Ofqual, the exams regulator for England, has confirmed that GCSE and A-Level grade boundaries will continue their gradual return to pre-pandemic standards. For students sitting exams in 2026, this is the most important piece of context to understand before results day.
What Ofqual has confirmed
During the Covid years of 2020 and 2021, traditional exams were cancelled and grades were determined by teacher assessments. When exams returned in 2022, Ofqual introduced a protective policy: grade boundaries were set more generously to give students the benefit of the doubt after the disruption of the pandemic.
Since then, those boundaries have been moving steadily back toward 2019 levels. Ofqual has confirmed that the 2026 exam series will continue this trajectory. In some subjects the boundaries are now very close to, or at, pre-pandemic standards.
What this means in practice
In concrete terms, it means a student needs to answer more questions correctly to achieve the same grade as a student sitting in 2022 or 2023. The raw mark required for a grade 5 in GCSE Maths, for example, has risen year-on-year since exams returned.
This is not a change to the difficulty of the papers themselves — the questions remain at the same standard. It is a change to the thresholds that determine which grade each raw mark is awarded. More marks are now needed at every grade boundary.
Why this matters for your child
Students and parents who are using 2022 or 2023 grade boundary data as a benchmark for practice paper performance may be working from an out-of-date picture. A score that would have earned a grade 6 in 2022 may not reach grade 6 in 2026.
The best approach is to practise with the most recent past papers available and to use the grade boundaries from those papers as the reference point. Examiners publish full mark schemes and grade boundary tables after each series — these are freely available on the relevant exam board websites (AQA, Edexcel, OCR, WJEC).
How to prepare
- Use recent papers. Papers from 2023 and 2024 reflect the current standard of grade boundaries far better than 2021 or earlier.
- Focus on breadth, not just difficulty. With boundaries tighter, there is less room to drop marks on topics you consider straightforward. Every mark counts.
- Work on exam technique. Students frequently lose marks not through lack of knowledge but through poor technique — not showing working, misreading the question, or not checking the answer. These marks are recoverable with practice.
- Do not rely on grade leniency. The cushion that existed in 2022 and 2023 is now substantially reduced. Results will be determined by performance, not by any protective adjustment.
If your child is aiming for a specific grade to meet a sixth-form or university offer, now is the time to make sure their preparation reflects the 2026 standard — not the more generous benchmarks of recent years. Find out how Ariston can help.