Rating1 is a useful way of shedding light on a difficult choice, but evaluating complex problems with a numerical value can produce questionable results. Rating should be seen as a tool to help you understand your choices and to provide you with a framework for discussing priorities. It should not be used to impose a choice according to a set of rules. The rating technique should be used to support informed discussion on prioritizing problems for action – not as a means to avoid difficult discussion.When you rate problems you will find that it is not as easy as it seems. You may lack the necessary data to rate the problems; or problems may be so different that it is hard to prioritize them. Some problems are related. For example, misleading drug promotion on Viagra results in its overuse as an aphrodisiac. Below, we discuss an example to clarify how rating can be used to prioritize problems.