AQA GCSE Maths (8300): 2026 Boundaries and 2027 Exam Dates

AQA GCSE Mathematics (8300) is AQA's own GCSE Maths specification, first examined in May/June 2017 and assessed across three equally-weighted written papers worth 240 marks in total. AQA's June 2026 series set the Higher-tier grade 9 threshold at 219 of 240 marks and the Foundation-tier grade 4 threshold at 154 of 240. A pupil's statement of entry reading 8300F or 8300H names this specification exactly, not GCSE Maths in general.

What exactly is AQA 8300, and when was it last revised?

AQA's GCSE Mathematics specification carries the code 8300 on every statement of entry, but the code on its own does not say which document a school actually taught from. The current specification is Version 1.0, dated 12 September 2014 on its own cover page, written for first teaching from September 2015 and first examination in May/June 2017. Unlike some AQA subjects, where a single web address can serve a “Current” and an “Updated” edition side by side, AQA has not published a separate updated edition of GCSE Mathematics since 2014 — a student sitting 8300 in June 2027 works from the same Version 1.0 document as one who sat it in 2017.

Foundation tier is entered under code 8300F and Higher tier under 8300H, both carrying the DfE discount code RB1 for performance-table purposes. Ofqual's own qualification accreditation number for the specification is 601/4608/4 — the identifier that still works if a school's paperwork shows only a certificate rather than an entry code. AQA publishes the full specification on its GCSE Mathematics (8300) subject page. Each of the three written papers is weighted at exactly 33⅓% of the overall GCSE Mathematics assessment, so no single paper decides the result: a strong Paper 2 cannot make up for a weak Paper 1 beyond that even split, and a student needs a consistent performance across all three sittings rather than one standout paper. For how this specification compares with the other GCSE Maths awarding bodies, and for the general Ofqual tiering guidance that applies across all five boards, see our GCSE Maths overview — the rest of this page stays with what is specific to AQA's own 8300.

What are AQA's own June 2026 grade boundaries for 8300?

AQA published its June 2026 GCSE Mathematics grade boundaries on 20 August 2026. On Higher tier, out of 240 marks across the three papers, a grade 9 needed 219, a grade 8 needed 192, a grade 7 needed 166, a grade 6 needed 131, a grade 5 needed 97, a grade 4 needed 63, and the safety-net grade 3 needed 46. On Foundation tier, a grade 5 needed 187, a grade 4 needed 154, a grade 3 needed 115, a grade 2 needed 76 and a grade 1 needed 38.

These are the subject-level boundaries that actually determine a candidate's grade. AQA also publishes notional, illustrative boundaries for each individual 80-mark paper — for example, 73 out of 80 for a grade 9 on Higher-tier Paper 1 — but AQA's own documentation states these per-paper figures are for illustration only, and it is the combined 240-mark total that is graded. A widely-read AQA GCSE Maths guide, Atom Learning's page, told readers as of the date this page was checked that “the grade boundaries for AQA Maths in 2026 are not yet known”, three weeks after AQA had in fact published them. AQA's own grade boundaries page carries the confirmed June 2026 document.

How much of a cushion is the Higher-tier safety-net grade 3?

The June 2026 Higher-tier boundaries show something worth working through directly. The grade 3 band runs from 46 marks up to 62 marks (one below the 63 needed for a grade 4), which is a span of 63−46 = 17 marks, or 17/240 = 7.08% of the total. The grade 4 band immediately above it runs from 63 up to 96 (one below the 97 needed for a grade 5), a span of 97−63 = 34 marks, or 34/240 = 14.17% of the total. Dividing the two, 34/17 = 2.0: the grade 4 band is exactly double the width of the safety-net grade 3 band beneath it.

For a family, that asymmetry matters more than the raw percentages suggest. A Higher-tier candidate whose marks land in the narrow 17-mark grade 3 band is sitting in a range half as wide as the one either side of it, so a small swing in performance — a handful of marks lost to a single multi-step question, or gained from a method mark on a question left blank — is comparatively more likely to move a borderline candidate off a grade 3 than the same size of swing would be for a candidate sitting mid-way through the wider grade 4 or grade 5 bands. It is one reason a school's advice on Foundation versus Higher tier for a borderline student is not a formality.

Which formulae will AQA 8300 never hand a student, and which are permanent regardless of the 2025-27 measure?

AQA's formulae appendix splits into groups, and the distinction is worth knowing precisely rather than assuming everything ends up on the sheet. Students are expected to know the following from memory, and AQA states plainly that they will not be given in the exam:

• the quadratic formula
• the circumference and area of a circle
• Pythagoras' theorem
• the sine rule, the cosine rule and area = ½ab sin C
• the area of a trapezium
• the volume of a prism
• the compound interest formula
• the probability addition rule and the conditional-probability rule

Separately, AQA lists formulae students are not expected to memorise, which will be given in the exam in the relevant question. This group sits outside the temporary 2025-27 measure and applies regardless of it, and it includes a genuinely surprising crossover: alongside the curved surface area and volume of a cone and the surface area and volume of a sphere, AQA permanently provides the three constant-acceleration (SUVAT) equations — v = u + at, s = ut + ½at², and v² = u² + 2as — the mechanics formulae more usually associated with physics or A-level maths. A student revising GCSE Maths on the assumption that kinematics formulae belong to a different subject is preparing for a paper that does not quite match the one AQA sets. The full breakdown sits in AQA's own mathematical formulae appendix.

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When does a student sitting 8300 actually take the exam?

AQA has published the paper-by-paper dates for the next two series a student entered for 8300 will sit. The November 2026 series is a resit series rather than a main Year 11 sitting, and entry to it is restricted: AQA's specification states that November entries are only available to students who were at least 16 on the previous 31 August, under Ofqual's GCSE subject-level conditions for Mathematics, with AQA making reasonable checks that schools and colleges comply. The June 2027 series is the next series open to a full Year 11 cohort.

For a post-16 student who narrowly missed grade 4 in the summer, the November 2026 dates are the earlier of the two routes back — but only if the 31 August eligibility condition is already met by the time entries are made. A student who turns 16 after that date has to wait for the June 2027 series instead, which changes how much revision time is realistically available and whether a resit programme should start immediately or be planned around the following spring.

What else does a grade in 8300 count towards?

AQA states directly that there is overlap between the Mathematics 8300 specification and its own GCSE Statistics specification, and further overlap with AQA's Functional Skills Mathematics qualifications at Level 1 and Level 2 and with its Level 2 Certificate in Further Mathematics. AQA does not publish a percentage figure for how much content is shared, so the honest answer for a family choosing GCSE Statistics alongside 8300, or weighing up a Level 2 Further Mathematics certificate before A-Level Further Maths, is to ask the school directly what that overlap means for teaching time rather than assume the two are entirely separate subjects taught from a blank page each.

This is board-specific rather than a cross-board comparison: it describes how AQA's own family of qualifications relates to 8300, not how AQA's Maths GCSE compares with another exam board's. A student moving on to A-Level Maths after 8300 is building on the same Higher-tier content — including the SUVAT equations above — that A-level mechanics modules extend rather than introduce from scratch.

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