OCR A-level Chemistry grade boundaries 2026: Chemistry A and Salters

OCR A-level Chemistry grade boundaries 2026

The figures are from OCR's June 2026 A Level boundaries PDF. Chemistry A is H432 and Chemistry B (Salters) is H433, both out of 270.

A first fall for Chemistry A, a recovery for Salters

Chemistry A's A* had been 243 in 2024 and 243 in 2025, and in 2026 it dropped by 9 marks to 234. Every grade fell: the A by 13, the B by 11 and the E by 5. Salters did the reverse. Its A* went 221, 216, 226 and its A went 186, 176, 198, so the 2026 A is the highest of the three years. The earlier boundaries are in OCR's 2025 and 2024 documents.

Ofqual says boundaries are recommended by senior examiners after marking and vary to reflect the difficulty of each paper. A 9 mark fall at A* on Chemistry A suggests that the 2026 papers were harder to score on.

Each paper in 2026

Chemistry A's first paper fell the furthest: its notional A* went from 92 to 86, and Paper 2 went from 91 to 88. The Unified paper stayed at 60 out of 70. In Salters, Scientific literacy rose from 78 to 85 out of 100, and Practical skills from 51 to 54 out of 60. These are for information, because OCR awards the grade on the total.

AS Chemistry in 2026

The AS Chemistry A (H032) A line fell again, to 110 from 113, while AS Chemistry B (H033) rose to 101 from 94. Both courses are out of 140 and there is no A* at AS.

Marks to grade: 2026 examples

• Chemistry A, a near miss. 75 on Paper 1, 78 on Paper 2 and 45 on Paper 3 make 198 out of 270. The 2026 A line is 200, so the grade is a B, 2 marks short of an A. Last year the A line was 213, so the same total would have missed it by 15.
• Chemistry B. 90, 80 and 48 (out of 110, 100 and 60) make 218. The 2026 A line is 198 and the A* line 226, so the grade is an A, 8 marks short of an A*. In 2025 the A* line was 216, so this total would have been an A* with 2 to spare.

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

What the 2026 Chemistry numbers mean for you

• The A* line is still high. At 87% it asks for most of the marks, even after the fall.
• Treat last year as a guide only. Chemistry A moved by 9 marks at A* in one year, and Salters by 10.
• Use the data sheet. The OCR A-level Chemistry data sheet lists what is provided, so you know what to learn.
• Revise organic and physical together. The Unified paper mixes the modules and is 70 marks.

Sit today's A-level Chemistry paper

Use Chemistry Advanced 1 or Chemistry Advanced 2. A daily paper has 8 questions and is not from OCR, so read your percentage as a guide. In 2026 the Chemistry A A line was 74% of the total and the B line 61%.

Read next

UK · A-levelOCR A-level Chemistry grade boundaries 2025: A* to EOCR A-level Chemistry June 2025 grade boundaries for Chemistry A (H432) and Salters B (H433), paper by paper, plus AS, with 2024 alongside.