What the 2026 GCSE maths boundaries mean for a grade 4 or a 5

GCSE maths grade boundaries are the lowest mark out of 240 that earns each grade, and in June 2026 a grade 4 took 154 marks on AQA Foundation and 63 on Higher.

Those two numbers already show the main point: a boundary depends on the exam board, on the tier and on the year. Boundaries are only published on results day, and they change every summer. This guide gives the full 2026 tables for AQA and Pearson Edexcel, explains how a boundary is set and what a grade 4 or a grade 5 means, and shows how to turn a target grade into marks when you plan revision.

How grade boundaries work in GCSE maths

A grade boundary is the minimum mark that gives a grade. Pearson's Edexcel GCSE grade boundaries for June 2026 give a plain example: if the boundary for a grade 6 is 70 marks, 70 is the lowest mark for a 6, and 69 is a grade 5. GCSE maths is linear, so the boundaries apply to the total of all the papers, in raw marks. With both AQA and Pearson Edexcel, that total is 240.

AQA also prints a boundary for each of its three 80-mark papers, but it calls these notional and gives them for illustrative purposes only. What decides the grade is the total, so marks lost on one paper can be made up on another.

Ofqual, the exams regulator, explains in its guide to the 9 to 1 grade scale that papers are graded after marking, with a combination of data and expert examiner judgement. New boundaries are set each year to reflect how difficult each paper was, so that a grade is no easier or harder to get in one year than in another. In practice, a harder set of papers gives lower boundaries, and an easier set gives higher ones.

That is also why nobody can know the exact boundary before the exams. The boards publish their boundaries on results day: AQA's document for the June 2026 series is dated 20 August 2026.

Higher tier grade boundaries in 2026

The Higher tier is for students aiming at grades 4 to 9. Here are the 2026 boundaries, out of 240, from AQA's June 2026 grade boundaries and from Pearson's document.

As a share of the 240 marks, a grade 4 on Higher needed about 26% with AQA and about 21% with Edexcel. A grade 5 needed about 40% and 34%, a grade 7 about 69% and 61%, and a grade 9 about 91% and 87%.

The table also shows a grade 3 on Higher: 46 marks with AQA and 34 with Edexcel. It acts as a safety net for a student who falls just short of a 4. Below the grade 3 boundary there is no grade 2 or 1 on this tier, and the result is U, ungraded.

Do not read the gap between the two boards as one board being easier to pass. The papers are different, and each board sets boundaries for its own papers. A lower boundary mostly tells you that those papers were harder.

Foundation tier grade boundaries in 2026

The Foundation tier covers grades 1 to 5, so a grade 5 is the highest result a Foundation student can get.

On Foundation, a grade 4 needed about 64% of the marks with AQA and about 63% with Edexcel; a grade 5 needed about 78% and 75%. The step from a 4 to a 5 was 33 marks with AQA and 30 with Edexcel, ten or eleven marks per paper.

Put the two tables side by side and the choice of tier, which schools make with each student, becomes clearer. Foundation asks for a high share of the marks and stops at grade 5. Higher asks for a much lower share for a 4 or a 5, opens the way to grades 6 to 9 and includes harder questions. A student who sits Higher and ends below the grade 3 boundary gets no grade at all, which is the main risk of entering the higher tier too early.

What is a grade 4 in maths, and a grade 5

In England, the 9 to 1 scale has replaced the old A* to G letters since 2017. Grade 9 is the highest, grade 1 the lowest, and U means ungraded. Ofqual explains that the two scales are not directly equivalent. They do line up at three points:

• the bottom of a grade 7 is comparable to the bottom of the old grade A;
• the bottom of a grade 4 is comparable to the bottom of the old grade C;
• the bottom of a grade 1 is comparable to the bottom of the old grade G.

So an employer that used to ask for at least a C in maths would now ask for at least a 4. Ofqual adds that, under Department for Education policy, students who get a grade 3 or below in maths or English must be offered support to make progress in that subject if they continue in further education.

A grade 5 sits one step above that old C level. Sixth forms and colleges set their own entry requirements for courses such as A level maths, so check the grade the course you want asks for. If you are helping a teenager prepare, our guide to helping with maths homework without giving the answers applies at GCSE too.

Using the GCSE grade boundaries for 2026 to set a target

Past boundaries are a guide, not a promise, so it makes sense to aim above them. A simple method in three steps:

1. Take the latest boundary for your target grade, board and tier.
2. Add a margin of ten to fifteen marks, because next year's boundary may be higher.
3. Divide by three to get a target for each paper.

For a grade 5 on AQA Higher, 97 plus a margin of 15 gives 112, about 37 marks per 80-mark paper. For a grade 4 on AQA Foundation, 154 plus 15 gives 169, about 56 per paper. Turning those targets into percentages is quick in your head, as our guide to percentages in your head shows: 37 out of 80 is a little under 50%, and 56 out of 80 is 70%.

Then look at where the marks go. Fast, reliable arithmetic pays on every paper, and above all on the one where no calculator is allowed; our guide to the non-calculator GCSE maths paper covers it in detail.

A revision plan built on the boundaries

Boundaries are most useful when you mark full practice papers. Sit a past paper in the real time, mark it with the official mark scheme, add up the total and compare it with the latest boundaries: you will see at once how far you are from the next grade.

Keep a simple log with the date, the paper, the total and the grade it would have given. Over a few weeks, the trend tells you more than any single score. If the totals stall just under a boundary, look at the questions that cost the most marks and practise that topic before the next paper.

Speed and accuracy on the basics are the cheapest marks to win, and short, regular practice is easier to keep up than long sessions the night before. Kalc trains times tables, fractions, percentages and algebra in about ten minutes a day.

Frequently asked questions

What mark is a grade 4 in GCSE maths in 2026?

With AQA, 154 out of 240 on Foundation and 63 on Higher. With Pearson Edexcel, 151 on Foundation and 50 on Higher.

What is the highest grade on the Foundation tier?

Grade 5. In June 2026 it took 187 out of 240 with AQA and 181 with Pearson Edexcel.

Can you get a grade 3 on the Higher tier?

Yes. In 2026 the grade 3 boundary on Higher was 46 marks with AQA and 34 with Pearson Edexcel. Below it, the result is U.

When are GCSE grade boundaries published?

On results day. AQA's document for the June 2026 exams was published on 20 August 2026.

Why do grade boundaries change every year?

Ofqual explains that new boundaries are set each year to reflect the difficulty of each paper, so that a grade is no easier or harder to get from one year to the next.