GCSE Results Day 2025: What were this year's grade boundaries for maths and English - and how to find the rest
Just a mark or two extra can mean an entirely different grade on key GCSE papers 📜
- This Thursday (August 21) is GCSE results day
- For pupils in England, 9 is the highest possible grade, while 4 is considered a ‘standard pass’
- Grade boundaries for each subject are also released on results day
- The amount of marks needed for each grade varied considerably across exam boards this year
As this year’s candidates celebrate their GCSE results, many will no doubt be curious just how close they were to doing even better.
The 2025 GCSE results day is finally here for pupils across England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and it’s been a bit of a mixed bag. The proportion of entries getting top grades has risen a little, but on the other hand, the amount achieving a so-called ‘standard pass’ of 4 or above has fallen slightly.
Grade boundaries are the exact amount of marks needed to get each individual number grade, and they can be useful for learners who want to know how close they were to achieving a higher one. These are set by exam boards after all papers have been marked, so that how candidates found the exam can be taken into account – and the qualification can be kept consistent year-on-year.
The full list of these boundaries is also released on results day, and is out now. But exactly how many marks did the candidates of 2025 need to get that elusive 9, and how many did they need for a standard pass? Here’s what you need to know:
What were the 2025 GCSE grade boundaries?
There are a few different GCSE subjects that pupils have to take, including mathematics and English language – although others like English literature are required in many cases too. We’ve looked into the amount of marks needed to get a top grade, as well as a ‘standard pass’ of 4 across England’s major exam boards.
In maths, pupils who took the higher tier exam with AQA needed at least 219 of 240 possible marks to land a top grade of 9 – loosely equivalent to the former A* top grade. For OCR, they needed 258 out of 300 possible marks, while for Eduqas they needed 196 out of 240, and for Pearson Edexcel, they needed 217 out of 240.
To pass with at least a 4, the grade needed to avoid having to resit the paper, AQA required learners to score just 63 marks out of 240. For OCR they needed 47 out of 300, for Eduqas they needed 27 out of 240, and for Pearson Edexcel they needed 53 out of 240.
In English language, pupils taking the exam with AQA needed 119 marks out of 160 for a top grade of 9. For OCR the number of marks needed rose to 129 out of 160, while it sat at 152 out of 200 for Eduqas, and 131 out of 160 for Pearson Edexcel.
To land a standard pass, a total of 73 marks out of 160 were needed for AQA; 71 out of 160 for OCR; 86 out of 200 for Eduqas; and 86 out of 160 for Pearson Edexcel.
Where can I find the full lists?
Each exam board will have published a full list of grade boundaries this morning, which you can use to find them for all other subjects. They have dedicated webpages expressly for this purpose – and we’ve compiled a list of them for each of the four major exam boards:
While some candidates will receive their exact marks for each subject in their results envelope, others may only receive their overall grade. You should be able to request these – as well as a copy of your marked exam paper, if needed – from either your school or the exam board directly.
Is a young person in your life receiving their results today? Check out some of our other coverage so that you’ll be ready to help steer them through results day – and all that comes with it. Here’s our guide to appealing a grade, and here’s some information on this year’s results overall – and by region.