Grades 1 to 5, what AQA marks Higher-only, and boundaries across five June series
Book a Free ConsultationAQA GCSE Chemistry Foundation Tier (8462F) is the version of the 8462 qualification that awards grades 1 to 5 from two written papers of 1 hour 45 minutes and 100 marks each. Our expert Foundation chemistry tutors teach the specification as AQA prints it, leaving out only items marked (HT only), and rehearse questions 8 to 10, which the examiners' reports for 8462/1F (June 2024 and June 2025) and 8462/2F (June 2024) say were common to the Higher Tier.
Preparing for AQA Foundation Chemistry?
Our expert GCSE chemistry tutors help Foundation Tier students work through both 8462F papers, topic by topic, building each programme around the student's own mock results and school.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppThe 8462 specification (version 1.2, dated 16 January 2026) lists Foundation as entry code 8462F. It states that "A student taking Foundation Tier assessments will be awarded a grade within the range of 1 to 5", and that a student below the minimum standard for grade 1 is recorded as U (unclassified). Every Foundation programme we write is therefore built toward a top grade of 5.
| Paper | Topics the specification assigns | Length and marks | Share of the GCSE |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paper 1 (8462/1F) | Topics 1 to 5: atomic structure and the periodic table; bonding, structure and the properties of matter; quantitative chemistry; chemical changes; energy changes | 1 hour 45 minutes, 100 marks | 50% |
| Paper 2 (8462/2F) | Topics 6 to 10: the rate and extent of chemical change; organic chemistry; chemical analysis; chemistry of the atmosphere; using resources | 1 hour 45 minutes, 100 marks | 50% |
Both papers carry a scaling factor of x1, so the total scaled mark is 200 and, in the specification's words, grade boundaries are set on that total. The specification calls the qualification linear: all assessments are sat at the end of the course and in the same series, and the exam series are scheduled for every May/June. Questions are multiple choice, structured, closed short answer and open response. AQA weights the assessment objectives at roughly 40% for recall and understanding (AO1), 40% for applying knowledge (AO2) and 20% for analysing information (AO3). Paper 2 questions, the specification adds, may draw on fundamental concepts and principles from sections 4.1 to 4.3, so atomic structure, bonding and quantitative chemistry stay in play for the whole course.
Two further printed details shape how we plan a lesson. The specification says students will be supplied with a periodic table for the exam, so we teach students to read from the table in front of them and to recall only what the specification asks them to recall. And it states that in Foundation Tier papers, questions assessing maths requirements will not be lower than the level expected at Key Stage 3. That sets the calculation floor: percentages, ratios, means and rearranging simple formulae come up in chemistry exactly as they do in our Foundation tier AQA GCSE Maths programme, and a chemistry tutor who spots a maths gap says so early.
AQA explains its own marker in the specification introduction: "Content that is only applicable to Higher Tier is indicated by (HT only) either next to the topic heading where it applies to the whole topic or immediately preceding each paragraph or bullet point as applicable." We use that marker and nothing else. The specification also prints a separate label, (chemistry only), beside some headings (4.3.4 carries both labels); only (HT only) is AQA's marker for the Higher Tier. The list below was read from the specification PDF and checked against AQA's web version of the quantitative chemistry section, which carries the same markers.
| Section and heading as printed | What AQA prints under it | What it changes in our Foundation plan |
|---|---|---|
| 4.3.2.1 Moles | "Chemical amounts are measured in moles. The symbol for the unit mole is mol." | The mole is not part of the Foundation sequence. The time goes to relative formula mass and percentage yield, which the specification keeps for everyone. |
| 4.3.2.2 Amounts of substances in equations | Students "calculate the masses of substances shown in a balanced symbol equation". | Reacting-mass calculations are left until a student is working at Higher. |
| 4.3.2.3 Using moles to balance equations | Students "balance an equation given the masses". | Balancing stays at the level of symbol equations with the numbers supplied. |
| 4.3.2.4 Limiting reactants | "The reactant that is completely used up is called the limiting reactant because it limits the amount of products." | Not planned for Foundation students. |
| 4.3.4 Using concentrations of solutions in mol/dm3 (chemistry only) | The concentration of a second solution can be calculated when two solutions react completely and the volumes and one concentration are known. | Concentration is taught in g/dm3 only, which is the unit the shared section 4.3.2.5 uses. |
| 4.3.5 Use of amount of substance in relation to volumes of gases (chemistry only) | "The volume of one mole of any gas at room temperature and pressure" is the opening statement of the section. | Gas-volume calculations are left out of Foundation planning. |
| 4.4.1.4 Oxidation and reduction in terms of electrons | "Oxidation is the loss of electrons and reduction is the gain of electrons." | Foundation students define oxidation and reduction as gain and loss of oxygen, the wording the shared section 4.4.1.1 uses. |
| 4.4.2.6 Strong and weak acids | "As the pH decreases by one unit, the hydrogen ion concentration of the solution increases by a factor of 10." | Foundation students use the pH scale to identify acidic and alkaline solutions, which is the shared requirement. |
| 4.4.3.5 Representation of reactions at electrodes as half equations | "At the cathode (negative electrode), positively charged ions gain electrons and so the reactions are reductions." | Electrolysis work covers the process, molten and aqueous electrolysis and the extraction of aluminium, without half equations. |
| 4.5.1.3 The energy change of reactions | Students "calculate the energy transferred in chemical reactions using bond energies supplied". | The shared section 4.5.1.1 says calculation of energy changes is not required, so Foundation energy work centres on temperature change and reaction profiles. |
| 4.6.2.4 to 4.6.2.7 The effect of changing conditions, concentration, temperature and pressure on equilibrium | Predictions "using Le Chatelier's Principle", for example that an increase in pressure shifts the position towards the side with the smaller number of molecules. | Foundation students learn what a reversible reaction and equilibrium are, as the shared sections 4.6.2.1 to 4.6.2.3 set out, and stop there. |
| 4.7.3.2 Condensation polymerisation | "Condensation polymerisation involves monomers with two functional groups." | Polymer work is addition polymerisation, which the shared section 4.7.3.1 covers. |
| 4.7.3.3 Amino acids | "Amino acids react by condensation polymerisation to produce polypeptides." | DNA and other naturally occurring polymers (section 4.7.3.4) are taught; amino acids are not. |
| 4.10.1.4 Alternative methods of extracting metals | "Phytomining uses plants to absorb metal compounds." | Metal extraction stays with reduction by carbon and electrolysis. |
Foundation chemistry tuition built around the specification
Our expert chemistry tutors help Foundation students cover everything AQA examines at their tier and nothing beyond it, so lesson time goes where the marks are.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppMost of the useful distinctions sit inside topics a Foundation student does study. In each row below, the left column is AQA's wording for everyone; the right column is the part it prefixes with (HT only), quoted from the specification.
| Topic | Foundation keeps | Higher adds, marked (HT only) |
|---|---|---|
| 4.1 Writing equations | "write formulae and balanced chemical equations for the reactions in this specification" | "write balanced half equations and ionic equations where appropriate" |
| 4.2.2.1 The three states of matter | "explain the different temperatures at which changes of state occur in terms of energy transfers and types of bonding" | "explain the limitations of the particle theory in relation to changes of state when particles are represented by solid inelastic spheres which have no forces between them" |
| 4.3.2.5 Concentration of solutions | "calculate the mass of solute in a given volume of solution of known concentration in terms of mass per given volume of solution" | "explain how the mass of a solute and the volume of a solution is related to the concentration of the solution" |
| 4.3.3.1 Percentage yield | "calculate the percentage yield of a product from the actual yield of a reaction" | "calculate the theoretical mass of a product from a given mass of reactant and the balanced equation for the reaction" |
| 4.3.3.2 Atom economy | "calculate the atom economy of a reaction to form a desired product from the balanced equation" | "explain why a particular reaction pathway is chosen to produce a specified product given appropriate data such as atom economy (if not calculated), yield, rate, equilibrium position and usefulness of by-products" |
| 4.4.2.1 Reactions of acids with metals | Acids react with some metals to produce salts and hydrogen. | Explaining "in terms of gain or loss of electrons, that these are redox reactions" and identifying which species are oxidised and reduced |
| 4.4.2.5 Titrations and required practical 2 | "describe how to carry out titrations using strong acids and strong alkalis only (sulfuric, hydrochloric and nitric acids only) to find the reacting volumes accurately" | "calculate the chemical quantities in titrations involving concentrations in mol/dm3 and in g/dm3", and the practical's step of determining a concentration from the reacting volumes. Our AQA GCSE Chemistry (8462) overview sets out how that calculation sits inside the titration practical. |
| 4.4.3.1 The process of electrolysis | Passing an electric current through electrolytes causes the ions to move to the electrodes. | AQA writes that throughout section 4.4.3, Higher Tier students "should be able to write half equations for the reactions occurring at the electrodes during electrolysis" |
| 4.5.2.2 Fuel cells | "evaluate the use of hydrogen fuel cells in comparison with rechargeable cells and batteries" | "write the half equations for the electrode reactions in the hydrogen fuel cell" |
| 4.6.1.1 Calculating rates of reactions | "draw tangents to the curves on these graphs and use the slope of the tangent as a measure of the rate of reaction"; units g/s or cm3/s | "calculate the gradient of a tangent to the curve on these graphs as a measure of rate of reaction at a specific time". Separately, the specification says that "For the Higher Tier, students are also required to use quantity of reactants in terms of moles and units for rate of reaction in mol/s." |
| 4.7.2.4 Carboxylic acids | "describe what happens when any of the first four carboxylic acids react with carbonates, dissolve in water, react with alcohols" | "explain why carboxylic acids are weak acids in terms of ionisation and pH" |
| 4.10.4.1 The Haber process | "recall a source for the nitrogen and a source for the hydrogen"; an iron catalyst at about 450°C and about 200 atmospheres | "explain the trade-off between rate of production and position of equilibrium", interpret graphs of reaction conditions versus rate, and explain "how the commercially used conditions for the Haber process are related to the availability and cost of raw materials and energy supplies, control of equilibrium position and rate" |
Two rows show where lesson time goes. Rate-of-reaction graphs: a Foundation student draws a tangent and uses its slope, and our tutors drill that with real data sets, but the gradient calculation at a specific time belongs to Higher, so it is rehearsed only when a student is working above the tier. The Haber process is the second: Foundation candidates recall sources of nitrogen and hydrogen, the iron catalyst and the operating conditions, and the explanations of trade-offs, equilibrium and cost are Higher content.
This list is also the cleanest way to see what a Foundation lesson plan can leave out. If a student is ready for more, the same table read from the right-hand columns is the bridge, and our Higher tier AQA GCSE Chemistry page sets out the other side.
The examiners' reports for 8462/1F (June 2024 and June 2025) and 8462/2F (June 2024) each say the same thing in the same words: there were ten questions on the paper, and questions 8, 9 and 10 were common to the Higher Tier. The reports label questions 8 to 10 as standard demand, one early question in each paper as low demand, and the questions in between as low and standard demand. Standard demand questions are designed to broadly target grades 4 to 5 and low demand questions grades 1 to 3, per the same reports.
| Paper and series | Question 8 | Question 9 | Question 10 | Marks in questions 8 to 10 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8462/1F, June 2025 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 9 + 11 + 11 = 31 of 100 |
| 8462/1F, June 2024 | 10 | 11 | 8 | 10 + 11 + 8 = 29 of 100 |
| 8462/2F, June 2024 | 10 | 8 | 9 | 10 + 8 + 9 = 27 of 100 |
Question totals come from the "Total Question" lines of the published mark schemes. Across both June 2024 papers the three questions add up to 56 of 200 marks, or 28.0%. Separately, AQA's tiering guide states that 30% of the marks on each tiered paper are common to both tiers, and that these common questions are written at standard demand and sit inside the 40% of marks targeted at standard demand on each tier. We quote the two figures as AQA's and as the mark schemes' respectively.
The same marks, grouped by the demand label in each examiner report, show how the papers are built. One early question is low demand only, the questions in between carry both labels, and the common block is standard demand only.
| Paper and series | Low demand only | Low and standard demand | Standard demand only |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8462/1F, June 2025 | 7 (question 1) | 62 (questions 2 to 7) | 31 (questions 8 to 10) |
| 8462/1F, June 2024 | 9 (question 1) | 62 (questions 2 to 7) | 29 (questions 8 to 10) |
| 8462/2F, June 2024 | 9 (question 2) | 64 (questions 1 and 3 to 7) | 27 (questions 8 to 10) |
Practice on questions 8 to 10
Our expert Foundation chemistry tutors help students rehearse the closing questions of each AQA paper, where every line of an answer can earn a mark.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppThe June 2025 8462/1F mark scheme gives a specification reference against every part of every question. Question 8 (9 marks) draws on the sections for the size and mass of atoms, relative atomic mass, electronic structure, the development of the periodic table, metals and non-metals, Group 0, and the properties of metals and alloys. Question 9 (11 marks) is bonding and structure: chemical bonds, ionic bonding, ionic compounds, covalent bonding, the properties of small molecules, polymers, giant covalent structures and graphite. Question 10 (11 marks) joins metal oxides, the reactivity series and extraction of metals with atom economy, Group 1, the transition metals, conservation of mass and relative formula mass.
The examiners' commentary on those three questions reads like a revision list. In question 8, the June 2025 examiner report for 8462/1F says only one student in six could correctly describe where the non-metals are found in the periodic table, and about a quarter knew that isotopes involve a different number of neutrons. In question 9, only one in ten scored the mark for the formula of calcium sulfide from the lattice diagram. In question 10, about one in ten scored all three marks on percentage atom economy. The same report says that students left some of these common questions unanswered: "Except for the multiple-choice questions, these common questions were unanswered by between 10% and 25% of students." The 2025 report describes 8462/1F as sat by over 19 000 students; the 2024 report gives over 22 000 for the same paper.
That figure drives one habit. Every session on a Foundation programme ends with a timed attempt at a question in the style of 8, 9 or 10 with a rule that no line stays blank: write something from the specification wording, however partial. A non-attempt cannot earn a mark, and the examiners' range of 10% to 25% is large enough to matter on a 100-mark paper.
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AQA publishes an examiner report for each paper. Read together, the 2025 reports for 8462/1F and 8462/2F name specific errors that recur across several questions, and the Paper 1 report states a general point: "Several questions showed that students are unwilling to learn facts that are stated in the specification." The same report adds that the accurate use of subscripts and superscripts is fundamental to chemistry. The table sorts the named errors by the skill behind them, because that is how we turn them into drills. Question numbers are the board's own.
| Question and series | What the examiners reported | The drill it becomes |
|---|---|---|
| Practical technique | ||
| 1F 04.2, June 2025 | Fewer than a third realised that the substance added in a titration should be an indicator, or could name one. | Students recite the titration as a sequence of named steps, naming each piece of apparatus and reagent. |
| 1F 04.4, June 2025 | Only two fifths realised the acid should be added dropwise and/or the solution swirled; stirring was not accepted as swirling. | One-line method sentences, practised with the precise verbs the mark scheme credits. |
| 1F 02.5, June 2025 | Many appear to think that resolution is the gap between numbered values on the scale rather than the size of the smallest scale division. | Reading a scale from a photograph: smallest division first, then the reading. |
| 2F 05.1 and 05.4, June 2025 | A third gained all three marks completing the chromatography diagram, and only one third knew that measurements are made to the centre of the spot. | Students draw the chromatography set-up from memory and label every part, then measure a printed chromatogram. |
| 2F 08.3, June 2025 | There was little understanding of heating to constant mass. | The method is taught as a loop: heat, cool, weigh, repeat, stop when the mass no longer changes. |
| Recall of facts the specification states | ||
| 2F 01.4 and 01.6, June 2025 | Only a quarter identified barium chloride solution; fewer than 20% identified both precipitate colours. | A one-page grid of ion tests, each with its reagent and its result, tested from both directions. |
| 2F 02.5, June 2025 | The test for alkenes is not well known: slightly more than 1 in 10 scored either mark. | The test and its result sit on the same grid as the ion tests. |
| 2F 04.1, June 2025 | There is a strongly held misconception that hydrogen comes from the air. | Sources of nitrogen and hydrogen for the Haber process are recalled as a pair, with the board's wording. |
| 2F 06.6, June 2025 | Fewer than 20% identified both gases in the Earth's early atmosphere. | Early and present-day atmosphere compared in two columns. |
| 1F 08.1, June 2025 | Only one student in six described where the non-metals are found, despite a clear statement in the specification. | Students describe the position of metals and non-metals on the periodic table in a full sentence, including the top of the table. |
| 1F 03.6, June 2025 | Fewer than one in six knew that the reaction would be reversed when a rechargeable cell is recharged. | The recharging sentence is drilled with the word "reversed". |
Foundation chemistry help for recall and technique
Our expert GCSE chemistry tutors help Foundation students fix recurring errors like these in one-to-one sessions, starting from the student's last mock paper and target grade.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsApp| Question and series | What the examiners reported | The drill it becomes |
|---|---|---|
| Calculation and data handling | ||
| 1F 04.5, June 2025 | Some thought 9.00, rather than 8.45, was the anomalous result; students need to look beyond the first digit. | Titres are compared digit by digit before a mean is taken. |
| 1F 06.4, June 2025 | Some did not cancel their ratio down to the simplest whole number ratio, for example leaving 12:8. | Every ratio answer ends with a cancelling check. |
| 2F 08.5, June 2025 | The most common error was not converting the volume at all or converting it incorrectly. | Units are written beside every number before any calculation starts. |
| 1F 08.7, June 2025 | The most popular answer was about 114, taking a simple mean rather than a weighted mean of the mass numbers. | Relative atomic mass from isotope abundances, worked as a weighted mean. |
| 1F 10.3, June 2025 | Whilst a third scored one mark, only about one in ten scored all three; many could not recall the expression for percentage atom economy. | The atom economy expression is recalled first, then applied to a set of equations. |
| Explanations in words | ||
| 1F 04.6, June 2025 | Only a quarter identified both ions; the ion in an acid was known more often than the ion in an alkali. | H+ and OH- are written beside the words acid and alkali until the pairing is automatic. |
| 1F 05.4, June 2025 | Just over a quarter scored 1 mark but only one in 20 scored both marks; few stated that the mixture has a lower melting point and so needs less energy. | A two-mark answer frame for aluminium extraction: lower melting point, therefore less energy. |
| 1F 08.6, June 2025 | About a quarter knew that a different number of neutrons was involved; few stated that isotopes are atoms with the same number of protons or atoms of the same element. | The isotope definition is learned as one sentence containing both halves. |
| 1F 09.1 and 09.3, June 2025 | Only one in ten scored the mark for the formula from the lattice diagram; fewer than a quarter scored a single mark on graphite, and very few scored all four. | Graphite is described from a checklist: layers, giant covalent structure, bonds per atom, delocalised electrons. |
| 1F 10.1, June 2025 | Many gave tin, the result of the reduction, instead of tin oxide, and did not appreciate that reduction is loss of oxygen. | Students label each substance in an equation as gaining or losing oxygen before answering. |
| 2F 10.3, June 2025 | A quarter correctly identified that a formulation would have fixed quantities of all components. | The definition is drilled with a worked example. |
The examiners also describe how the six-mark question on Paper 1 went: three fifths reached at least level 2 and a third scored full marks. Questions with extended answers therefore reward method over recall, and our tutors practise them as a plan of three or four named steps, not a paragraph written from the top.
The table reproduces the 8462F row of the subject grade boundaries in AQA's boundary document for each June series, published as grade boundaries on the AQA website. The specification's exam series are every May/June, and each row is out of the 200 total scaled mark. The two right-hand columns show each boundary as a share of 200 (boundary divided by 200).
| Series | Grade 5 | Grade 4 | Grade 3 | Grade 2 | Grade 1 | Grade 5 as share of 200 | Grade 4 as share of 200 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2022 | 126 | 104 | 76 | 48 | 20 | 63.0% | 52.0% |
| June 2023 | 126 | 107 | 78 | 49 | 20 | 63.0% | 53.5% |
| June 2024 | 133 | 112 | 82 | 53 | 24 | 66.5% | 56.0% |
| June 2025 | 132 | 109 | 80 | 52 | 24 | 66.0% | 54.5% |
| June 2026 | 132 | 110 | 81 | 52 | 24 | 66.0% | 55.0% |
Across the five rows, the grade 4 boundary sits between 104 marks (the lowest, in the first row) and 112 (the highest, in the third row): a spread of 8 marks. The grade 5 boundary moves between 126 and 133, a spread of 7. The mean grade 4 boundary is (104 + 107 + 112 + 109 + 110) ÷ 5 = 542 ÷ 5 = 108.4 marks, which is 54.2% of 200, and the mean grade 5 boundary is (126 + 126 + 133 + 132 + 132) ÷ 5 = 649 ÷ 5 = 129.8 marks, which is 64.9% of 200. The grade 1 boundary ranges from 20 to 24 marks. From the first row to the last, the grade 4 and grade 5 boundaries each rose by 6 marks, or 3.0 percentage points of the 200.
The gaps between grades matter more to a plan than the boundaries themselves. Between grade 5 and grade 4 the gap was 22, 19, 21, 23 and 22 marks in the five rows, in order. Between grade 4 and grade 3 it was 28, 29, 30, 29 and 29. The gap from the grade 3 boundary to the grade 4 boundary was 28 to 30 marks in these series, against 19 to 23 marks from grade 4 to grade 5.
AQA's boundary documents also include notional component boundaries, which AQA says are presented for illustrative purposes only. Grades are not allocated to individual papers, so these are a guide to the balance between the papers and nothing more. Each paper is out of 100.
| Series | Paper 1 (8462/1F) grade 5 | Paper 1 grade 4 | Paper 2 (8462/2F) grade 5 | Paper 2 grade 4 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| June 2022 | 64 | 53 | 62 | 51 |
| June 2023 | 62 | 52 | 64 | 55 |
| June 2024 | 67 | 56 | 67 | 56 |
| June 2025 | 66 | 55 | 66 | 54 |
| June 2026 | 65 | 54 | 67 | 56 |
What we do with these numbers: we set a working target at the top of the range, which is 112 marks of 200 for grade 4 and 133 for grade 5, then agree with the family a target grade and an honest range around it. A student who clears the highest boundary in the window has a margin if the next series is set harder, because the table shows the boundaries moving from one series to the next. Higher is assessed on its own papers with its own boundaries, and those are not shown here.
Setting a Foundation target grade
Our expert chemistry tutors help Foundation students turn a boundary table into a weekly plan, working from the student's own mock marks on each paper.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppFamilies often ask whether Foundation closes a door. AQA's tiering guide for the GCSE sciences says that "The Foundation tier goes all the way up to a grade 5 for Biology, Chemistry and Physics", where previously the Foundation tier of the science GCSEs was capped at a grade C. It states that, on the Higher tier, "no questions target the 'allowed grades' which are half the width of a normal grade", and advises that "If you feel a student might rely on this grade from the outset, it's probably worth entering them for the Foundation tier."
On who decides, the guide is direct: "Nobody is a better judge of a student's ability than their teacher." The tier is entered by the school; students must sit the same tier in all the papers for a specification. The guide lists key indicators for the sciences, which we use as a checklist when a family asks us for a view:
The guide also notes that grades are not allocated to individual papers: it is the total mark across all the papers that matters. It describes many schools sitting Paper 1 as a mock in December/January and Paper 2 in February/March. For a Foundation student, the common questions are the nearest thing to a calibration point. We ask for the mock marks on questions 8 to 10 and compare them with the examiners' standard-demand descriptions above; where those questions are being answered with confidence and the school is considering a change of tier, we say so to the family, and the decision remains the school's.
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Reviewed 31 October 2026 against AQA's 8462 specification (version 1.2), its tiering guide for the GCSE sciences, five June grade boundary documents, and the 2024 and 2025 examiner reports and mark schemes for 8462/1F and 8462/2F.
A Foundation candidate on AQA GCSE Chemistry (entry code 8462F) is awarded a grade within the range of 1 to 5, and a student below the minimum standard for grade 1 is recorded as U (unclassified) and receives no certificate. AQA's tiering guide says the Foundation tier goes all the way up to a grade 5 for Biology, Chemistry and Physics, where the science GCSEs were previously capped at a grade C. The Higher tier (8462H) awards grades 4 to 9, with an allowed grade 3.
AQA marks them (HT only) in the specification. Whole headings include moles (4.3.2.1), amounts of substances in equations (4.3.2.2), limiting reactants (4.3.2.4), volumes of gases (4.3.5), oxidation and reduction in terms of electrons (4.4.1.4), strong and weak acids (4.4.2.6), half equations at electrodes (4.4.3.5), bond-energy calculations (4.5.1.3), the equilibrium sections 4.6.2.4 to 4.6.2.7, condensation polymerisation (4.7.3.2), amino acids (4.7.3.3) and alternative methods of extracting metals (4.10.1.4). Some topics, such as titrations and the Haber process, are marked only in part.
On the 200-mark total for 8462F, AQA's boundary documents give grade 4 at 109 marks and grade 5 at 132 in June 2025, and grade 4 at 110 and grade 5 at 132 in June 2026. Across the five June series from 2022, grade 4 ranged from 104 to 112 marks and grade 5 from 126 to 133. We plan toward the top of those ranges, 112 and 133, because the boundary moves from series to series.
The examiners' reports for 8462/1F (June 2024 and June 2025) and 8462/2F (June 2024) say questions 8, 9 and 10 were common to the Higher Tier. By the mark schemes, that is 9 + 11 + 11 = 31 of 100 marks on 8462/1F in June 2025, 10 + 11 + 8 = 29 on 8462/1F in June 2024 and 10 + 8 + 9 = 27 on 8462/2F in June 2024. AQA's tiering guide separately states that 30% of the marks on each tiered paper are common to both tiers.
The specification schedules the exams for every May/June. The qualification is linear, so students sit both papers at the end of the course and in the same series. Each paper is 1 hour 45 minutes and 100 marks, with a scaling factor of x1, so the total scaled mark is 200, and AQA sets grade boundaries on that total. Its tiering guide adds that grades are not allocated to individual papers and that a student must sit the same tier in every paper.
The specification says students will be supplied with a periodic table for the exam. It also says that in Foundation Tier papers, questions assessing maths requirements will not be lower than the level expected at Key Stage 3. Questions are multiple choice, structured, closed short answer and open response, and the assessment objectives are weighted at roughly 40% AO1, 40% AO2 and 20% AO3 overall.
AQA's tiering guide says nobody is a better judge of a student's ability than their teacher, and that the school makes the entry. Its indicators include performance on the common questions in mock exams, maths in a scientific context and understanding of the required practicals. It advises that if a student might rely on the allowed grade 3 from the outset, it is probably worth entering them for the Foundation tier. We use the mock marks on questions 8 to 10 as a first check.
In the June 2025 reports, only a quarter identified barium chloride solution in 8462/2F question 01.4, and fewer than 20% gave both precipitate colours. Slightly more than 1 in 10 scored either mark on the test for alkenes. In 8462/1F, only one in ten scored all three marks on percentage atom economy in question 10.3. Our tutors turn each named error into a short drill.
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