Advanced Higher Chemistry grade boundaries 2026, from Qualifications Scotland

Advanced Higher Chemistry grade boundaries 2026

The figures are from Grade boundaries 2026, which Qualifications Scotland, the body that replaced SQA on 1 February 2026, released on 4 August 2026. The 2026 course report gives the same minimum marks.

The report says Section 1 of the question paper, the multiple-choice section, performed as intended, but Section 2, the extended-response section, was more demanding than intended, and the boundaries were adjusted to account for this. The project performed as intended. See the Advanced Higher Chemistry guide for the content and the data booklet guide for the data you are given.

What changed from 2025

The boundaries at the bottom fell the most. D dropped 5 marks, from 60 to 55, and C dropped 3, from 76 to 73, while A held at 108 and upper A rose by 1. That squeezes the B and C bands: from A down to C there are now 35 marks, against 32 in 2025.

Reading a mark: 73 out of 160

1. A candidate's paper and project together total 73.
2. The C boundary is 73, so the grade is a C with no mark to spare.
3. The candidate is 17 marks under the B line of 90 and 35 under the A line of 108.
4. In 2025 a total of 73 was a D, because C started at 76.

Formula check: with C = 73 and A = 108 the gap is 35, so B = 73 + ⌊(2 × 35 + 1) ÷ 4⌋ = 90 and D = 73 − ⌈(2 × 35 − 1) ÷ 4⌉ = 55.

Advanced Higher Chemistry boundaries 2022 to 2026

In shares, the 2026 A line is 68% and the C line 46%. The C line is 4 points under the notional 50%, which fits a more demanding Section 2.

Entries and results in 2026

There were 3,045 resulted entries in 2026, up from 2,767 in 2025, an increase of just over 10%. The report's figures were prepared before appeals.

The A rate dropped from 30.0% to 27.8%, but No Award stayed at 9.0%. Because the entry grew by 278 candidates, the number with an A still rose, from 829 to 845.

What the 2026 report points to

• Multiple choice. Only some candidates were right on question 5, the pH of a calcium hydroxide solution, on question 16, a reagent that would not react with a given compound, and on question 17, identifying an alcohol from its reactions.
• Emission spectra. In Section 2, question 1(c)(ii), many described a line as an electron dropping between two energy levels but did not go on to explain a series of lines.
• Project strengths. Most candidates stated the aim and findings in the abstract, ran a second procedure or control, duplicated procedures, used sensible significant figures and compared their result with a literature source.
• Structure. Most gave a title, a contents page and matching page numbers.

Looking ahead to 2027

The specification valid from session 2026 to 27 lists a question paper of 100 marks and a project of 25 marks scaled to 34. That totals 134, not 160, so the 2027 table will not share this maximum.

Check yourself with today's paper

Today's Advanced Higher Chemistry paper is a short timed paper of 8 questions and 25 to 35 marks. Convert your mark to a percentage: the 2026 A line is 68% and the C line 46%. There is no project in it, so leave a margin for that side of the course.

Read next

Scotland · Advanced HigherAdvanced Higher Chemistry grade boundaries 2025 (SQA)SQA's 2025 Advanced Higher Chemistry grade boundaries out of 160: A at 108, C at 76. See the table, the 4-mark rise from 2024 and how many got an A.