Edexcel A-Level Chemistry Grade Boundaries

Past paper download links for each year can be found here here.

This page summarises the published Pearson Edexcel A-level Chemistry grade boundaries for the six most recent normal summer exam series included here: 2018, 2019, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025.

For the fairest comparison, 2020 and 2021 are not included in the averages because they were not normal summer exam years.

Average boundaries based on all years

A* = 81.4% (244/300)
A = 68.1% (204/300)
B = 55.7% (167/300)
C = 43.3% (130/300)
D = 31.1% (93/300)
E = 19.0% (57/300)

Year-by-Year Overall Boundaries

These are the final qualification boundaries, with final A-level grades based on the total mark out of 300.

Year	Max mark	A*	A	B	C	D	E
2025	300	246 (82.0%)	207 (69.0%)	170 (56.7%)	133 (44.3%)	96 (32.0%)	60 (20.0%)
2024	300	252 (84.0%)	216 (72.0%)	177 (59.0%)	138 (46.0%)	99 (33.0%)	61 (20.3%)
2023	300	241 (80.3%)	195 (65.0%)	158 (52.7%)	121 (40.3%)	85 (28.3%)	49 (16.3%)
2022	300	235 (78.3%)	192 (64.0%)	155 (51.7%)	119 (39.7%)	83 (27.7%)	47 (15.7%)
2019	300	242 (80.7%)	202 (67.3%)	165 (55.0%)	129 (43.0%)	93 (31.0%)	57 (19.0%)
2018	300	250 (83.3%)	214 (71.3%)	177 (59.0%)	140 (46.7%)	104 (34.7%)	68 (22.7%)

Matt’s exam tip

Don't get obsessed with exact grade boundaries! Boundaries move each year, so just refer to them occasionally as a guide to compare your target and predicted grades to your current level.

Paper-by-Paper Boundaries

These paper boundaries are “notional” grade boundaries published by Pearson Edexcel. This means they are only an approximate guide to the level of performance required on each paper for a given grade.

Your final A-level Chemistry grade is based on your total mark across all papers combined. You do not receive a separate grade for Paper 1, Paper 2 or Paper 3.

Paper-by-paper notional boundaries are included where verified in the available Pearson data. The 2019 overall qualification boundary is included above, but the 2019 paper-by-paper notional boundaries are not included in the tables below.

Paper 1: Advanced Inorganic and Physical Chemistry notional boundaries

Year	Max mark	A*	A	B	C	D	E
2025	90	75 (83.3%)	66 (73.3%)	54 (60.0%)	42 (46.7%)	31 (34.4%)	20 (22.2%)
2024	90	80 (88.9%)	67 (74.4%)	55 (61.1%)	43 (47.8%)	31 (34.4%)	20 (22.2%)
2023	90	73 (81.1%)	59 (65.6%)	48 (53.3%)	37 (41.1%)	26 (28.9%)	16 (17.8%)
2022	90	71 (78.9%)	58 (64.4%)	47 (52.2%)	36 (40.0%)	25 (27.8%)	14 (15.6%)
2018	90	82 (91.1%)	70 (77.8%)	58 (64.4%)	46 (51.1%)	34 (37.8%)	22 (24.4%)

Paper 2: Advanced Organic and Physical Chemistry notional boundaries

Year	Max mark	A*	A	B	C	D	E
2025	90	70 (77.8%)	59 (65.6%)	49 (54.4%)	39 (43.3%)	29 (32.2%)	19 (21.1%)
2024	90	73 (81.1%)	63 (70.0%)	52 (57.8%)	41 (45.6%)	30 (33.3%)	19 (21.1%)
2023	90	70 (77.8%)	57 (63.3%)	46 (51.1%)	35 (38.9%)	25 (27.8%)	15 (16.7%)
2022	90	69 (76.7%)	56 (62.2%)	45 (50.0%)	34 (37.8%)	23 (25.6%)	13 (14.4%)
2018	90	69 (76.7%)	59 (65.6%)	49 (54.4%)	39 (43.3%)	29 (32.2%)	20 (22.2%)

Paper 3: General and Practical Principles in Chemistry notional boundaries

Year	Max mark	A*	A	B	C	D	E
2025	120	101 (84.2%)	82 (68.3%)	66 (55.0%)	51 (42.5%)	36 (30.0%)	21 (17.5%)
2024	120	99 (82.5%)	86 (71.7%)	70 (58.3%)	54 (45.0%)	38 (31.7%)	22 (18.3%)
2023	120	98 (81.7%)	79 (65.8%)	63 (52.5%)	48 (40.0%)	33 (27.5%)	18 (15.0%)
2022	120	95 (79.2%)	78 (65.0%)	63 (52.5%)	48 (40.0%)	34 (28.3%)	20 (16.7%)
2018	120	99 (82.5%)	85 (70.8%)	70 (58.3%)	55 (45.8%)	40 (33.3%)	26 (21.7%)

Paper 1, Paper 2 and Paper 3 boundaries are useful for judging paper difficulty, but the final grade is awarded from the overall qualification mark out of 300.