WJEC GCSE Biology grade boundaries 2026: raw and uniform marks

WJEC GCSE Biology grade boundaries June 2026

WJEC's GCSE Biology (3400) is unitised. Each written unit is turned into uniform marks, the uniform marks are added, and WJEC's overall UMS table turns the total into a grade. Those totals are the same every year, so they are the first table below. The raw marks come from the board's grade converter for June 2026, and the specification gives Units 1 and 2 as written papers of 1 hour 45 minutes and 80 marks, each 45% of the grade.

Unit 1 and Unit 2 raw marks, Foundation tier

Foundation awards C to G. Unit 1 is Cells, Organ Systems and Ecosystems, and Unit 2 is Variation, Homeostasis and Micro-organisms. Each number is the least raw mark, out of 80, that earns the grade on that unit.

Unit 1 and Unit 2 raw marks, Higher tier

Higher awards A* to D, and WJEC's UMS document says a candidate who narrowly misses a D is given an E, so the table includes it.

Unit 3, the practical unit

Unit 3 has no tiers, and its uniform marks go up to 40. The 2026 converter lists it as the practical unit.

A Higher tier example

Take a candidate with raw marks of 33 in Unit 1, 40 in Unit 2 and 20 in Unit 3. The converter gives 135, 134 and 30 uniform marks. That is 299 out of 400. The total is above the B boundary of 280 and below the A boundary of 320, so the grade is a B, 21 uniform marks short of an A.

How 2026 compares with 2025

The 2025 raw marks are in the 2025 Biology page. This table gives the top and the bottom grade that each tier awards.

Foundation Unit 1 rose by 3 marks at every grade and Foundation Unit 2 by 4 or 5, so a Foundation candidate needed more raw marks in 2026 for the same uniform marks. The Higher tier moved far less, by no more than 2 marks. The practical unit rose by 1 at every grade, from 25 for an A* in 2025 to 26.

How Wales did in Biology in 2026

The JCQ release for Wales says 43.2% of Biology candidates got A*/9 to A/7 and 86.8% got C/4 or above, compared with 41.8% and 86.7% in 2025. JCQ notes that the separate sciences attract many of the most able students, so these shares are higher than in the Double Award.

What the boundaries mean for you

• Aim for uniform marks, not raw marks. A C overall is 240 of 400, which is 60% of the uniform marks, wherever the raw boundary falls.
• Tier is the bigger decision. Foundation tops out at a C, and a Higher candidate who falls just short of a D gets an E.
• Do not skip the practical. Unit 3 is worth 40 of the 400 marks, and a candidate who does well there can cover a weak spot elsewhere.

Use today's paper to find your level

Our Biology Higher and Biology Foundation papers are short timed practice, with 8 questions and 25 to 35 marks, written by us. Mark one and turn the score into a share. A share of 60% or more is the right area for a C on the uniform scale, 80% for an A. Because our papers are not WJEC's, use that as a rough pointer and not a prediction.

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UK · GCSEWJEC GCSE Biology grade boundaries 2025: marks per gradeWJEC's June 2025 GCSE Biology boundaries: the fixed UMS totals, raw marks for Units 1 to 3 on both tiers and each as a share of the paper.