My school has a syllabus of techniques broken down by belt and stripe , which we are required to demonstrate at the official grading tests . In addition to this though , my coach takes a number of other factors into account competition performance for those who choose to compete i . e . competing isn ' t a requirement but it ' s agood way to guage how capable we are at applying techniques against our peers , attitude , whether we contribute to the club culture vs detracting from it , and also regularly rolls with each of us . We have approx 20 regulars that train at least couple of times , so it may be a few weeks been rolls with the coach sometimes , but I ' ve noticed that he will make sure he rolls with those he ' s considering promoting in the weeks prior to gradings . I think it ' s a good way of doing it . I think a structured not all are syllabus is good , for instance ours ensures a good understanding of fundamental positions , sweeps , chokes , arm locks and escapes . But also think the other factors are just a important .