Edexcel GCSE Chemistry (1CH0) 2026: Papers and Practicals

Pearson Edexcel GCSE Chemistry is a separate-science GCSE, specification 1CH0, examined by two written papers of 100 marks each under Issue 4 of the specification, published March 2024. Ofqual's register lists 1CH0 as the sole live edition: three related qualifications, including the pre-reform GCSE in Chemistry and the International GCSE in Chemistry, are marked No longer awarded. First teaching began in September 2016, with first certification in June 2018.

Which spec points are Chemistry-only under Edexcel, and how is the marker different from Biology's?

Edexcel's specification is explicit about what a Combined Science student never sees: “Specification statement numbers with a C in them refer to content which is only in the GCSE in Chemistry and is not found in the GCSE in Combined Science (e.g. 5.1C).” That single sentence, and the pattern behind it, is the most useful thing this page can tell a family choosing between separate Chemistry and Combined Science.

Extracting every specification-point code in the document and tabulating its suffix by topic shows the pattern is not scattered. Every one of Topic 5's 27 points and every one of Topic 9's 39 points carries a ‘C’; none of Topics 1 to 4 or 6 to 8 do. Edexcel names the two wholly-C topics itself: Topic 5 is “Separate chemistry 1” and Topic 9 is “Separate chemistry 2”. Sixty-six specification points, two entire topics, are Chemistry-only, and nothing in the other seven topics is.

That is a structurally different shape from the equivalent Biology marker, which flags separate-science content with a ‘B’ suffix scattered as isolated points inside topics that are otherwise shared with Combined Science, rather than concentrated into dedicated topics of their own. The practical consequence follows directly from it: three of Edexcel's eight Core Practicals fall inside Topics 5 and 9 and are therefore Chemistry-only — 5.9C, an acid-alkali titration; 9.6C, identifying ions in unknown salts; and 9.28C, measuring the temperature rise from burning four alcohols — against Biology's two of eight. A Combined Science student following the same course as a separate-Chemistry classmate sits a genuinely shorter practical list, not just shorter papers.

For a family choosing between Combined Science and the three separate sciences, this is the concrete version of that decision: not a vague sense that separate science “covers more”, but two named topics and three named practicals a Combined Science student does not do. See our Edexcel GCSE Combined Science page for how 1SC0 covers the shared content instead.

How does Edexcel split the nine topics across Paper 1 and Paper 2, and what is examined on both?

Edexcel's paper split is not a clean half-and-half. Before Topic 1 even begins, the specification lists six points under “Topics common to Paper 1 and Paper 2”, covering formulae, word and balanced equations, ionic equations and the hazard symbols and risk-evaluation skills a candidate needs on either paper. Topic 1, “Key concepts in chemistry”, then reaches both papers in full: Paper 1's content overview runs Topics 1 to 5, and Paper 2's content overview runs Topic 1 again, followed by Topics 6 to 9. No other topic repeats.

That duplication is independently confirmed. Physics & Maths Tutor's own Paper 1 / Paper 2 topic breakdown lists “Key Concepts in Chemistry” under both papers, matching Pearson's specification exactly, with no marks, tiering or practical detail attached — a links index rather than an explanation of why the topic repeats.

Some third-party revision summaries describe this qualification using a different structure altogether: a twelve-topic breakdown grouped into “Component 1” and “Component 2”. Pearson's own specification does not use either term. It names two papers, “Paper 1” and “Paper 2”, not two components, and it names nine topics, not twelve, split as Paper 1: Topics 1–5 and Paper 2: Topic 1, 6–9 rather than a clean six-and-six division. The independently sourced Physics & Maths Tutor list matches Pearson's nine-topic structure, not the twelve-topic version. A family checking a revision summary against Edexcel's own specification should expect “Paper”, not “Component”, and nine topics, not twelve.

Each paper is 1 hour 45 minutes and 100 marks, with ten questions that students must all answer — the same shape already set out for Edexcel in our board-by-board GCSE Chemistry comparison, which this page does not repeat.

What are Edexcel's eight Core Practicals, and which three are Chemistry-only?

Edexcel calls its practical requirement a Core Practical, its own term for what AQA calls a required practical, and the specification is direct about the number: “The content includes eight mandatory core practicals… Students must carry out all eight of the mandatory core practicals listed below.” The full list, by specification-point code:

The three marked ‘C’ are exactly the three that sit inside Topics 5 and 9, the wholly Chemistry-only topics described above — the practical list and the content marker point at the same three experiments from two different directions in the same document. Centres carry a separate obligation on top of teaching them: a Practical Science Statement, confirming every student has completed all eight, is due to Pearson “by 15th April in the year that the students will sit their examinations.”

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How are the marks allocated across AO1 to AO3, and where does Edexcel not publish a floor?

The regulator-mandated split is identical across boards for the whole qualification: AO1 40%, AO2 40%, AO3 20%. Edexcel's own table goes a step further and fixes it per paper, not just overall: “Paper 1 (F/H): AO1% 20, AO2% 20, AO3% 10”, and the same again for Paper 2. Because each paper is half the qualification, that per-paper 20/20/10 is exactly 40%/40%/20% of that paper's own 100 marks — and the specification's stated tolerance of “40%±3, 40%±3, 20%±3” is attached only to the “Total for GCSE” row, not to either paper individually. The specification also names “synoptic assessment” as a distinct feature: “Questions that naturally draw together different aspects of chemistry will assess synopticity.”

One absence is worth recording precisely, because it was searched for and not found rather than assumed. Edexcel's Assessment Objectives section, its Breakdown of Assessment Objectives table and its surrounding Assessment information carry no stated minimum percentage for mathematical skills or for practical skills specifically — the only percentages anywhere in those sections are the AO1/AO2/AO3 figures above. That is a genuine difference from specifications that do publish an explicit numeric floor for those two skills, and it means a family cannot point to a guaranteed minimum share of the Edexcel Chemistry paper reserved for maths or practical-skills questions the way they can on some other specifications.

What were the June 2026 grade boundaries for Edexcel GCSE Chemistry?

Edexcel's specification states plainly how the nine grades map onto the two tiers: “For foundation tier, grades 1-5 are available and for higher tier, grades 4-9 are available, however if the mark achieved is a smaller number of marks below the 4/3 grade boundary, then a grade 3 may be awarded” — the safety net. Pearson's confirmed boundaries for the June 2026 series, out of 200 marks on each tier, were:

These figures did not exist anywhere on this site before now. Our own board-by-board GCSE Chemistry comparison covers AQA's confirmed June 2025 boundaries and states directly that the 2026 series had not been awarded when it was last updated, on 16 August 2026 — and even once it is refreshed, that page's boundary table has never carried an Edexcel row. A 1CH0 boundary is not comparable mark-for-mark to a different specification's boundary from a different series: the two papers assess different content against a different mark scheme.

Which edition of 1CH0 is live, and where is it available?

Ofqual's Register of Regulated Qualifications is the authority on which qualifications a board is actually permitted to award, and it is more specific than a specification code alone. A title search for “Pearson Edexcel GCSE Chemistry” returns four qualifications. Only one, Qualification Number 601/8611/2, carries the status “Available to learners”. The other three — two earlier, pre-reform “GCSE (In) Chemistry” entries and a separate “Pearson Edexcel International GCSE in Chemistry” — are all marked “No longer awarded”. The specification's own Appendix 8 independently states the identical QN: “The QN for this qualification is: 601/8611/2”, matching Ofqual's register exactly.

Ofqual's page for 601/8611/2 also records national availability as “England, Northern Ireland, International” — Wales is not listed. Foundation and Higher tier are examined under paper codes 1CH0/1F and 1CH0/1H for Paper 1, and 1CH0/2F and 1CH0/2H for Paper 2.

Sources: Pearson Edexcel GCSE Chemistry specification (1CH0), Issue 4, March 2024, Ofqual Register of Regulated Qualifications, 601/8611/2, Pearson Edexcel GCSE grade boundaries, June 2026 and Physics & Maths Tutor's Edexcel GCSE Chemistry topic list.

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