Higher Chemistry grade boundaries 2025: A, B, C, D marks

Higher Chemistry grade boundaries 2025

The table is the Chemistry row of the Higher sheet in the SQA's Grade boundaries 2025 (release 25GB, 5 August 2025); the grade counts are from the SQA's 2025 course report.

An A took 72% of the marks and a C 51.3%. See the Higher Chemistry guide for the course.

What the 150 marks are made of

In 2025 Higher Chemistry had two question papers and an assignment. Paper 1 was 25 multiple-choice marks in 40 minutes and Paper 2 was 95 marks in 2 hours 20 minutes, 120 marks for the two papers, at 80%. The assignment was 20 marks, scaled by 1.5 to 30, at 20%. That gives 150. These figures are from the improving assessment paper, which gives the arrangements before the 2027 merger into one paper.

How many candidates got each grade in 2025

Nearly a third of candidates, 3,237, got an A, and 25.9% a B, the largest B share of the sciences here. No Award was 10.6%, 1,068 candidates. Entries rose from 9,902 in 2024 to 10,120.

Turning a mark into a grade

A candidate scores 20 on Paper 1 and 72 on Paper 2, which is 92 of 120, plus 14 of 20 on the assignment, which becomes 21 of 30. The total is 113. That is above A at 108, so it is an A, 16 marks below the upper A at 129.

A different profile: 14 plus 50 gives 64, and an assignment of 12 gives 18, for 82. That is above C at 77 and 10 below B at 92, so it is a C. The B line is calculated from A and C: with A at 108 and C at 77 the gap is 31, so B = 77 + ⌊63 ÷ 4⌋ = 77 + 15 = 92, and D = 77 − ⌈61 ÷ 4⌉ = 77 − 16 = 61.

2025 against earlier years

The 2025 jump is the story. In 2024 the lines were A 101, B 83, C 65 and D 47; in 2025 they were 108, 92, 77 and 61, up by 7, 9, 12 and 14. The C line went from 43.3% of the total to 51.3%, and D from 31.3% to 40.7%. In 2019 the A was 101 of 150 and C was 69, so 2025 was well above that year too.

What the SQA said about the 2025 papers

The report says the multiple-choice paper performed as intended. Paper 2 proved slightly less demanding than intended, and the boundaries were adjusted to account for this, which is the reason for the rise. The assignment performed as intended.

On the multiple-choice paper, only some candidates gave the yield for step 2 (question 20) or the moles of sulfate ions (21). On Paper 2, few gained both marks for explaining why sodium's second ionisation energy is higher than magnesium's (1(a)(iii)), and few stated what is meant by an ionic bond (1(b)(i)). Few completed the labelled apparatus diagram for preparing and separating carbon monoxide (7(c)(i)), few gained 2 marks for the tin oxide mass calculation (8(a)(i)), few described the effect of changing pH (9(d)(iii)) and few drew the skeletal formula for pentanoic acid (12(c)).

What the 2025 boundaries mean for you

The lesson of 2025 is that the pass line is not fixed. A candidate aiming for a C at 65, as the year before, would have missed it by 12. Aim for the notional marks, 75 for a C and 105 for an A, and treat any boundary below them as a bonus. The failures named are recall points: ionic bond, ionisation energy, apparatus. Test yourself with the Enthalpy Calculator and a diagram you draw from memory.

The next series is Higher Chemistry grade boundaries 2026. Every course is in SQA grade boundaries 2025.

Check yourself with today's paper

Sit today's Higher Chemistry paper, a short timed paper of 8 questions and 25 to 35 marks, written by us. Mark it and divide: 22 out of 30 is 73.3%, above the 72% an A took in 2025, while 16 out of 30 is 53.3%, above the 51.3% a C took. Repeat on several days.

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Scotland · HigherHigher Chemistry grade boundaries 2026: A, B, C, D marksHigher Chemistry grade boundaries 2026 from Qualifications Scotland: A needed 105 of 150, B 87, C 70 and D 52, with 32.9% getting an A, and 2025 compared.