GCSE grade boundaries 2026: AQA, Edexcel, OCR, Eduqas, WJEC and CCEA

GCSE grade boundaries 2026 by exam board

A grade boundary is the lowest total mark that earns a grade. It is set after the exams are marked, so it changes every year and it belongs to one board. The figures below come from each board's own document for the June 2026 series: AQA (version 1.0, published 20 August 2026), Pearson Edexcel, OCR (version 1.1, published 25 September 2026), Eduqas, WJEC and CCEA. Our own page for each board has the full table:

• AQA: AQA GCSE grade boundaries 2026, with a page each for Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Combined Science and Computer Science.
• Edexcel: Edexcel GCSE grade boundaries 2026.
• OCR: OCR GCSE grade boundaries 2026.
• Eduqas: Eduqas GCSE grade boundaries 2026.
• WJEC: WJEC GCSE grade boundaries 2026.
• CCEA: CCEA GCSE grade boundaries 2026.

If you do not know your board, look at the front of a past paper or ask your teacher. Boards that use the 9 to 1 scale are AQA, Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas in England. WJEC and CCEA are different, and the sections below explain how.

GCSE Maths grade boundaries 2026

Maths is the subject students compare most. The Higher tier awards grades 9 to 3 and the Foundation tier awards grades 5 to 1. Each board totals the marks differently: AQA, Edexcel and Eduqas are out of 240, and OCR is out of 300. Compare the grades, not the raw marks.

Higher tier, June 2026

Foundation tier, June 2026

Look at grade 4 on Higher. It needed 63 with AQA, 50 with Edexcel, 57 with OCR (out of 300) and only 28 with Eduqas. As shares of the totals those are 26%, 21%, 19% and 12%. The Foundation figures differ too. Grade 4 on Foundation was 154 out of 240 with AQA (64%), but 133 out of 300 with OCR (44%).

These differences are not a verdict on which board is easier. Each board writes its own papers and balances them differently, and the examiners set boundaries to give comparable standards. A board with a lower boundary has papers where fewer marks are scored.

GCSE Physics grade boundaries 2026

Single-subject Physics is graded 9 to 1 like Maths, with a Higher and a Foundation tier. OCR offers two Physics specifications, and Physics A (J249) is shown here:

Higher tier, June 2026

Foundation tier, June 2026

A Higher grade 4 in Physics needed 67 out of 200 with AQA (34%), 71 out of 200 with Edexcel (36%) and 80 out of 180 with OCR (44%). The gap between boards is much narrower than in Maths. For Chemistry, Biology, Combined Science and Computer Science, see the board pages above. AQA's are in our Chemistry, Biology and Combined Science guides.

Why the totals differ: the papers behind the marks

The totals in the tables come from each board's papers, as shown in the boards' own documents. AQA Maths (8300) is three papers of 80 marks. Edexcel Maths (1MA1) is out of 240 in total. OCR Maths (J560) is three papers of 100 marks, which makes 300. Eduqas Maths (C300) is two components of 120 marks, one non-calculator and one calculator-allowed, which makes 240. In Physics, AQA and Edexcel are out of 200, and OCR Physics A (J249) is two papers of 90 marks, which makes 180.

So a mark of 100 means very different things. It is 42% of an AQA Maths total, 33% of an OCR total and 42% of an Eduqas one. The only fair comparisons are between shares of each board's own total, and even those do not show that one board's papers are harder, because the examiners award the same grade standard whatever the paper. If you are choosing a board, look at the content and the style of the questions, not at the boundaries.

Edexcel and OCR also publish notional boundaries for each paper, as AQA does. They show how the individual papers behaved, and they are not used to grade you. Your grade comes from the total across all the papers.

WJEC and CCEA: grades that are not 9 to 1

WJEC (Wales) and CCEA (Northern Ireland) report differently, which is why their figures are not in the tables above. WJEC's GCSE Maths (3300) in June 2026 is graded A* to G on a raw mark scale: on the Higher tier, out of 160, an A* needed 118, an A needed 89, a B 58 and a C 27. CCEA converts each unit to a uniform mark, so a Maths candidate needs 240 out of 400 for a C and 320 for an A, and the A* was 393 in 2026. Our pages on GCSE grades in Wales and Northern Ireland explain the grades, and the WJEC and CCEA pages give the tables.

The same share of the marks, four different grades

Here is what 62% of the marks was worth on the Maths Higher tier in June 2026 with each board:

It is the same 62%, yet AQA gives a grade 6 and the other three give a 7. That is why you should never take a percentage from one board and apply it to another. Take your own board's table and read your total against it.

How 2026 compares with 2025

The same documents for June 2025 are AQA, Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas. Maths Higher grade 4:

And grade 7:

OCR's Higher grade 4 rose by 10 marks and AQA's stayed at 63, while Edexcel's fell by 3. Eduqas Foundation grade 4 rose by 10 marks, from 111 to 121, and AQA Foundation grade 4 fell by 6. No board moved the same way as another, which is why last year's number is a poor guide.

How marks become a GCSE grade

The process is the same everywhere. Add up your marks across all the papers in the subject, then find the highest boundary your total reaches. A total equal to a boundary earns that grade. For example, Edexcel Maths Higher in 2026 needs 146 out of 240 for a grade 7, so 146 is a 7 and 145 is a 6. Papers are not graded one by one, and the boards' notional paper boundaries are for illustration only.

What boundaries mean for you

• Use your own board's table. Find the subject and the tier you sat.
• Use the share, not the raw mark, to compare. A Higher grade 4 in Maths was between 12% and 26% of the marks, depending on the board.
• Expect movement. Boundaries change by several marks a year, so aim a few marks above the grade you need.
• Foundation caps at 5. A Foundation entry cannot earn a 6 or above, so ask your teacher about the tier early.

Use today's paper to estimate your grade

Sit today's paper for your subject and tier on our GCSE papers: Maths Higher, Maths Foundation, Physics Higher, Chemistry Higher, Biology Higher, Combined Science Higher or Computer Science. Each is a short timed paper of 8 questions worth 25 to 35 marks, written by us and not by any exam board, so it is a quick mock. Mark it, turn your mark into a share, and compare that share with your board's share from the tables. For example, 20 out of 28 is 71%. Repeat across several days and average with the Mean, Median and Mode Calculator. For how teachers read the result, see GCSE predicted grades, and for what each grade means, GCSE grades explained.

Mistakes to avoid

• Applying one board's boundary to another. The same share of the marks gives different grades.
• Quoting a boundary without the total. 57 means little until you know whether it is out of 240 or 300.
• Ignoring the tier. Higher and Foundation boundaries are on different papers.
• Taking last year as this year. Boundaries are set after marking and change every summer.

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