OCR GCSE Combined Science grade boundaries 2026: every double grade
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OCR GCSE Combined Science grade boundaries 2026
Every figure is from OCR's June 2026 GCSE boundaries PDF. The qualification is out of 360 and gives a pair of grades. Higher papers award 9-9 to 4-3, and Foundation papers award 5-5 to 1-1. A dash means the tier does not award that pair.
| Grade, June 2026 | Gateway A Foundation | Gateway A Higher | Twenty First Century B Foundation | Twenty First Century B Higher |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9-9 | - | 275 | - | 257 |
| 9-8 | - | 261 | - | 244 |
| 8-8 | - | 248 | - | 231 |
| 8-7 | - | 235 | - | 218 |
| 7-7 | - | 222 | - | 206 |
| 7-6 | - | 205 | - | 189 |
| 6-6 | - | 188 | - | 172 |
| 6-5 | - | 171 | - | 155 |
| 5-5 | 209 | 154 | 218 | 139 |
| 5-4 | 191 | 137 | 203 | 123 |
| 4-4 | 174 | 121 | 189 | 107 |
| 4-3 | 153 | 113 | 166 | 99 |
| 3-3 | 132 | - | 143 | - |
| 3-2 | 111 | - | 120 | - |
| 2-2 | 90 | - | 97 | - |
| 2-1 | 69 | - | 74 | - |
| 1-1 | 48 | - | 51 | - |
Three years of Combined Science boundaries
| Combined Science boundaries | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | Change, 2025 to 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gateway A Higher, 4-4 | 129 | 126 | 121 | −5 |
| Gateway A Higher, 5-5 | 160 | 158 | 154 | −4 |
| Gateway A Higher, 7-7 | 224 | 226 | 222 | −4 |
| Gateway A Foundation, 4-4 | 194 | 176 | 174 | −2 |
| Gateway A Foundation, 5-5 | 220 | 212 | 209 | −3 |
| Twenty First Century B Higher, 4-4 | 108 | 106 | 107 | +1 |
| Twenty First Century B Higher, 7-7 | 201 | 202 | 206 | +4 |
| Twenty First Century B Foundation, 4-4 | 188 | 181 | 189 | +8 |
| Twenty First Century B Foundation, 5-5 | 219 | 210 | 218 | +8 |
Gateway A Higher 4-4 has gone 129, 126, 121, so it keeps dropping, and by 2026 it was 8 marks lower than two years before. Gateway A Foundation 4-4 has dropped from 194 through 176 to 174. Twenty First Century B behaved differently. Its Foundation 5-5 jumped from 210 to 218 and its 4-4 from 181 to 189, while the B Higher 4-4 moved just +1. The earlier years are in OCR's 2025 and 2024 documents.
These shifts follow the papers. Ofqual says senior examiners recommend the boundaries after marking and they vary to reflect each paper's difficulty, so a falling boundary on one suite says nothing about the other.
Twenty First Century B, paper by paper
The B suite has four papers at each tier. Biology, Chemistry and Physics are 95 marks each and Combined Science is 75, so the total is 360. In 2026 the notional boundaries were:
| Foundation papers, 2026 | 5-5 | 4-4 | 3-3 | 2-2 | 1-1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 01: Biology, out of 95 | 57 | 50 | 38 | 26 | 13 |
| Paper 02: Chemistry, out of 95 | 63 | 55 | 43 | 31 | 19 |
| Paper 03: Physics, out of 95 | 51 | 44 | 32 | 20 | 8 |
| Paper 04: Combined Science, out of 75 | 47 | 40 | 30 | 20 | 11 |
| Higher papers, 2026 | 9-9 | 8-8 | 7-7 | 6-6 | 5-5 | 4-4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 05: Biology, out of 95 | 66 | 58 | 51 | 41 | 32 | 23 |
| Paper 06: Chemistry, out of 95 | 72 | 65 | 58 | 50 | 42 | 34 |
| Paper 07: Physics, out of 95 | 63 | 56 | 49 | 40 | 31 | 22 |
| Paper 08: Combined Science, out of 75 | 56 | 52 | 48 | 41 | 34 | 28 |
On the Higher tier, the Chemistry paper needed 72 out of 95 for a 9-9, against 66 in Biology and 63 in Physics. The shared Combined Science paper (out of 75) needed 56. OCR publishes these for information, and the grade is decided on the total.
Worked examples from 2026
- Gateway A Higher. A total of 140 out of 360 sits above the 5-4 boundary of 137 and below the 5-5 boundary of 154, so the result is 5-4, 14 short of 5-5. In 2025 the 5-4 line was 142, so the same total was 2 marks under it, which in 2025 meant a 4-4.
- Twenty First Century B Foundation. A total of 200 is above 189 (4-4) and below 203 (5-4), so the result is 4-4, 3 marks from 5-4.
Using the 2026 table
- Match the suite first. The same 4-4 means a different mark on A and B.
- Use shares across suites. A Higher 4-4 was 34% of the total on A and 30% on B.
- Treat a pair as two jobs. To move from 4-4 to 5-4 you are lifting one of the two grades, and that takes about 14 to 17 marks in 2026.
- Practise all three sciences each week. Neither suite lets one subject be ignored.
Sit today's Combined Science paper
Choose Combined Science Higher or Combined Science Foundation, mark it and convert the score to a share. It has 8 questions and is not an OCR paper, so use the result as a pointer. A share near 38% matches the 2026 Gateway A Higher 5-4.
Common questions
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UK · GCSEOCR GCSE Combined Science grade boundaries 2025OCR GCSE Combined Science June 2025 grade boundaries for Gateway A and Twenty First Century B, every double grade, with 2024 for comparison.