GCSE Mathematics

What Percentage Is a Grade 7 in GCSE Maths?

No fixed figure. In June 2025 a Higher tier grade 7 took 65% with Edexcel, 68% with AQA and 55% with OCR — the same grade at three different marks.

Réponse courte

What percentage is a grade 7 in GCSE maths?

There is no fixed percentage. In June 2025 a grade 7 on Higher tier took 65% of the marks with Edexcel, 68% with AQA and 55% with OCR.

La réponse en bref
A grade 7 has no fixed percentage, because the mark is set after each series is marked. On Higher tier in June 2025 it took 156 out of 240 marks with Edexcel (65%), 164 out of 240 with AQA (68%) and 166 out of 300 with OCR (55%). A year earlier Edexcel's grade 7 sat at 137 out of 240 — 57%.

Ce qui change la réponse

Grade 7 is only available on Higher tier; a Foundation entry cannot produce one whatever the mark.
Each awarding body sets its own boundary, because each sets its own papers.
The November resit series has its own boundaries, which are not the summer figures.
A harder paper produces a lower boundary, so a low percentage in a given year is a sign about the paper rather than about the grade.

What the boundaries actually were

These are the published Higher tier grade 7 boundaries for the last two summer series. Edexcel and AQA mark out of 240 across three papers of 80; OCR marks out of 300 across three papers of 100, which is why its raw numbers look different.

The spread within a single summer is the striking part. In June 2025 the same grade, in the same subject, in the same country, sat at 55% with one board and 68% with another.

Edexcel 1MA1, June 2025 — 156/240 = 65%
AQA 8300, June 2025 — 164/240 = 68%
OCR J560, June 2025 — 166/300 = 55%
Edexcel 1MA1, June 2024 — 137/240 = 57%
AQA 8300, June 2024 — 163/240 = 68%

A lower percentage does not mean an easier grade

It is tempting to read OCR's 55% as a soft option and AQA's 68% as harsh. That reads the number backwards. Boundaries are set after marking so that the same quality of work earns the same grade across boards and across years, which means a lower boundary is evidence that the papers demanded more.

The comparison that is actually informative is the same board across years. Edexcel's grade 7 moved from 137 marks to 156 between June 2024 and June 2025 — nineteen marks, eight percentage points — while AQA's moved by a single mark. That tells you Edexcel's 2025 papers were markedly more accessible than its 2024 papers. It tells you nothing about which board is easier overall.

The entry decides the ceiling before any of this matters

Foundation tier caps at grade 5. In June 2025 a Foundation candidate scoring every available mark with Edexcel — 240 out of 240 — would still have been awarded a 5, because grade 5 was the highest grade the tier offered at 175 marks.

So a student aiming for a 7 needs a Higher entry, and that entry has to be confirmed, not assumed. This is the single most consequential thing a parent can check on a mock results letter, and it is checkable in one line: which tier is the child entered for?

How to use a boundary you cannot know in advance

Your series' boundary is set after you have sat the papers, so no revision plan can be built on a number. What you can build on is the range. Across the last two summers the Higher tier grade 7 has sat between 55% and 68% of the paper, so preparing to the top of that range means the boundary can move against you without costing the grade.

When we mark a mock we do two things with it: score it against the real boundaries of the paper it came from, and score it again against the hardest recent boundary for that board. A student comfortably over both is a grade 7 candidate. A student clearing one and not the other is a grade 7 candidate on a good day, which is a different conversation.

Edexcel Higher tier grade 7, June 2025 — 156 of 240 marks: 65%Edexcel Higher tier grade 7, June 2025 — 156 of 240 marks[1]
OCR Higher tier grade 7, June 2025 — 166 of 300 marks: 55%OCR Higher tier grade 7, June 2025 — 166 of 300 marks[4]
Marks by which Edexcel's Higher tier grade 7 boundary rose between June 2024 and June 2025: 19Marks by which Edexcel's Higher tier grade 7 boundary rose between June 2024 and June 2025[2]

Questions fréquentes

Is 70% a grade 7 in GCSE maths?

On Higher tier it would have been comfortably enough in every series shown here, since the highest of those boundaries was 68%. But 70% is not the definition of a 7 and never has been — the numeral in the grade has nothing to do with a percentage, and the resemblance between 7 and 70% is a coincidence that has misled a great many students.

Why do the three boards have different boundaries for the same grade?

Because they set different papers. The grade standard is held constant across boards; the mark that represents it cannot be, since a harder set of questions produces lower marks for the same quality of work. Ofqual's oversight of awarding is aimed precisely at making the grade comparable while the marks differ.

Can you get a grade 7 on Foundation tier?

No. Foundation caps at grade 5 on all three boards. A student who is capable of a 7 but entered for Foundation cannot be awarded one, which is why tier entry deserves a direct conversation with the school in Year 10 rather than an assumption in Year 11.

Do the individual papers have their own grade 7 boundary?

Boards publish per-paper boundaries, but they are illustrative — Edexcel and AQA both label them notional. Your grade comes from the total across all three papers, so a weak Paper 1 can be repaired by Papers 2 and 3, and a student who feels the non-calculator paper went badly should not treat the grade as decided.

Sources

Grade Boundaries: Edexcel GCSE (9–1), June 2025 — Pearson Edexcel
Grade Boundaries: Edexcel GCSE (9–1), June 2024 — Pearson Edexcel
Grade boundaries, GCSE — June 2024 exams — AQA
GCSE grade boundaries, June 2025 — OCR
Grade boundaries — AQA

Dernière mise à jour 21 août 2026