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

OCR A-level Physics grade boundaries 2026

These are the qualification boundaries in OCR's June 2026 A Level boundaries PDF. Match the column to your course: H556 is Physics A and H557 is Physics B.

Physics A holds steady, Physics B climbs

Physics A's A* has sat at 207, 206 and 207 in the last three years, the steadiest A* line of the OCR A-level sciences over that time. The A went 175, 179, 178. Physics B is a different story. Its A* has risen each year, from 194 to 203 to 215, a climb of 21 marks, and the A went from 158 to 185. The earlier years are in OCR's 2025 and 2024 documents.

Ofqual explains that senior examiners recommend boundaries after marking and that they reflect the difficulty of each paper. A rise on Physics B tells you about those papers and nothing about Physics A.

Each paper in 2026

On Physics A the notional A* was 75 on Paper 1 and 80 on Paper 2. That is a drop on the second paper from 84 in 2025, while the Unified paper rose from 47 to 52 out of 70. In Physics B, the second paper needed 84, up from 72, and Fundamentals needed 86 out of 110. Paper figures are for information only.

AS Physics in 2026

AS Physics A (H156) rose to an A at 106 from 93, which is above the 101 of 2024. The AS Physics B (H157) row has the same figures as in the previous two years, at an A of 98.

Marks to grade: 2026 examples

• Physics A. A candidate scores 70 on Paper 1, 72 on Paper 2 and 41 on Paper 3, so 183 out of 270. The 2026 A line is 178 and the A* line is 207, so this is an A, 5 marks above the A line and 24 short of an A*.
• Physics B. 88, 74 and 44 (out of 110, 100 and 60) make 206. The 2026 boundaries are 215 for an A* and 185 for an A, so this is an A, 9 marks short of an A*. The 2025 A* line was 203, so the same total would have been an A* then, with 3 marks over it.

The rule is in OCR's guide to A Level grades: add the marks, then read the total against the boundaries.

What the 2026 Physics numbers suggest

• Treat Physics B as a moving target. A candidate on Physics B needed 21 more marks for an A* than two years earlier.
• Physics A is a good model for a stable line. The A* share was 77% of the total in 2026.
• Keep an eye on the Unified paper. It is only 70 marks, but its notional boundaries moved by 5 marks at A* in Physics A.
• Practise the long calculations. Paper 1 and Paper 2 of Physics A each carry 100 marks of structured problem solving.

Sit today's A-level Physics paper

Try Physics Advanced 1 or Physics Advanced 2. The daily paper has 8 questions and is not from OCR, so use the percentage as a guide. In 2026 the Physics A grade A line was 66% and the grade B line 56%.

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UK · A-levelOCR A-level Physics grade boundaries 2025: A* to EOCR A-level Physics June 2025 grade boundaries for Physics A (H556) and Physics B (H557), paper by paper, plus AS, with 2024 for comparison.