Higher Maths grade boundaries 2026: A, B, C, D marks

Higher Maths grade boundaries 2026

The table comes from the Maths row of the Higher sheet in Grade boundaries 2026 (release 26GB, 4 August 2026), and the grade counts from the course report. Both carry the Qualifications Scotland name, which took over from the SQA on 1 February 2026.

An A took 69.2% of the marks, a B 58.3%, a C 48.3% and a D 37.5%. The C line was below the 50% starting point. See the Higher Maths guide for the course.

What the 120 marks are made of

The grade is based on the exam alone. Paper 1, with no calculator, is 55 marks in 1 hour 15 minutes, and Paper 2 is 65 marks in 1 hour 30 minutes with a calculator, 120 in all. That follows the course specification. Each paper starts with a formulae list that includes the equation of a circle, the scalar product and the double angle formulae.

How many candidates got each grade in 2026

Fewer candidates reached an A than in 2025, 37.6% against 41.2%, while B rose from 18.2% to 20.3%. No Award was 15.0%, 2,966 candidates, slightly better than the 15.7% of 2025. Entries were virtually unchanged at 19,792, up from 19,767.

Turning a mark into a grade

Say a candidate scores 82. The A boundary is 83, so the grade is B, one mark short. Add one mark and it is an A. That is how narrow the margin can be, and it is why you should check the exact boundary and not a rounded percentage: 82 out of 120 is 68.3%, close to 70% but not there.

The B and D marks follow from A and C. With A at 83 and C at 58, B = 58 + ⌊51 ÷ 4⌋ = 58 + 12 = 70, and D = 58 − ⌈49 ÷ 4⌉ = 58 − 13 = 45. The upper A boundary of 100 is 83.3% of the paper.

2026 against earlier years

The A boundary ran 84, 84, 84, 86 over 2022 to 2025 and dropped to 83 in 2026, the lowest of the five series. The C boundary ran 57, 57, 59, 60 and then 58. The most striking change is the share getting an A: 41.2% in 2025 and 37.6% in 2026, a fall of 3.6 percentage points that Qualifications Scotland's provisional summary also records, even though the A line came down.

What Qualifications Scotland said about the 2026 papers

The course report says the papers performed largely as intended and were accessible. Some questions were slightly more demanding than intended, and the boundaries took that into account: questions 5(b), 12(b)(i) and 12(b)(ii) on Paper 1, at upper A, and questions 5(b), 5(c), 9 and 13(b) on Paper 2. That is why the A line came down.

The report adds where marks went. On Paper 1, most candidates did not use the identity sin a ÷ cos a = tan a from National 5, most did not apply knowledge of the range of a function in 5(b), and only a few communicated the condition for collinearity coherently. Question 12, on inverse function graphs, was included for challenge and only a few got every mark. On Paper 2 many candidates did not explain clearly why a recurrence relation has no limit, few checked the endpoints of the interval in the stationary points question, and question 11 on logarithmic graphs was intended to be among the hardest.

What the 2026 boundaries mean for you

The top grade came down to explanations. In the report, the common failures were things a candidate can fix by habit: state the collinearity condition in words, say why a limit exists or does not, check endpoints, and use earlier identities. A boundary of 83 is within reach for a candidate who gets the routine marks and writes the reasoning.

If you are looking back, Higher Maths grade boundaries 2025 has the previous series, and SQA grade boundaries 2026 has every course. A Integral Calculator checks area questions.

Check yourself with today's paper

Use today's Higher Maths: Algebra and Functions or Calculus paper as a short timed mock: 8 questions, 25 to 35 marks, written by us. A mark of 21 out of 30 is 70%, above the 69.2% an A took in 2026. A mark of 15 out of 30 is 50%, a little above the C share of 48.3%. One paper is rough, so repeat it.

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Scotland · HigherHigher Maths grade boundaries 2025: A, B, C, D marksHigher Maths grade boundaries 2025 from the SQA: A needed 86 of 120, B 73, C 60 and D 47, with 41.2% getting an A, and 2024 and 2019 compared.