but the final presentation score alone decides the top placings.
Does the objective test count in a role play final?
Only as a gate and a tiebreaker. The test decides the top 15 who reach the role play, and role play scores alone then decide the winners.
Published by the FBLA editorial desk, operated by Hanlin Education for China-based international-school students. Official rules are set by the competition and change yearly — confirm current details on fbla.org. Errors are corrected within 7 working days.