Grade boundaries are set after every paper is marked, so they change every single year. If a paper was harder than intended, the boundaries fall — that is the system working, not a mistake. This means no percentage guarantees a grade, and last year’s boundary cannot tell you this year’s. Find your board below and read the number from the source.
Where are the official grade boundaries published?
Each board publishes its own tables on results day, by qualification and series, with archives of previous years. These are the only authoritative figures — including for us. We link to them rather than reprinting them, because a copied table is wrong the moment a new series lands.
| Exam board | What they publish | Official table |
|---|---|---|
| AQA | England's largest board. Publishes boundaries as spreadsheets on results day, with an archive of past series. | Open |
| Pearson Edexcel | Covers GCSE, A-Level and International GCSE. Boundaries are listed by qualification and series. | Open |
| OCR | Publishes GCSE and AS/A-Level boundaries as PDFs per series, plus an archive going back several years. | Open |
Not sure which board you sat? Your exam certificate names it, and your subject teacher will know. It matters: the same grade can need a different mark on a different board.
How a raw mark becomes a grade
Four steps, in order:
- You sit the paper and it is marked. That total is your raw mark.
- Every script in the country is marked, and the board looks at how the cohort actually performed.
- Senior examiners set the boundaries for that series, using both the statistical evidence and examiner judgement about the standard of work at each grade.
- Your raw mark is compared to those boundaries and becomes your grade.
Step 3 is the one most students do not realise exists, and it is why “I needed 80% for a 9” is not a fact about GCSEs — it is a fact about one subject in one year on one board.
What this page deliberately does not do
We do not reprint the boundary tables. The boards publish them, they own them, and they update them every series. A mirrored copy on a tutoring site is one results day away from being confidently wrong, and a wrong grade boundary is worse than no grade boundary.
We cannot tell you next year’s boundaries. Nobody can — they do not exist until after the papers are marked. Anyone publishing a “predicted grade boundary” is guessing.
Questions students and parents ask
What is a grade boundary?
A grade boundary is the minimum mark needed for a particular grade in one exam series. It is set after every paper has been marked, not before, so nobody — including your school — knows the boundary while you are sitting the exam.
Why do grade boundaries change every year?
Because papers vary slightly in difficulty. If a paper turns out harder than intended, boundaries fall so that students are not punished for the paper rather than their own performance. That is the whole purpose of the system, and it is why last year's boundary cannot tell you this year's.
What percentage do you need for a grade 9 at GCSE?
There is no fixed percentage. Grade 9 boundaries commonly land somewhere in the region of 80% of the available marks, but they move by subject, by tier and by series — in some subjects and years they have fallen well below that. Always check the published table for your board and series.
Are grade boundaries the same across AQA, Edexcel and OCR?
No. Each board sets its own boundaries for its own papers, so the same grade can need a different mark depending on which board your school entered you with. Check your board specifically — your exam certificate or your teacher will confirm which one it is.
Where are the official grade boundaries published?
On each exam board's own website, released on results day: AQA, Pearson Edexcel and OCR each publish full tables by qualification and series, along with archives of previous years. Links to all three are on this page.
Can grade boundaries be appealed?
The boundary itself cannot be appealed, because it applies to every student who sat that paper. What you can request is a review of marking on your own script, through your school. Deadlines are short — usually within weeks of results day — so act quickly if you think a paper was mismarked.