National 5 Physics grade boundaries 2026: A, B, C, D marks

National 5 Physics grade boundaries 2026

These numbers are the Physics row of the National 5 sheet in Grade boundaries 2026 (release 26GB, 4 August 2026); the counts are from the 2026 course report. Qualifications Scotland replaced the SQA on 1 February 2026.

An A needed 66.4% of the marks, and a D needed 31.2%. This is the last series on the old format: the 2027 paper is shorter and the total changes, see the National 5 Physics guide.

What the 125 marks are made of

The 2026 course still used the old structure: a 135-mark question paper (25 objective marks plus 110 written marks, 2 hours 30 minutes) at 80% and a 20-mark assignment at 20%, which together make 125. The assignment is a report on a practical investigation that you write up in school under supervision, and it is marked externally.

How many candidates got each grade in 2026

The 13,821 candidates were up slightly from 13,678 in 2025. 4,407 reached an A, 31.9%, down from 32.8%, and 1,582 got No Award, 11.4%, an improvement on 12.1%. The A to C rate was 72.3%, from 72.6%.

Turning a mark into a grade

Take a candidate with 108 out of 135 on the paper and 16 out of 20 on the assignment. 108 × 100 ÷ 135 gives 80, and 16 × 25 ÷ 20 gives 20, for 100. That is an A (83 and above), and 3 short of the upper A boundary of 103. A candidate with 54 on the paper and 12 on the assignment scales to 40 + 15 = 55, one mark above the C boundary of 54.

The D boundary is also calculated: with A at 83 and C at 54, a − c = 29, so D = 54 − ⌈57 ÷ 4⌉ = 54 − 15 = 39. The B boundary is 54 + ⌊59 ÷ 4⌋ = 54 + 14 = 68. Both match the table.

2026 against earlier years

Every line fell: A from 84 to 83, B from 70 to 68, C from 56 to 54 and D from 42 to 39, and the upper A from 105 to 103. Over three series on the 125 scale, A went 86, 84, 83 and C went 60, 56, 54, a fall of 6 marks at C since 2024. Both 2026 shares sit below the 70% and 50% starting points, 66.4% and 43.2%.

What Qualifications Scotland said about the 2026 papers

The course report says Section 1 was more demanding than expected and so were questions 4(d), 5(b)(ii), 8(a) and 8(d)(ii) in Section 2, so the boundaries were adjusted. It notes that some candidates may have been entered at an inappropriate level. For the assignment, markers saw many high marks and few low ones, with averages similar to 2024 and 2025, and no adjustment was made.

The report names what went wrong. Few candidates found the distance travelled by the accelerating car, because many multiplied the final speed by the time instead of using the average speed (question 3). Few picked the correct statements about the rocket (6). Only some chose the graph for a lamp, with many selecting the ohmic straight line (10). In the written section, some candidates wrote "there is no gravity in space" about satellites, and answers often lacked precise terminology.

What the 2026 boundaries mean for you

A boundary near 43% for a C means the paper was hard, not that the standard has dropped: the awarding meeting lowered the lines because the objective test and four written questions were tougher than planned. The lesson in the report is to use average speed with constant acceleration, to know the shape of a lamp's graph, and to write physics terms in full. Check motion questions with the Kinetic Energy Calculator and the SUVAT equations.

The previous series is National 5 Physics grade boundaries 2025, and SQA grade boundaries 2026 covers every course.

Check yourself with today's paper

Our National 5 Physics daily paper is a short timed mock of 8 questions and 25 to 35 marks. Divide your mark: 20 out of 30 is 66.7%, a shade above the 66.4% an A took in 2026, and 14 out of 30 is 46.7%, above the C share of 43.2%. Repeat on a few days.

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Scotland · National 5National 5 Physics grade boundaries 2025: A, B, C, D marksNational 5 Physics grade boundaries 2025 from the SQA: A needed 84 of 125, B 70, C 56 and D 42, with 32.8% getting an A, and 2024 and 2019 compared.