You've just finished a past paper, added up your marks and got 112 out of 240. Is that a 5? A 4? Honestly, nobody can say until you look at the grade boundaries for that exact paper.
Boundaries confuse a lot of students (and parents), mostly because they move every year. Once you see why they move, they turn into one of the most useful revision tools you've got.
What a grade boundary actually is
A grade boundary is the minimum number of raw marks you need for a grade. Your raw mark is just the total you scored across your papers. If the grade 5 boundary sits at a certain mark, anything at or above it gets a 5, right up until you reach the grade 6 boundary.
The order matters. Your exam gets marked first, and the boundaries are set afterwards, once marking is nearly finished. That's why no one can tell you in advance exactly how many marks you'll need.
Your results slip only shows the grade, not your raw marks. The exam boards do publish boundary tables showing how marks convert to grades, though, so you can work out roughly where your total landed.
Here's a made-up example to show the idea. These numbers aren't real boundaries for any paper.
| Grade | Made-up boundary (out of 240) |
|---|---|
| 7 | 160 |
| 6 | 132 |
| 5 | 105 |
| 4 | 80 |
With those numbers, 112 is a grade 5. In another year, with a harder or easier paper, the same 112 could be a 4 or a 6.
Who sets them, and how
Not your teachers. Boundaries are set by the exam boards through a process called awarding, which is regulated by Ofqual, the exams regulator for England.
It starts with data. The board looks at the students who sat the exam and compares them with students in earlier years. For GCSEs, that includes predictions based on students' prior attainment at Key Stage 2. This gives a rough idea of where the boundaries might sit, depending on whether the paper turned out a bit harder or easier than before.
Then senior examiners read real student scripts around those possible boundaries and compare them with work that got the same grades in previous years. They put their judgement together with the data and recommend the final boundaries. The aim, in the government's words, is that "the standard of work needed to achieve that grade is comparable year on year."
You'll sometimes hear this called comparable outcomes. If this year's group is similar in ability to last year's, overall results should be similar too. It isn't a quota, though. Ofqual is clear that the proportion of students getting each grade isn't fixed and can vary. Boards also discuss their predictions with Ofqual, which keeps a close eye on the whole thing.
Why the marks move every year
No two papers can be made exactly as hard as each other, so the boundaries shift to make up for it. A harder paper usually means lower boundaries. An easier one usually means higher boundaries.
That way, a grade 6 this year should mean the same standard as a grade 6 last year, even if the number of marks needed was different.
Boundaries also differ between subjects, tiers and exam boards. Don't read much into a higher boundary on one board's paper. It doesn't mean that grade is harder to get.
What the 9 to 1 grades mean
GCSEs in England are graded from 9 (top) to 1, with U for unclassified. Ofqual pinned the new scale to the old letter grades at three points:
- Grade 7 lines up with the bottom of the old A
- Grade 4 lines up with the bottom of the old C
- Grade 1 lines up with the bottom of the old G
Grade 9 isn't the same as the old A*. It's set so that fewer students get it.
A 4 or above is a standard pass in every subject, matching the old C or above. In English and maths, it's the level you need to reach so you don't have to keep studying the subject after 16.
A 5 or above in English or maths is called a strong pass. That label is used for school performance tables. It doesn't make anyone's individual 4 worth any less.
Foundation, Higher and the grades on offer
Some GCSEs are tiered, with a Foundation paper and a Higher paper. Maths, the sciences (including combined science) and modern foreign languages all work this way.
Foundation offers grades 5 to 1, so a 5 is the most you can get. Higher offers 9 to 4. If you just miss a 4 on Higher you can get a "safety net" grade 3, but below that it's a U.
A 4 or 5 is worth exactly the same whichever tier you sat. Ofqual advises that students expected to get a 4 or 5 should usually be entered for Foundation, because missing that narrow safety net on Higher can mean a U. If you're on the borderline, that's worth a chat with your teacher.
And when you check boundaries, always use the ones for the tier you actually sat.
When and where boundaries come out
GCSE boundaries are published on results day, which is usually a Thursday in late August. In 2026 it was Thursday 20 August. AQA and OCR both say they publish at 8am, and Pearson Edexcel and WJEC Eduqas release theirs on results day too.
Each board keeps them somewhere slightly different:
- AQA: Exams Administration, then Results days, then Grade boundaries (older years are in the grade boundaries archive)
- Pearson Edexcel: the Grade boundaries page in the Support section of the Pearson Qualifications website, with a search tool to filter by qualification and exam series
- OCR: the Grade boundaries page in the Administration section of the OCR website
- WJEC Eduqas: the Grade boundaries page under "Results, Grade Boundaries and PRs" on the Eduqas website
Before you look anything up, check which board your school uses for each subject, and the specification code. Boundaries are specific to each qualification and tier, so a quick search for "GCSE maths grade boundaries" can easily hand you the wrong set.
Using boundaries with past papers
This is where boundaries earn their keep. We'd go about it like this:
- Use the boundaries from the same exam series as the paper you did (June of that year, for example), and for the same tier.
- Add up all the papers in the set. Boundaries are usually set for the whole qualification. Some boards also publish notional boundaries for single papers, but AQA notes these are for illustration only.
- Mark yourself honestly with the mark scheme. If you give yourself the benefit of the doubt on every answer, you'll end up with a grade that won't hold up in the real exam.
- Think in ranges. "I'm working at around a 6" is fair. "I'll definitely get a 6" isn't, because the boundaries will move.
Honestly, the grade is the least useful bit. Where you dropped marks tells you far more. Say you lost 9 marks on circle theorems and a mark or two everywhere else: you know exactly what next week's revision looks like.
For fixing those gaps, our GCSE revision hub has free topic questions with mark schemes and model answers. If you're on a specific course, the AQA GCSE Maths, Edexcel GCSE Maths and AQA GCSE Biology pages group questions by topic, so you can work through one weak area at a time.
Between full papers, keep maths ticking over with our GCSE Maths 10 a day sheets, a short set of mixed questions for each day.
Quick questions
Do grade boundaries go up if lots of students do well?
Not just because lots of students do well. Boundaries are set so the standard needed for each grade stays comparable with previous years. They mostly move to reflect how hard or easy the paper was, and the share of students getting each grade isn't fixed.
Is a grade 4 a pass?
Yes. It's a standard pass and lines up with the bottom of the old grade C. A 5 is called a strong pass, which the government uses to measure school performance in English and maths. It doesn't change your own result.
Can I get a grade 6 on the Foundation tier?
No. The top grade on Foundation is a 5. If you're aiming for a 6 or above, you'll need to sit Higher, which offers 9 to 4 plus a narrow safety net grade 3.
Where do I find this year's grade boundaries?
On your exam board's website on results day (AQA and OCR say they publish at 8am). Your school can tell you whether you sat AQA, Pearson Edexcel, OCR or WJEC Eduqas for each subject.
