GCSE grade boundaries 2025: the marks each board needed

GCSE grade boundaries June 2025: where to find your board

The June 2025 figures in this guide come from AQA (version 1.0, published 21 August 2025), Pearson Edexcel, OCR (version 1.0, published 21 August 2025) and Eduqas. For every subject in a single board's own document, use one of our board pages:

• AQA GCSE grade boundaries 2025
• Edexcel GCSE grade boundaries 2025
• OCR GCSE grade boundaries 2025
• Eduqas GCSE grade boundaries 2025
• WJEC GCSE grade boundaries 2025
• CCEA GCSE grade boundaries 2025

One thing to settle first: whether your totals are out of 240, 300 or 200. A boundary is only meaningful with its total, and the totals differ by board and by subject.

Maths grade boundaries 2025 by board

Higher tier

Foundation tier

In 2025 AQA had the highest Higher grade 4 as a share of the marks (26%, from 63 out of 240), followed by Edexcel (22%), OCR (16%) and Eduqas (11%). Foundation grade 4 had the same ordering at the top: AQA 67%, Edexcel 60%, Eduqas 46% and OCR 45%. At the very top, grade 9 needed 91% with AQA, 90% with Edexcel, 86% with OCR and 82% with Eduqas.

Physics grade boundaries 2025 by board

Higher tier

Foundation tier

Physics is closer across boards than Maths. A Higher grade 4 was 35% of the marks with AQA, 36% with Edexcel and 42% with OCR Physics A. AQA Foundation grade 4 was 131 out of 200, up from 122 in 2024, and Edexcel Foundation grade 4 was 114.

Chemistry and Biology in 2025

AQA and Edexcel Higher tier, grades 9 to 3, both out of 200:

Edexcel's Chemistry Higher grade 4 (62) was well above AQA's (42), and Edexcel's Biology Higher grade 4 was 84 against AQA's 56. OCR splits each science into two specifications, Gateway and Twenty First Century, with their own boundaries: see the OCR page. For Combined Science and Computer Science, the AQA tables are in our AQA 2025 guide.

A worked example: half the marks

Here is what 50% of the total was worth in Maths Higher in June 2025:

Half the marks was a grade 5 with AQA and a grade 5 with Edexcel, and a 6 with OCR and a 7 with Eduqas. Marks do not travel between boards. Find your board's table and read your total against it.

Grade 4 and grade 7 across AQA subjects in 2025

Subjects within one board differ as much as boards differ in one subject. Using AQA's June 2025 Higher tier figures (Computer Science has a single tier), here is how much of the total a grade 4 and a grade 7 needed:

A Higher grade 4 in Chemistry needed 21% of the marks, and in Computer Science 41%. That is nearly double. Neither number means that Chemistry is easier to pass. It reflects how each paper is built and marked.

Ofqual says that the bottom of a grade 4 is comparable to the bottom of the old grade C and the bottom of a grade 7 to the bottom of the old grade A. So the standard is meant to be the same across boards and subjects. It is the marks that differ. Our GCSE grade equivalents guide sets out how 9 to 1 compares with A* to G.

A year on: what 2026 did to these numbers

Now that the 2026 figures are out (see GCSE grade boundaries 2026), here is how Maths Higher grade 4 changed from the documents for Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas, and from AQA's 2026 document:

OCR moved most, up 10 marks out of 300, while AQA's stayed at 63. Foundation Maths grade 4 rose 10 with Eduqas and fell 6 with AQA. This is why a student who read the 2025 table as a promise for 2026 would have been wrong with every board.

How a boundary is set, and what it tells you

Ofqual explains that boundaries are set after students have taken their assessments and marking is nearly complete, and that senior examiners recommend them. They vary to reflect how hard the papers were. For that reason a high boundary does not mean the paper was hard to pass, and a low boundary does not mean it was easy.

• The grade 4 line is a range, not a target. Aim some marks above it, because next summer's line will move.
• Look at the tier. Foundation grade 4 needed 45% to 67% of the marks in Maths in 2025, and Higher grade 4 needed 11% to 26%.
• Look at the board. OCR, AQA, Edexcel and Eduqas all publish different totals.

Combined Science in 2025

Combined Science is graded with double grades, so it has its own boundaries. In AQA's June 2025 document, Trilogy Higher (out of 420) needed 96 for a 4-4 and 228 for a 7-7, and Synergy Higher (out of 400) needed 93 and 211. On Foundation a 4-4 was 231 on Trilogy and 214 on Synergy. Edexcel also offers Combined Science, and OCR has Gateway and Twenty First Century versions. Because it counts as two GCSEs, a total just above a boundary gives you two grades together, so one mark can change both. The AQA tables are in the AQA Combined Science 2025 guide, and the other boards' are on their own pages above.

Use today's paper to estimate your grade

Try today's Maths Higher, Maths Foundation, Physics, Chemistry, Biology or Combined Science paper. Each is a short timed paper of 8 questions worth 25 to 35 marks. We write them, so they are not from any exam board and make a quick mock. Mark it, work out the share, and compare it with the share of the grade you need. 19 out of 26 is 73%, which is above the Edexcel Higher grade 7 share of 65% for 2025. The GCSE mocks guide explains how to sit one.

Common mistakes with 2025 boundaries

• Copying a Higher boundary onto a Foundation paper.
• Treating a raw mark as a percentage. 57 out of 300 is not 57%.
• Forgetting the second grade in Combined Science. It is graded in pairs.
• Using 2025 for a 2026 target. See the table above.

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UK · GCSEAQA GCSE grade boundaries 2025: marks for every gradeAQA's official June 2025 GCSE grade boundaries for Maths, Combined Science, Biology, Chemistry, Physics and Computer Science, with 2024 and 2023.