OCR A-level Biology grade boundaries 2026: Biology A and B

OCR A-level Biology grade boundaries 2026

The figures come from OCR's June 2026 A Level boundaries PDF. H420 is Biology A and H422 is Biology B, both out of 270.

A big step up for Biology A

After two years at 187 and 187, the Biology A A* jumped to 204. The A went 160, 161, 176, and the E went 66, 67, 72. The A* is now 76% of the total, against 69% in 2025. Biology B continued its climb at a gentler pace. Its A* went 171, 186, 193, a rise of 22 marks over two years, and its E went from 72 to 96. The earlier years are in OCR's 2025 and 2024 documents.

Ofqual says senior examiners recommend boundaries once marking is nearly complete, and boundaries vary to reflect the difficulty of each paper. A 17 mark rise is the sign of papers that were easier to score on.

Each paper in 2026

The rise in Biology A came from Paper 1. Biological processes needed 82 for an A*, up from 69, while Biological diversity rose by only 2, from 69 to 71. The Unified paper rose from 49 to 51 out of 70. In Biology B the Practical skills paper rose from 40 to 46 out of 60, while Fundamentals stayed at 80 out of 110. Paper figures are for information only.

AS Biology in 2026

AS Biology A (H020) rose to an A of 103 from 87, and is also above the 92 of 2024. The AS Biology B (H022) row is the same as in 2024 and 2025, at 78 for an A. There is no A* at AS.

Marks to grade: 2026 examples

• Biology A. 78 on Paper 1, 62 on Paper 2 and 42 on Paper 3 make 182 out of 270. The 2026 boundaries are 204 for an A* and 176 for an A, so the grade is an A, 22 marks short of an A*. In 2025 the A* line was 187, so the same total was only 5 marks short then.
• Biology B. 80 on Fundamentals (out of 110), 70 on Scientific literacy (out of 100) and 45 on Practical skills (out of 60) make 195. The 2026 A* line is 193, so the grade is an A*, 2 marks over the line. In 2025 the line was 186, so the margin was 9.

See OCR's guide to A Level grades: a mark equal to the boundary earns the grade, and one fewer does not.

What the 2026 Biology numbers mean for you

• The bar has risen. A Biology A student aiming for an A* in 2026 needed 17 more marks than the year before.
• Do not plan on last year's margin. A total that was safely an A* on Biology B in 2025 can be an A* by only 2 marks in 2026.
• Work on Paper 1 content. Biological processes is where the Biology A boundary moved most.
• Keep practising the long answers. They are marked on levels across all three papers.

Sit today's A-level Biology paper

Try Biology Advanced 1 or Biology Advanced 2. The daily paper has 8 questions and is not from OCR, so use the result as a guide. In 2026 the Biology A A line was 65% and the A* 76%.

Read next

UK · A-levelOCR A-level Biology grade boundaries 2025: A* to EOCR A-level Biology June 2025 grade boundaries for Biology A (H420) and Advancing Biology (H422), paper by paper, plus AS, with 2024 alongside.