For marching band, schools compete against other schools in the same UIL conference. The 33 regions are grouped into nine areas (named A-I) for Conferences 5A and 6A, and five areas (A-E) for Conference 4A and down. All schools of all conferences compete in region competition annually, as a fall semester activity. However, in even-numbered years schools in Conferences 2A, 4A, and 6A can advance from region to area and state, and in odd-numbered years schools from Conferences 3A and 5A can advance from region to area and state, in addition to schools in Conference 1A may advance from region to state (There are no Area contests for Conference 1A, only for 2A and up). In order for bands to advance from Region to Area, they need to get an overall Division 1 from at least two Region judges, whether it be a 1-2-1, 2-1-1, 1-1-2, etc... the bands then will advance to the Area Competition. In order to make State, the band needs to make it to the Area Final competition AND make it to the top 3-5 bands to get to State. The Area and State winner is the school with the lowest ordinal score when the rankings from each judge are tabulated. For example, School 1 receives a first place score from three judges, a second place score from the fourth judge, and a fourth place score from the fifth judge. The ordinal score for School 1 is 9 (1+1+1+2+4). School 2 receives two first place scores and three second place scores. The ordinal score for School 2 is 8 (2+2+2+1+1). School 2 would be the champion despite receiving fewer first place scores because School 2's ordinal score is lower than School 1's. Thus, overall placement in the caption area for each judge is more important than the raw score awarded by the judge.