GCSE grade boundaries explained: how raw marks become 9–1 grades

Every August, GCSE results day is followed by hours of confused parents asking the same question: "They got 76% — why isn't that an A?" The answer is grade boundaries — and they're more interesting (and important) than most students realise.

Raw marks vs grades

Your exam paper is marked out of a raw total (often 100, sometimes 80 or 120 depending on the paper). That raw mark is then compared to a grade boundary table to determine your grade. The boundary is the minimum raw mark for each grade.

Why boundaries move

Boundaries change every year, and they vary widely between subjects. They're set after the cohort has sat the exam, by senior examiners who consider:

• Difficulty of this year's paper relative to previous years
• Performance of the cohort overall
• Statistical comparison to the cohort's prior performance (e.g. their KS2 SATs)
• Examiner judgement of what each grade should represent

Where to find them

Every exam board publishes grade boundaries online at 8am on results day:

• AQA — aqa.org.uk/exams-administration/grade-boundaries
• Edexcel (Pearson) — qualifications.pearson.com
• OCR — ocr.org.uk/administration/general-qualifications/results
• WJEC / Eduqas — wjec.co.uk

Typical ranges

There's no "normal" boundary — but for context, GCSE Maths Higher tier in recent years has needed:

• Grade 9: ~200/240 marks (~83%)
• Grade 7: ~135/240 (~56%)
• Grade 5: ~75/240 (~31%)
• Grade 4: ~55/240 (~23%)

Why you can't predict from raw marks

It's tempting to do "I got 70% in the mock so I'm a Grade 7" — but it's wrong. The mock paper isn't the same as the real paper, the boundaries aren't the same, and the cohort isn't the same. Use mocks for diagnostic value (what topics are weak) not for grade prediction.

How tutoring can move you across a boundary

Most students sit between two boundaries — say, 8 marks short of a Grade 6, comfortably above Grade 5. That gap of 8 marks across a 240-mark paper is the difference between picking up four extra method marks per paper. That's achievable with targeted GCSE tutoring — which is why our students see grade movement so often. The boundaries don't move; what moves is how many marks you reliably score.