AQA GCSE Statistics (8382) Tutors 2027

AQA GCSE Statistics is a single, no-coursework GCSE — specification 8382, Ofqual number 603/1177/0 — first taught from 2017 and first examined in May/June 2019. AQA designed it to be co-taught alongside GCSE Maths. The whole grade comes from two 1 hour 45 minute papers, 80 marks each, sat at Foundation (grades 1–5) or Higher tier (grades 4–9), never both. A fifth of the marks reward evaluating a five-stage statistical enquiry cycle, not calculation.

AQA GCSE Statistics (8382): what it actually is

AQA's own specification names it plainly: GCSE Statistics 8382, first taught in 2017, examined for the first time in May/June 2019 and every May/June since. It carries Ofqual qualification accreditation number 603/1177/0 and entry code 8382. AQA's administration rules state there are no overlaps with any other AQA qualification at this level, so a Statistics entry is a genuinely separate line on a student's results slip — not a repackaged slice of GCSE Maths content.

There is no non-exam assessment, no coursework and no portfolio. Every mark comes from two written papers sat in the same series. AQA's specification is explicit that the qualification is fully co-teachable alongside GCSE Maths, so a school can put both cohorts in front of the same teacher rather than staffing Statistics as a standalone course — a detail that matters if you are trying to work out why your child's timetable shows Statistics lessons inside what looks like extra Maths time. For the Maths qualification itself, see our GCSE Maths page.

Who actually sits AQA GCSE Statistics, and alongside what

Statistics 8382 is built to run beside GCSE Maths, not instead of it. AQA's specification states the qualification is fully co-teachable alongside GCSE Maths, and independent revision publisher Save My Exams describes the same relationship from the student's side: Statistics is taken “as an extra subject alongside GCSE Maths, not instead of it.” Two separate sources, in other words, describing the same design decision — this is additional to a student's Maths GCSE, not a substitute route through it.

Entry is straightforward but has one hard rule: a student is entered at either Foundation tier (grades 1–5) or Higher tier (grades 4–9), and AQA's general administration rules state explicitly that students can only be entered for foundation or higher tier, not both. Both papers have to be sat in the same series and at the same tier. There is no route that mixes a Foundation Paper 1 with a Higher Paper 2, and no route that banks one tier's result while re-sitting the other. Families weighing up a wider GCSE options block alongside Statistics can see our full GCSE Tuition overview.

The two papers, mark for mark

AQA's specification-at-a-glance table sets out an identical shape for both papers. Paper 1 and Paper 2 are each a written exam lasting 1 hour 45 minutes, tiered Higher or Foundation, worth 80 marks and 50% of the GCSE. Both mix multiple-choice questions, short-answer questions and one Statistical Enquiry Cycle (SEC) question — the SEC question is the one place on each paper where a student has to reason through a whole statistical investigation rather than answer a self-contained calculation.

AQA's specimen question paper cover confirms the required equipment: a calculator and mathematical instruments for both papers, at both tiers. Because the qualification is linear, both papers have to be banked in the same exam series — there is no modular route where Paper 1 is sat a year ahead of Paper 2.

The Statistical Enquiry Cycle — the assessment objective unique to this GCSE

This is the part of 8382 that has no direct equivalent in GCSE Maths. AQA's specification defines the Statistical Enquiry Cycle (SEC) as five stages: initial planning, data collection, data processing and presentation, interpretation of results, and evaluation and review. A SEC question does not simply ask a student to compute a mean or draw a chart; it asks them to reason about the investigation as a whole — whether the data collection method was sound, whether the presentation choice suited the data, and whether the conclusion drawn actually follows from the evidence.

AQA ties this directly to assessment objective AO3, worth 20% of the whole qualification, which it defines as assessing the appropriateness of statistical methodologies and the conclusions drawn through the application of the statistical enquiry cycle. A student who is fluent in GCSE Maths statistics content but has never practised evaluating a full enquiry cycle end-to-end is missing a fifth of the marks available on this qualification.

What's given in the exam and what has to be memorised

Appendix 1 of AQA's 8382 specification carries a sentence worth reading twice: formulae included in the GCSE Statistics subject content are formulae students are expected to know, and they must not be given in the assessment. There is no formula sheet in this exam, at either tier. That single administrative line has a direct effect on how a student should revise, because it removes the safety net a Higher-tier Maths student might be used to.

The named formulae a student has to carry into the exam from memory include the stratification proportion used in stratified sampling, the pie chart sector angle, frequency density for histograms, the arithmetic mean, the interquartile range, the rules for independent-event and conditional probability, the four-point moving average, the double mean point used in time-series analysis, and index numbers. None of these appear printed anywhere in the question paper or on a separate sheet — a student either knows them cold or loses the marks that depend on them, and every SEC question and most short-answer questions depend on at least one.

Where the marks actually sit: AO1, AO2, AO3

AQA's scheme of assessment sets out an identical weighting at both tiers: AO1 worth 55%, AO2 worth 25% and AO3 worth 20%, and the same split repeats identically across both papers, at 50% each. AO1 is defined as demonstrating knowledge and understanding, using appropriate terminology and notation, of standard statistical techniques — the recall-and-apply layer. AO2 is interpreting statistical information and results in context and reasoning statistically to draw conclusions. AO3 is assessing the appropriateness of statistical methodologies and the conclusions drawn through the application of the statistical enquiry cycle covered above.

The practical consequence for revision time is that AO1 alone accounts for more than half the qualification, so fluency in the named techniques and formulae still does most of the work — but AO2 and AO3 together are 45% of the grade, and neither responds to the kind of drilling that builds AO1 fluency. AO2 needs practice reading unfamiliar contexts correctly; AO3 needs practice evaluating a whole enquiry, not just computing an answer inside it. Tutors working across both this qualification and standard GCSE Maths tuition generally split revision time the same way: technique first, then context, then evaluation.

How AQA's June 2026 grade boundaries actually moved

AQA's published grade boundaries document for the June 2026 series (version 1.0, 20 August 2026) puts both tiers out of 160 scaled marks. Foundation tier grade 4 required 76 marks; Higher tier grade 4 required 35 marks. Working that through: 76 out of 160 is 47.5%, while 35 out of 160 is 21.9%. A Higher-tier student needed to bank less than half the proportion of the total that a Foundation-tier student needed for the same grade 4.

That gap is not evidence that Higher tier is easier — the two tiers sit different papers testing different content to different ceilings, so a raw percentage-of-marks figure describes two different exams, not two versions of the same one. AQA's boundaries move between series as it recalibrates for that series' cohort and paper difficulty, which is visible by comparing against the qualification's first series: in June 2019, Foundation grade 4 required 81 of 160 marks (50.6%) and Higher grade 4 required 55 of 160 marks (34.4%). Both tiers' grade 4 boundary moved down between 2019 and 2026, and by a different amount at each tier — another reason a single year's boundary should never be read as a fixed target. Students continuing statistics content into sixth form should also see our A-Level Maths page, since AQA's statistics content threads directly into the A-level statistics option.

Both figures are drawn from AQA's own published boundaries: the June 2026 row from AQA's primary grade-boundaries PDF, cross-checked against Save My Exams' compiled boundary table, which independently reports the same June 2026 figures sourced to AQA and additionally carries the June 2019 row used above.

When your child actually sits the exam

AQA's key dates page lists both papers for the June 2027 series. Paper 1 — 8382/1F and 8382/1H — is scheduled for 7 June 2027, sat in the afternoon, 1 hour 45 minutes. Paper 2 — 8382/2F and 8382/2H — is scheduled for 16 June 2027, sat in the morning, also 1 hour 45 minutes. The nine-day gap between the two papers is worth planning around: it is enough time to revisit weak SEC technique from Paper 1 before Paper 2, but not enough to relearn a topic from scratch.

Because the qualification is co-teachable alongside GCSE Maths, a school may schedule Statistics exams close to Maths papers in the same series. Check your child's own exam timetable rather than assuming a gap, since AQA's key dates page gives the Statistics-specific dates only and does not cross-reference a school's Maths schedule.

Frequently Asked Questions About AQA GCSE Statistics