GCSE
Edexcel GCSE Maths Grade Boundaries 2026: Higher and Foundation
In summer 2026, Edexcel GCSE Maths (1MA1) Higher tier needed 208 out of 240 for a grade 9, 146 for a 7, 82 for a 5 and 50 for a 4. Foundation needed 181 for a 5 and 151 for a 4. Boundaries are set fresh every year, so 2027 will differ.
Pearson published the summer 2026 grade boundaries for GCSE Maths (1MA1) on results day, 20 August 2026, and the numbers below come straight from that official document. The qualification is marked out of 240 across three papers of 80 marks each, and boundaries apply to your combined total, not to individual papers. One thing to be clear about before the numbers: boundaries are set after marking each year, so the 2026 figures tell you how the 2026 papers were judged. They are a useful guide for 2027 students, not a target that will stay put. That said, the 2026 set moved in interesting ways against 2025, and the movement itself tells you something about the papers.
The summer 2026 boundaries in full
Higher tier, out of 240: grade 9 needed 208 marks, grade 8 needed 177, grade 7 needed 146, grade 6 needed 114, grade 5 needed 82 and grade 4 needed 50. There is also an allowed grade 3 at 34 marks, which acts as a safety net for students who narrowly miss a 4. In rough percentages, that is 87 percent for a 9, 61 percent for a 7, 34 percent for a 5 and just 21 percent for a 4. Foundation tier, also out of 240: grade 5 needed 181 marks, grade 4 needed 151, grade 3 needed 110, grade 2 needed 69 and grade 1 needed 29. As percentages, a 5 took 75 percent and a 4 took 63 percent. Notice the gap: the same grade 5 costs 34 percent on Higher and 75 percent on Foundation, because the two tiers test very different ranges of content and difficulty. These figures are for the June 2026 series only and will not carry over unchanged to 2027.
How the 2026 boundaries moved against 2025
Every Higher boundary dropped in 2026. Grade 9 fell from 217 to 208, grade 8 from 186 to 177, grade 7 from 156 to 146, grade 6 from 121 to 114, grade 5 from 87 to 82 and grade 4 from 53 to 50. A drop of around ten marks at the top grades usually means the papers were genuinely harder, because boundaries are lowered to keep outcomes comparable year on year rather than to punish a cohort for a nasty paper. Foundation moved the other way: grade 5 rose from 175 to 181 and grade 4 from 144 to 151, which suggests the Foundation papers sat slightly more comfortably than the year before. If you walked out of a 2026 Higher paper feeling battered, this is the mechanism that protected you. The lesson for 2027 students is not to memorise these numbers but to learn the range: a Higher grade 7 has lived between roughly 146 and 156 marks over the last two series.
What this means for revision strategy
The most useful number on this page is 50. That was a Higher grade 4 in 2026, which works out at around 17 marks per paper out of 80. If you are a borderline Higher student, the pass is more reachable than the raw papers feel, but the risk cuts the other way too: score below the allowed grade 3 at 34 marks and you are ungraded, where a Foundation entry would have banked a solid grade. Choose tier on your mock evidence, not your pride. For grade 7 chasers, 146 out of 240 means you can drop almost 40 percent of the marks and still get there, so stop trying to master every topic and instead make the routine method marks automatic. For the grade 9, 208 out of 240 leaves room for about ten dropped marks per paper, so accuracy under time pressure matters more than extra content. Whatever your target, aim comfortably above the most recent boundary, because next year's could sit higher.
Why boundaries change, in plain terms
Boundaries are not decided before the exam. Senior examiners set them after every script is marked, using statistics about the cohort's prior attainment plus judgement about the quality of work at each grade, a system Ofqual calls comparable outcomes. The aim is that a grade 7 student in a hard year and a grade 7 student in an easy year end up with the same grade. That is why the Higher boundaries fell in 2026 while Foundation rose slightly: two different sets of papers, two different judgements. It is also why no website, this one included, can tell you the 2027 boundaries in advance. Anyone publishing predicted boundaries before results day is guessing. Treat past boundaries as a rough map of the territory, check Pearson's official grade boundaries page on results day, and plan your revision around comfortable margins rather than exact marks.
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What percentage is a grade 9 in Edexcel GCSE Maths?
In summer 2026 it was 208 out of 240 on Higher tier, which is about 87 percent. In 2025 it was 217, about 90 percent. It changes every series, so treat 85 to 90 percent as the realistic zone rather than a fixed line.
What mark do you need to pass Edexcel GCSE Maths?
A standard pass is grade 4. In summer 2026 that meant 50 out of 240 on Higher tier, about 21 percent, or 151 out of 240 on Foundation, about 63 percent. The Higher figure looks tiny because Higher papers contain much harder material.
Are grade boundaries per paper or overall?
Overall. Edexcel adds your marks from all three papers into a total out of 240 and applies the boundary to that. A weak Paper 1 can be rescued by a strong Paper 3.
Will the 2027 boundaries be the same as 2026?
No. Boundaries are set after marking each year and typically move by a few marks, occasionally more. Use 2026 as a guide, then check the official Pearson document on results day 2027.
Is it easier to get a grade 5 on Foundation or Higher?
Neither is free. In 2026 a Foundation 5 took 181 out of 240, around 75 percent of easier papers, while a Higher 5 took 82, around 34 percent of much harder ones. Pick the tier where your mocks say you are safest, remembering Foundation caps you at a 5.