AQA GCSE Maths Grade Boundaries 2026: What Marks Do You Need?

Updated October 2026, with the official June 2026 AQA Foundation and Higher boundaries, per-paper figures, a four-year trend and the 2027 exam dates.

The short answer: In June 2026, a student sitting AQA GCSE Maths Higher (8300H) needed 166 out of 240 for a grade 7 (about 69%), 192 for a grade 8 (80%) and 219 for a grade 9 (91%). On Foundation Tier, a grade 4 required 154 out of 240 and a grade 5 required 187 out of 240. These figures come from AQA's official boundaries, published on 20 August 2026 (AQA, June 2026).

Boundaries change every exam series. Use them as a guide for mocks, not as a promise of what next summer's boundaries will be. The rest of this guide explains what the numbers mean, how to read your child's mock result, and what to look at next.

How many marks is a Grade 4 in AQA GCSE Maths Foundation?

In June 2026, a grade 4 in AQA GCSE Maths Foundation required 154 marks out of 240 — approximately 64% of the available marks.

The highest grade available on Foundation Tier is grade 5, which required 187 marks out of 240.

A grade 4 is often described as the standard pass benchmark at GCSE. However, the final grade comes from the total across all three papers, not from a separate pass mark on each 80-mark paper.

How AQA GCSE Maths is marked

AQA GCSE Maths (8300) has three written papers. Each paper is out of 80 marks and lasts 1 hour 30 minutes:

• Paper 1: non-calculator
• Paper 2: calculator
• Paper 3: calculator

The grade comes from the total out of 240, not from the three papers separately.

There are two tiers. Higher covers grades 9 to 4, plus an "allowed" grade 3 for students just below grade 4. Foundation covers grades 5 to 1.

AQA GCSE Maths Higher grade boundaries 2026

Higher tier (8300H), out of 240

Source: AQA GCSE grade boundaries, June 2026. Percentages are rounded.

AQA GCSE Maths Foundation grade boundaries 2026

Foundation tier (8300F), out of 240

Source: AQA GCSE grade boundaries, June 2026.

Four years of AQA Higher boundaries

Sources: AQA official grade boundary documents for June 2026, June 2025, June 2024 and June 2023.

What the trend shows: AQA Higher boundaries have been fairly steady. The grade 9 boundary has been 219 for three years running. Grade 7 has sat between 158 and 166 marks across these four series. That range is a sensible working guide, but it is not a prediction for 2027. Nobody knows the 2027 boundaries until they are published after next summer's exams.

GCSE Maths Higher paper grade boundaries: how many marks out of 80?

Most mocks are marked paper by paper, so the per-paper figures are useful. AQA publishes notional component boundaries for each paper:

Source: AQA, June 2026, notional component boundaries section.

AQA is clear that these are for illustrative purposes only. They "do not always add up to the subject grade boundaries", and "the sole determinant of a candidate's grade on a linear exam is his/her total subject mark" (AQA guide to notional component boundaries).

In practice, a single paper gives you a rough sense of where your child is. It does not give you their grade. Multiplying one paper's score by three is only an estimate, because the papers are not identical: in June 2026, a notional 7 needed 56 on Papers 1 and 2 but 54 on Paper 3.

How many marks out of 80 do you need to pass AQA GCSE Maths?

There is no official separate pass mark for each 80-mark paper because the final GCSE grade is calculated from the total out of 240.

If by "pass" you mean achieving a grade 4, the June 2026 Higher notional grade 4 boundaries were:

• Paper 1H: 22 out of 80
• Paper 2H: 19 out of 80
• Paper 3H: 22 out of 80

For Foundation, the final grade 4 boundary was 154 out of 240.

A single-paper score can therefore give you a rough indication, but it should never be treated as a final GCSE grade.

How are grade boundaries set?

Ofqual, the exams regulator in England, explains the process in plain terms (Ofqual: GCSE and A level grading – what you need to know):

• Boundaries are decided after students sit the exams, when marking is nearly complete.
• Exam boards compare data on this year's students with previous years. Senior examiners then look at real scripts on and around the possible boundaries, and compare them with work from the previous year.
• If a paper turns out harder, the boundaries go down; if it is easier, they go up. The aim is for a grade to need the same standard of work each year.
• There are no quotas for how many students can get each grade.

One detail is especially relevant for students aiming at a 7. AQA explains that at GCSE, grades 7, 4 and 1 are the "judgemental" grades. Their boundaries are set by senior examiners reviewing students' work, and the other grade boundaries are then calculated from them using fixed rules (AQA guide). Grade 7 is also the point that lines up with the bottom of the old grade A (GOV.UK: GCSE 9 to 1 grade scale explained).

How to read your child's mock result

A mock grade is only as reliable as the boundaries used to produce it. Schools approach this differently. In parent discussions on Mumsnet, teachers describe several approaches: using the boundaries for the specific past paper set, using last year's boundaries, or raising boundaries by a few marks to avoid false reassurance (Mumsnet thread). None of these is wrong, but they can give different grades for the same marks.

So when the mock comes back, these five questions are worth asking:

1. Which exam board and tier? (The entry code will say, for example 8300H.)
2. Which papers were sat? One, two or all three?
3. What was the raw mark on each paper?
4. Which boundaries did the school use, and from which year?
5. Had every topic on the paper been taught yet? In an autumn mock, it is reasonable to expect some topics may not have been covered in class.

Then look at the gap in marks, not just the grade.

A worked example (hypothetical): a student sits all three AQA Higher papers and scores 52, 47 and 51, a total of 150. Against the June 2026 boundaries, 150 is a grade 6: it is 19 marks above the grade 6 boundary (131) and 16 marks below grade 7 (166). Spread across three papers, that is about 5 or 6 marks per paper. A gap of that size may come down to a handful of questions, which is worth checking on the paper itself.

Compare that with the band widths in June 2026. On AQA Higher, there were 35 marks between a 6 and a 7, but only 26 between a 7 and an 8, and 27 between an 8 and a 9. A child at the bottom of grade 6 has a different job from a child just a few marks short of a 7.

Where marks are often lost: what examiner reports say

Exam boards publish examiner reports that explain where marks were gained and lost. Pearson Edexcel's principal examiner report on the June 2025 Higher non-calculator paper is a good example (Pearson, Paper 1H report, June 2025). It notes that:

• arithmetic slips may still earn method marks, but accuracy marks are lost
• some responses lost credit because they "had not met the specific demands of the question", for example an instruction to show all working, or to give an answer in its simplest form
• marks were lost on algebraic proof through algebraic errors or missing brackets

None of those points is about learning a new topic. That suggests a careful look through the mock paper with your child (question by question, mark by mark) can tell you more than the grade printed at the top. Mathinar's article on what examiners are actually looking for in GCSE maths and the guide to how the exams are marked go into more detail.

AQA vs Edexcel vs OCR: don't compare percentages

If a friend's child sits a different board, their boundaries will look different. If your child sits Edexcel, see Mathinar's Edexcel GCSE Maths grade boundaries guide for the full 2026 Foundation and Higher breakdown.

Sources: AQA, Pearson Edexcel, OCR, all June 2026.

Edexcel's Higher grade 7 boundary has also moved more from year to year: 145 (2023), 137 (2024), 156 (2025) and 146 (2026) (Pearson boundary documents).

Ofqual's guidance is clear that a lower boundary "reflects that the paper was harder, not that it is easier to get a particular grade" (Ofqual). So compare grades, not raw percentages, and always use your child's own board.

Key dates for Year 11 in 2027

AQA and Pearson Edexcel GCSE Maths papers for summer 2027 are on the same dates, all in the morning:

Results day is Thursday 19 August 2027. Sources: AQA timetable May/June 2027, Pearson Edexcel GCSE summer 2027 final timetable, AQA results days. OCR's Higher papers are on the same three dates (OCR June 2027 timetable).

Past papers for practice are on Mathinar's AQA GCSE Maths 8300 past papers page.

The bottom line for parents

• In June 2026, an AQA Foundation grade 4 needed 154/240 and a grade 5 needed 187/240.
• On Higher Tier, a grade 7 needed 166/240, an 8 needed 192 and a 9 needed 219.
• Boundaries move each year. Recent AQA Higher boundaries have been steady, but none of these figures is a promise for 2027.
• For a mock, ask for the raw mark on each paper and which boundaries were used, then look at the gap in marks to the next grade.
• The most useful next step is usually to go through the paper and find where the marks were lost, not to worry about the grade.

If your child is aiming for a 7, 8 or 9

Mathinar runs online GCSE maths group classes for Higher Tier students in Years 9, 10 and 11, especially those around grades 5–6 who want to push towards 7–9. Each week includes 60 minutes of live teaching and a separate 30-minute homework support session. Groups have a maximum of ten students, and the programme costs £97 a month. You can try a group lesson free, or read more on the GCSE page.

No one can guarantee a grade. What a good programme can do is give your child steady weekly teaching, regular stretch, and proper time to fix the questions they got stuck on.

Frequently asked questions

1. How many marks is a grade 4 in AQA GCSE Maths Foundation?
In June 2026, a grade 4 on AQA Foundation required 154 out of 240, about 64%.

2. What is the highest grade you can get in GCSE Maths Foundation?
The highest available grade on Foundation Tier is grade 5. In June 2026, AQA's grade 5 Foundation boundary was 187 out of 240.

3. What mark is a grade 7 in AQA GCSE Maths?
In June 2026, a grade 7 on AQA Higher (8300H) needed 166 out of 240, about 69%. In June 2025 it was 164, and in June 2024 it was 163.

4. What mark do you need for a grade 9 in AQA GCSE Maths?
219 out of 240 (about 91%) in June 2026. The grade 9 boundary has been 219 for three years running (2024, 2025 and 2026).

5. How many marks out of 80 is a grade 7?
For June 2026 AQA Higher, the notional grade 7 boundaries were 56 on Paper 1, 56 on Paper 2 and 54 on Paper 3. These are only illustrative because the final grade is based on the total out of 240.

6. Can you get a grade 6 on Foundation Maths?
No. The highest available grade on GCSE Maths Foundation Tier is grade 5.

7. Can you get a grade 4 on Higher Maths?
Yes. Higher Tier covers grades 9 to 4, with an allowed grade 3 just below the grade 4 boundary.

8. Will the 2027 grade boundaries be the same?
Nobody knows yet. Boundaries are set after the exams are marked, and they reflect how hard that year's papers turned out to be. Recent years give a sensible guide, not a prediction.

9. My child's mock says grade 6. Is that what they will get?
Not necessarily. A mock grade depends on which papers were sat, which boundaries the school used, and whether every topic had been taught. Ask for the raw mark on each paper and look at how many marks your child is from the next boundary.

10. Can you work out a grade from one paper?
Only roughly. AQA publishes "notional" per-paper boundaries for illustration, but the real grade comes from the total out of 240.

About the author

Anish Patel has taught maths for more than 20 years and is a GCSE examiner. He teaches every Mathinar group and one-to-one session himself.