OCR A-level grade boundaries 2026: the marks for A* to E

OCR A-level grade boundaries June 2026

The figures come from OCR's June 2026 A Level qualification and notional component raw mark grade boundaries, which carries the label version 1.2 and the date 14 September 2026. If you checked an earlier copy of the OCR document in August and the numbers look different, use the latest version on OCR's grade boundaries page. The numbers in each row are minimum totals: reach one and you have that grade.

Each course has its own subject guide with the papers described: Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Maths and Computer Science.

Further Maths boundaries 2026

OCR Further Mathematics A (H245) is out of 300, made from two compulsory Pure Core papers and two options. Each combination of options is graded separately, because a Statistics paper and a Discrete Mathematics paper are not equally hard to score on. Here are all six combinations that include Pure Core 1 and 2.

The A* boundary across these six rows runs from 235 to 243. In the MEI course (H645, out of 360) OCR listed 30 combinations this year, up from 26 in 2025, and the A* ran from 261 to 294. Read the row for your own set of Y papers in the OCR PDF. Our OCR A-level Further Maths guide explains the options.

AS boundaries 2026

AS grades run from A to E, with no A*. The AS totals are 140 for the sciences, Computer Science and the MEI Maths, and 150 for Mathematics A.

A worked example: marks to grade in Mathematics A

Take a student with 84 on Paper 1, 71 on Paper 2 and 79 on Paper 3, each out of 100. The total is 234 out of 300. In 2026 the boundaries were 250 for A*, 208 for A, 172 for B and 136 for C. 234 is above 208 and below 250, so it is an A, which is 26 marks above the A boundary and 16 short of an A*.

Now apply last year's boundaries to the same total. In 2025 the A was 196 and the A* was 242, so 234 would still be an A, but with 8 marks to go for an A*. The same performance sits further from the top grade in 2026, because the A* boundary moved up by 8 marks.

How 2026 compares with 2025

The pass end of the scale, grade E, moved like this:

Biology A moved the furthest: A* rose from 187 to 204, and A from 161 to 176. That is a rise of 17 marks at the top, and the grade E rose by 5. Chemistry A went the opposite way, with A* falling from 243 to 234. Mathematics A kept climbing, adding 8 marks at A* on a rise of 26 the year before. Physics A stayed almost still, from 206 to 207, while the B-course Physics moved from 203 to 215.

Computer Science lost 2 marks at A* and 1 at E, so a total that made an A* last year would still have done so. Mathematics B (MEI) moved down by 3 at A*, the second year in a row that it has fallen (231 in 2024, 226 in 2025, 223 in 2026).

OCR does not give reasons in the boundary document. Ofqual's general account is that boundaries vary from year to year to reflect the difficulty of each paper, so a rise or fall is a statement about the papers, not about the grade.

What to do with the 2026 numbers

• Use the share, not the raw mark. A* in Mathematics A was 83% of the total in 2026, in Chemistry A it was 87% and in Physics A 77%. Those shares tell you what standard to practise at.
• Plan for next summer with a margin. The sciences moved by between 1 and 17 marks at A* in a single year. Aim for a total that clears the grade by a comfortable gap, not one that scrapes it.
• Know where your marks come from. Add up your mock marks by paper and see which paper holds you back. The grade is the total, so a weak 70 mark Unified paper can be rescued by the two long papers, and the reverse is also true.
• Check the version of the document. OCR republishes the PDF. The one used here is version 1.2.

Estimate your grade from today's paper

Pick your subject on our A-level papers, sit it with a timer and mark it against the worked scheme. These are short papers of 8 questions, so they are a check on technique more than a replica of OCR's three-paper totals. Convert your score to a percentage, find the share of the total at each 2026 boundary, and see which grade you are nearest to. For example, 65% is the 2026 A in Biology A, and 74% is the A in Chemistry A, so the same percentage on a daily paper points to different grades in the two subjects.

Start with Maths: algebra and functions, Further Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology or Computer Science.

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