SQA grade boundaries 2026: the marks for every grade

The official 2026 boundaries, and who issued them

The figures come from Grade boundaries 2026, the workbook Qualifications Scotland released on 4 August 2026 (reference 26GB), results day. Older pages and PDFs still say SQA, and the body asks everyone to keep using them, so "SQA grade boundaries" and Qualifications Scotland's grade boundaries mean the same document. Each number is the minimum mark that earns the grade, out of the course's own total. The workbook has 130 course entries across the three levels; these tables keep the ones that match our daily papers.

National 5 grade boundaries 2026

Every course is its own scale. National 5 Physics is out of 125 and needed 83 for an A, while National 5 Maths is out of 90 and needed 65, so the raw marks cannot be compared across courses. The course guides give the papers behind each total: National 5 Maths, Applications of Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Computing Science.

Higher grade boundaries 2026

Higher Maths, Applications of Maths and Computing Science are all out of 110 or 120, and the three sciences and Human Biology are out of 150. In 2026 the Higher Chemistry C needed 70 and the Higher Human Biology C needed 75, so the same grade sat five marks apart on the same total. Course by course: Higher Maths, Applications of Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Human Biology and Computing Science.

Advanced Higher grade boundaries 2026

Advanced Higher courses are larger and the totals are too: Maths and Statistics are out of 115 and 120, Computing Science 135, and the three sciences 160. See Maths, Mechanics, Statistics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Computing Science.

How marks become a grade

Qualifications Scotland's page on how National Courses are graded says awarding sets only three boundaries for each course: C, A and upper A. The notional starting points are 50% of the total for C, 70% for A and 85% for upper A, and the awarding meeting moves them if the assessment was harder or easier than intended. B and D are then worked out from A and C by formula, where a is the A boundary and c is the C boundary:

Take Higher Chemistry in 2026, where A was 105 and C was 70. Then 105 − 70 = 35, so B = 70 + ⌊71 ÷ 4⌋ = 70 + 17 = 87, and D = 70 − ⌈69 ÷ 4⌉ = 70 − 18 = 52. Those match the table. The notional values for a 150-mark course would have been 105 for A and 75 for C, so the 2026 awarding meeting held A where it was and lowered C by 5.

A total of 66 in National 5 Physics, which is out of 125, is above the D boundary of 39 and the C boundary of 54, but below the B boundary of 68. So it is a C, 2 marks short of a B. The boundary is the lowest mark for the grade, so exactly 54 is a C and not a D.

How 2026 moved from 2025

Across the whole workbook the C boundary was unchanged for 20 of 48 National 5 courses, up in 13 and down in 13, with 2 courses given a new total. At Higher it was up in 8, down in 17 and unchanged in 22. The movements are small and go both ways, which is what awarding is meant to do: a boundary falls when an assessment was harder and rises when it was easier. Higher Chemistry C fell from 77 to 70, the biggest drop of the courses above, and Higher Human Biology C rose from 71 to 75.

Why some boundaries moved

The 2026 course reports say what the awarding meetings found. In National 5 Physics, Section 1 and four written questions were more demanding than expected, so the boundaries came down: A from 84 to 83 and C from 56 to 54. In National 5 Maths, two questions on each paper were less demanding than intended, which was allowed for. Higher Chemistry's second paper was slightly more demanding than intended, and for Higher Physics the C boundary was adjusted for two questions and the A boundary for one. National 5 Computing Science is the odd one out: the same workbook gives its boundaries, but its 2026 course report had not been published as of 11 November 2026.

The 2027 courses will not use these numbers

National 5 Physics, Chemistry and Biology and Higher Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Human Biology move to shorter exams in 2027, with different mark totals. National 5 Chemistry, for example, goes from a paper out of 100 to one out of 80 plus the assignment, so a boundary of 61 out of 125 does not transfer. The percentages are the reliable guide: C near 50%, A near 70%.

What the boundaries mean for you

• Look at the share, not the mark. An A needed 72% of the marks in National 5 Maths in 2026 and 66% in National 5 Physics, and both are called an A.
• Aim 5 to 10 marks above the boundary you need. The 2026 C boundary in Higher Chemistry was 7 marks lower than in 2025; the next one can go either way.
• Your school prelim is marked to its own scale. See the prelims guide before comparing a prelim mark with these boundaries.
• Read the grades guide for the bands. SQA grades explained covers bands 1 to 9, estimates and UCAS points.

Use today's paper to read your grade

Our Scottish daily papers are short timed papers of 8 questions worth 25 to 35 marks, written by us, not by Qualifications Scotland. Mark one, divide your mark by the total and compare it with the share the boundary table gives. Higher Physics 2026 is a good test: an A at 102 out of 150 is 68%, and a C at 71 is 47%.

1. Sit today's paper timed, with the calculator and sheet your real exam allows.
2. Mark it with the worked mark scheme and divide by the paper's total, so 22 out of 30 is 73%.
3. Find your course in the tables above and turn its A, B, C and D into shares of the total.
4. Repeat over a week. One short paper is rough; a run of results is a fair estimate.

Pick your paper: National 5 Maths, Higher Maths: Algebra and Functions, Higher Maths: Calculus, National 5 Physics, Higher Physics, Higher Chemistry and Higher Biology.

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Scotland · Dates and gradesSQA grade boundaries 2025: marks for every gradeThe official SQA grade boundaries for 2025 at National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher, for Maths, the sciences and Computing, with 2024 and 2019 compared.