Does everyones circuit do it by A's? It makes so much more sense then what my circuit, NYSFBC does.

Basically they divide the divisions in half. 3 of them are "Large School" divisions, others "Small School" divisions. Large School divisions have 4000 kids in there district or more, Small Schools the opposite. The divisions are (and ranked liked this);
National Class
Small School 1 (SS1)
Large School 2 (LS2)
SS2
LS3
SS3
The divisions were listed in skill order, decreasing.

Oddly when a new band enters they put them in LS2/SS2 not LS3/SS3. I guess this is to make sure they aren't champions by 5 points.

Heres what champions/ Last place finishers usually get (Champs/Last Place)
National* Class- 96-98**/87**-90**
SS1- 90-93/83-85
LS2- 88-90/80-82
SS2- 82-86/76-79
LS3- 82-85/69-74
SS3- 77-81/66-69

*National Class isn't like full of bands performing at BoA finals level. It just means they are competing at a level where they could compete in a national competition. They're still amazing though.
**This applies to all scores, scoring is based on a NYS average, so they are pretty inflated. A 60 normally is like a 80 in NYSFBC.

www.nysfbc.org probably does a better job explaining it lol

Here, for ISSMA, we have two types of competition besides BoA.

For ambition schools that wish to truly compete, ISSMA has the Open Class Competition. For open class the size of the band does not matter but the size of the high school does. Ranks for Open Class Competition are:

Open Class A = 1660+ Students
Open Class B = 947-1659 Students
Open Class C = 570-946 Students
Open Class D = 569 or fewer Students

For less ambitious schools here Ild recommend Scholastic Class Competition. Here the ranking is decided by the number of members of the participating organization.

Scholastic Class A = Up to 110 Participants
Scholastic Class B = Up to 55 Participants

Having Competed for two seasons in Open Class C and then one season in Open Class B, it is hard unless you are a top 5 Band to make it very Hardin the competition.

Here are some significant NYSFBC shows

Victor Blue Devils- From Light to Dark, Dark to Light-
https://youtu.be/liGLM7OwAiQ
They won National Class with the highest score ever achieved with a 98.40

Kingston Tigers (This is my band lol)- Trapped?
https://youtu.be/mQnZp2ueq-g
We got third in LS2, and our highest championship score and at the time the highest score ever, 86.65. We are the biggest in the state at 215 so we get our GE Music points super easily lol

Pride of Malverne- Unto the Breach
https://youtu.be/M2uPkfJEPmI
Not only are they amazing and with a kick ass show, they went from 6th with an 85.75, to 3rd and a 91.70.

I highly recommend watching these guys!!!
Cicero-North Syracuse Northstars- Wild, Wild West
https://youtu.be/qw6MLIpRITc
This was SUCH a good show. The color guard was amazing, and the brass was a little blatty but they also won this year again and balanced their sound out. They got first with an 89.15. We were actually rivals that year but we peaked at our home competition and there was a gap of 2.55.