OCR A-level grade boundaries 2025: the marks for every grade

OCR A-level grade boundaries June 2025

Every number in these tables was copied from OCR's A Level qualification and notional component raw mark grade boundaries for the June 2025 series (version 1.0, published 14 August 2025). A boundary is the lowest total mark that earns that grade, so a total equal to the A boundary is an A. OCR A-levels are linear: every paper is sat at the end of the two years, and the boundaries apply to the total across all of them, not to each paper.

A-level sciences, 2025 boundaries

OCR runs two courses in each science. The A courses are the ones most schools teach. The B courses (Advancing Biology, Salters Chemistry, Advancing Physics) have their own papers and their own boundaries. All six are out of 270, but the grades fall in different places, so check the code on your entry before reading a row.

Our subject guides cover each course in turn: OCR A-level Biology, Chemistry and Physics. The practical endorsement in each science is reported separately as a pass or not classified, and it does not add marks to the totals above.

A-level Maths, Further Maths and Computer Science, 2025 boundaries

Mathematics A is out of 300 and the MEI course is out of 275. Further Mathematics A is out of 300 whichever two optional papers you took, but the boundaries differ by option because the papers differ in difficulty. Computer Science is out of 350 and the programming project is part of that total.

Further Mathematics B (MEI) offers more routes than any other course, so we do not list every one here. In June 2025 OCR published 26 option combinations, each out of 360. The A* boundary ran from 285 to 300 depending on the combination, and the E boundary from 83 to 95. Find your own combination of Y papers in OCR's document before you use a number. Our guides to OCR A-level Maths, OCR A-level Further Maths and OCR A-level Computer Science describe the papers.

How marks become a grade

OCR explains the process in How do we calculate your A Level grade?: it adds the component marks into a total, then compares the total with the qualification grade boundaries. Where one component is worth more than another, OCR multiplies by a weighting factor first. Grades at component level are published for information but do not add up to the qualification grade.

Here is a worked case with made-up marks in Physics A (H556). A student scores 71 on Paper 1 (out of 100), 66 on Paper 2 (out of 100) and 44 on Paper 3 (out of 70). The total is 181 out of 270. The 2025 boundaries are 206 for A*, 179 for A and 151 for B. 181 is above 151 and below 179, so the grade is a B, and it takes -2 more marks to reach the A.

The same method works for Computer Science with its three components: add the two exam papers (140 marks each) and the programming project (70 marks), then read the total against the row in the table. If your teacher has told you your project mark, you can see how many exam marks you still need.

AS boundaries, June 2025

AS qualifications are separate from the A-level and have their own codes. They have no A* grade, so the highest grade is an A. The boundaries below are for the subjects we cover, and they are useful if you are sitting an AS on its own.

How 2025 compares with 2024

OCR published the June 2024 A-level boundaries on 15 August 2024 in a document of the same layout. Here are the A* and A boundaries in both years.

The big mover is Mathematics A. Its A* boundary rose from 216 to 242 out of 300 and its A rose from 168 to 196, a gain of 26 marks at the top. Biology B went up too, with A* moving from 171 to 186. Chemistry A held at 243 for A*, and Physics A and Computer Science barely moved at A*, each by a single mark. Mathematics B (MEI) went the other way, with A* falling from 231 to 226.

The A* boundary is easier to judge as a share of the total than as a raw mark, because the courses are out of different totals:

At the bottom of the scale the E boundary also shifted:

These movements go in both directions, and they do not measure how hard a grade is to earn. Ofqual says that grade boundaries are set after students have taken their assessments and marking is nearly complete, that senior examiners recommend them, and that they vary from year to year to reflect the difficulty of each paper. A boundary that goes up usually means the paper was easier, not that the grade became harder.

What the boundaries mean for your revision

• Treat last year's numbers as a range. They show where A* and A sit on papers of this style, and the real boundary will move by a few marks either way. Between 2024 and 2025 the A boundary for Mathematics A moved by 28 marks.
• Aim 10 to 20 marks above the grade you need. On a total of 270 or 300 that is about 4 to 7 per cent of the marks, and it covers a harder paper.
• Work on the third paper. In the A courses for the sciences, Paper 3 (Unified) is only 70 marks, but it draws on the whole course and is worth 26 per cent of the grade.
• Compare shares, not raw marks. The A boundary in Chemistry A is 79% of the total, but in Biology A it is 60%. The questions differ, so the raw marks are not like for like.

Use today's paper to estimate your grade

Sit today's paper for your subject on our A-level papers. It is a short timed paper of 8 questions, not a full OCR paper, and it was not written by OCR. Mark it with the worked mark scheme, divide your mark by the paper's total, then read that share against the shares at each boundary in the tables above. A score of 22 out of 30 is 73 per cent, which is a little under the 79% that the Chemistry A boundary for an A needed in 2025, and well over the 60% that it needed in Biology A.

The tracks cover A-level Maths: algebra and functions, calculus, statistics and mechanics, Further Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Computer Science. Repeat it on several days and average the percentages: one short paper is a rough guide, and a run of results is a better one.

Common mistakes with OCR boundaries

• Reading the wrong course. Physics A and Physics B are both out of 270 and look alike, but the A* was 206 for one and 203 for the other. Check the H code.
• Using an AS row for an A-level. AS has no A*, and its totals are 140 or 150.
• Expecting a paper-by-paper grade. OCR publishes component boundaries, but the grade comes from the total.
• Forgetting the weighting. Where papers are weighted, the weighted marks are what get added. Read OCR's document for the course.
• Assuming one boundary covers Further Maths B. That course has dozens of combinations, each with its own row.

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