A grade boundary is the lowest total mark that earns a grade. Exam boards set them after the exams, once marking is nearly complete, and they change from year to year with how demanding the papers were (Ofqual). To use them with a past paper, add up your child's marks across all of that year's papers and compare the total with that year's row, which is out of the same maximum. Each year links to its papers.
June 2026, board by board
The marks needed for grade C and A in June 2026, as a share of each board's maximum. Each board writes its own papers and sets boundaries for them, so a lower boundary doesn't mean a board's exam is easier to pass.
AQA
AQA past papersSpecification 7152, Politics.
Grade C needed 98 out of 231 marks (42%) in June 2026; in the June series from 2019 to 2025 it ranged from 38% (2022) to 46% (2019).
June 2026 out of 231
- A*
- 178 77%
- A
- 152 66%
- B
- 125 54%
- C
- 98 42%
- D
- 72 31%
- E
- 46 20%
Grade C as a share of the maximum: June 2019 46%, June 2022 38%, June 2023 42%, June 2024 41%, June 2025 42%, June 2026 42%. Grade A as a share of the maximum: June 2019 68%, June 2022 61%, June 2023 65%, June 2024 62%, June 2025 65%, June 2026 66%.
Every mark, every series
| Series | Out of | A* | A | B | C | D | E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2026 | 231 | 17877% | 15266% | 12554% | 9842% | 7231% | 4620% |
| June 2025 | 231 | 17576% | 14965% | 12253% | 9642% | 7030% | 4419% |
| June 2024 | 231 | 16873% | 14362% | 11851% | 9441% | 7030% | 4620% |
| June 2023 | 231 | 17676% | 15065% | 12353% | 9642% | 6930% | 4218% |
| June 2022 | 231 | 16772% | 14061% | 11449% | 8838% | 6227% | 3716% |
| November 2021 | 231 | 16571% | 13960% | 11449% | 8939% | 6528% | 4118% |
| November 2020 | 231 | 17174% | 14563% | 12152% | 9742% | 7332% | 5022% |
| June 2019 | 231 | 18379% | 15868% | 13257% | 10646% | 8135% | 5624% |
Raw marks for the whole qualification, with the share of the maximum.The chart shows June series only; November and January sittings, mostly resits, are in the table.No exams were sat in 2020 or 2021, when grades were assessed by teachers, so those years are blank. From AQA's A level grade boundary documents: June 2026, June 2025, June 2024, June 2023, June 2022, November 2021, November 2020, June 2019.
Pearson Edexcel
Edexcel past papersSpecification 9PL0, Politics.
Pearson Edexcel sets a separate total for each combination of optional papers, so no single figure stands for the subject. Its documents list each one.
Pearson Edexcel, June 2026 · Pearson Edexcel, June 2025 · Pearson Edexcel, June 2024 · Pearson Edexcel, June 2023
WJEC
WJEC past papersSpecification 1160, Government and Politics.
WJEC awards this qualification on its uniform mark scale (UMS), so there is no raw-mark total for the whole qualification. Its documents give the raw marks for each unit.
WJEC, June 2026 · WJEC, June 2024 · WJEC, June 2023 · WJEC, June 2022