form a critical opinion of

the act of arranging in grades

the act of arranging in a graduated series

a number or letter indicating quality (especially of a student's performance)

a judge who assigns grades to something

a relative position or degree of value in a graded group

place in a superior order or rank

put someone or something on a short list

distribute (players or teams) so that outstanding teams or players will not meet in the early rounds

assign a new order to

rank or order as less important or consider of less value