Advanced Higher Biology grade boundaries 2026: upper A falls 9 marks

Advanced Higher Biology grade boundaries 2026

Qualifications Scotland, which became Scotland's awarding body on 1 February 2026, published these in Grade boundaries 2026. Its 2026 course report has the same minimum marks.

The report says the question paper had the appropriate balance of questions to test knowledge, understanding and skills, and that the marking and examining teams found it fair, balanced and accessible. Section 1 performed as intended and Section 2 was more challenging than intended, which was taken into account in the boundaries. The project performed as intended. Our Advanced Higher Biology guide covers the course.

Biology 2026 against 2025

The upper A boundary fell by 9 marks, from 130 to 121, which is the biggest fall in any boundary across Maths, Mechanics, Statistics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Computing Science in 2026. The C line did not move, so the band from C to A narrowed from 31 marks to 29. D rose by 1.

A worked example: 88 out of 160

1. Exam and project marks add up to 88.
2. 88 is at least 83 and below 98, so the grade is a B.
3. It sits 5 marks above the B line and 10 short of an A.
4. In 2025, 88 was also a B, but the A line was 100, 12 marks away.

Under SQA's rule, with C = 69 and A = 98 the gap is 29, so B = 69 + ⌊(2 × 29 + 1) ÷ 4⌋ = 83 and D = 69 − ⌈(2 × 29 − 1) ÷ 4⌉ = 54.

Advanced Higher Biology boundaries 2022 to 2026

The 2026 A line is 61% of the total and the C line 43%. The A line is the lowest share since the course moved to 160 marks.

Entries and results in 2026

There were 3,109 resulted entries, against 3,125 in 2025. The report prepares its figures before the appeals are done.

The A rate went up from 17.2% to 19.7%, and No Award fell from 14.5% to 13.0%. More candidates reached the A line.

What the 2026 report says to work on

• Mitosis and meiosis II. In question 5, some candidates wrote about mitosis when describing the separation of sister chromatids in meiosis II.
• Answer the question set. In question 9(d) some compared r-selected and K-selected species when the question asked only about r-selected species.
• Choice question. Question 12 offered the vertebrate eye (option B) or the sodium-potassium pump (option A). Option B was more popular, and the mean mark was similar for both.
• Project relevance. Some candidates included a lot of biology unrelated to their aim. Relevance depends on the aim and the organism.
• Negative controls. A few did not identify a negative control or say why one was not possible.
• Pilot studies. Some evaluations lacked evidence that a pilot study led to changes in the final procedure.

Test yourself against the 2026 lines

Today's Advanced Higher Biology paper is a short timed paper of 8 questions worth 25 to 35 marks. Mark it once the worked answers appear and convert to a percentage: the 2026 A line is 61% and the C line 43%. The paper has no project, so keep a margin for the project side.

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Scotland · Advanced HigherAdvanced Higher Biology grade boundaries 2025 (SQA)SQA's 2025 Advanced Higher Biology grade boundaries out of 160: A at 100, C at 69. The table, the fall from 2024 and what the course report found.