OCR GCSE Physics grade boundaries 2026: Higher and Foundation
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OCR GCSE Physics grade boundaries 2026
These are the qualification boundaries from OCR's June 2026 GCSE document. Physics A is Gateway Science (J249) and Physics B is Twenty First Century Science (J259); both are marked out of 180.
| Grade, June 2026 | Gateway A Higher, out of 180 | Gateway A Foundation, out of 180 | Twenty First Century B Higher, out of 180 | Twenty First Century B Foundation, out of 180 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | 152 | - | 141 | - |
| 8 | 141 | - | 130 | - |
| 7 | 131 | - | 119 | - |
| 6 | 114 | - | 103 | - |
| 5 | 97 | 123 | 87 | 121 |
| 4 | 80 | 108 | 71 | 106 |
| 3 | 71 | 80 | 63 | 84 |
| 2 | - | 53 | - | 62 |
| 1 | - | 26 | - | 40 |
Three years of Physics boundaries
| Physics boundaries | 2024 | 2025 | 2026 | Change, 2025 to 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gateway A Higher, grade 7 | 123 | 127 | 131 | +4 |
| Gateway A Higher, grade 4 | 66 | 75 | 80 | +5 |
| Gateway A Foundation, grade 5 | 115 | 114 | 123 | +9 |
| Gateway A Foundation, grade 4 | 102 | 101 | 108 | +7 |
| Twenty First Century B Higher, grade 7 | 118 | 123 | 119 | −4 |
| Twenty First Century B Higher, grade 4 | 70 | 74 | 71 | −3 |
| Twenty First Century B Foundation, grade 5 | 113 | 121 | 121 | 0 |
| Twenty First Century B Foundation, grade 4 | 99 | 108 | 106 | −2 |
Physics A Higher has gone up in each of the last two years. Grade 4 ran 66, 75, 80, and grade 7 ran 123, 127, 131. Over the two years that is 14 marks at grade 4, which is 8% of the total. Physics B Higher did the opposite in 2026: grade 4 fell from 74 to 71 and grade 9 from 147 to 141. The Foundation tiers are steadier, except for Physics A Foundation grade 5, which moved from 114 to 123.
Different suites, different papers, different movement. Ofqual says boundaries are recommended by senior examiners after marking and reflect the difficulty of each paper, so nothing connects the Gateway movement with the Twenty First Century one. The 2024 figures are from OCR's 2024 document and the 2025 figures from its 2025 document.
Each Physics paper in 2026
| Physics A Higher papers, 2026 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 03: Paper 3, out of 90 | 76 | 70 | 65 | 56 | 47 | 39 | 35 |
| Paper 04: Paper 4, out of 90 | 76 | 71 | 66 | 58 | 50 | 41 | 36 |
| Physics B Higher papers, 2026 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 03: Breadth in Physics, out of 90 | 69 | 63 | 57 | 49 | 42 | 35 | 31 |
| Paper 04: Depth in Physics, out of 90 | 72 | 67 | 62 | 53 | 45 | 36 | 32 |
| Physics B Foundation papers, 2026 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 01: Breadth in Physics, out of 90 | 62 | 54 | 43 | 32 | 21 |
| Paper 02: Depth in Physics, out of 90 | 59 | 52 | 41 | 30 | 19 |
The two Physics A Higher papers lined up in 2026, with both needing 76 for a notional 9, a change from 2025 when Paper 3 and Paper 4 were 10 marks apart. Physics B has a different shape. Its first paper is called Breadth in Physics and its second is Depth in Physics, and on the Higher tier the Depth paper needed 72 for a 9 against 69 for Breadth.
Worked examples with the 2026 boundaries
- Physics A Higher. 51 on Paper 3 and 55 on Paper 4 is 106 out of 180. The boundaries are 97 for a 5 and 114 for a 6, so 106 is a grade 5 and 8 marks short of a 6. In 2025 the grade 5 boundary was 92, so the same total sat 14 marks above it, against 9 marks in 2026.
- Physics B Foundation. 59 and 50 is 109. The grade 4 boundary was 106 and the grade 5 was 121, so this is a 4, 12 marks short of a 5.
What the Physics numbers mean for revision
- The Physics A Higher bar keeps rising. A grade 4 target of 80 is 44% of the marks, so work on the whole paper and not only the easy start.
- Equations earn marks even when the answer is wrong. Write the equation, substitute, then calculate. Method marks are separate from the final answer.
- Foundation grade 5 is a real stretch. It needed about two thirds of the marks in both suites in 2026.
- Use the correct suite's past figures. The Physics A and B Higher grade 9 boundaries were 152 and 141 this year.
Sit today's Physics paper
Start with Physics Higher or Physics Foundation, mark it, and convert your score to a share. The result is only a rough guide because the daily paper has 8 questions and OCR's papers are far longer. A week of results averaging 54% would match a 2026 Physics A Higher grade 5.
Common questions
What are the OCR GCSE Physics grade boundaries for 2026?
What is a grade 4 in OCR GCSE Physics in 2026?
Is a Physics A grade 7 the same as a Physics B grade 7?
Did Physics boundaries go up in 2026?
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UK · GCSEOCR GCSE Physics grade boundaries 2025: Higher, FoundationOCR GCSE Physics grade boundaries for June 2025, Gateway A and Twenty First Century B, Higher and Foundation, with paper marks and 2024.