OCR GCSE Grade Boundaries 2026: Averages & Why They Matter

We'll be updating our comprehensive OCR GCSE grade boundaries resource as soon as the 2026 grade boundaries have been published, so be sure to visit this page on results day for live updates. Each exam board will also publish their results on their official websites. Once they're released, you'll be able to find them here:

• AQA
• Edexcel (Pearson)
• OCR
• WJEC
• Eduqas
• Cambridge International

After exams have taken place, senior examiners from each exam board review how students have performed. They look closely at:

• How difficult the paper was compared to previous years.
• The quality of student responses across the country.
• Whether certain questions were considered unexpectedly hard or easy.

Ofqual asks exam boards to follow a rule called 'comparable outcomes'. This means that students with similar ability levels should get roughly the same grades each year, even if the exams are considered more or less difficult.

Grade boundaries show exactly how many marks you need to achieve each grade, whether that's a 9, 7 or 5 at GCSE, or an A, B or C at A Level.

For example, if the grade boundary for a grade 6 at GCSE is 61 marks, then a student who scores 63 would be awarded a grade 6.

If a paper is harder than expected, the grade boundaries may be lower, meaning students need fewer marks than usual to achieve a particular grade