AQA's own year-by-year topic split, the AS practical-endorsement rule, the shared discount code, and June 2026 AS grade boundaries — sourced from AQA, not a school's scheme of work.
Book a Free ConsultationAQA A-level Physics is specification 7408, a two-year linear qualification; AQA also publishes a separate AS Physics qualification, specification 7407, first taught from 2015 and assessed independently. AQA’s own AS-specific specification states which of the thirteen A-level topic sections count as Year 12 content and which are marked “(A-level only)” — a published split that neither a school’s own scheme of work nor most online guides make explicit.
Whichever route your child’s school has chosen for Year 12 Physics, our expert A-level Physics tutors build every programme around AQA’s own specification — not a generic syllabus.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppAQA enters Year 12 and Year 13 physics students against two entirely separate specifications, not one qualification split across two years. AS Physics carries specification code 7407; A-level Physics carries code 7408, and both figures come directly from AQA’s own entry-codes table. Each has its own dedicated section of AQA’s website — specification, planning resources, teaching resources, assessment resources, key dates and news — rather than the AS 7407 page being a cut-down stub of the A-level 7408 page.
AQA states the structural difference on its A-level Physics specification page, in these terms: “The AS specification is designed to be taken over one or two years with all assessments taken at the end of the course. The A-level specification is designed to be taken over two years with all assessments taken at the end of the course.” In practice that means a school can enter a Year 12 cohort for the standalone AS papers at the end of Year 12, hold the same AS papers back to the end of Year 13 instead, or skip AS entirely and enter students only for the full two-year A-level — three genuinely different routes through the same Year 12 classroom, not one path with a label attached partway through.
AQA answers this precisely, in its own words, on its AS Physics subject-content page: “Sections 3.1 - 3.5 are designed to be covered in the first year of the A-level and are also the AS subject content. So you can teach AS and A-level together.” Those five sections are Measurements and their errors, Particles and radiation, Waves, Mechanics and materials, and Electricity — the entire AS Physics syllabus, and, on AQA’s own account, the entire first year of the two-year A-level as well.
Everything after section 3.5 is marked, individually, “(A-level only)” in the specification’s own contents list: 3.6 Further mechanics and thermal physics, 3.7 Fields and their consequences, 3.8 Nuclear physics, 3.9 Astrophysics, 3.10 Medical physics, 3.11 Engineering physics, 3.12 Turning points in physics, and 3.13 Electronics. That is eight sections held back for Year 13, against five taught — on AQA’s own account — in Year 12, whichever route a school has chosen for AS entry. AQA publishes this as what the specification is designed to cover in each year; what an individual school’s own scheme of work actually delivers, and in what order within Year 12, remains a decision for that school, not something this page can state on a school’s behalf.
The table below sets AS Physics and the full A-level side by side on the points that matter most to a Year 12 family: what each one covers, how it is marked, and what AQA's discount code means if a student sits both.
| Feature | AS Physics (7407) | A-level Physics (7408) |
|---|---|---|
| Specification code | 7407 | 7408 |
| Structure | Linear, one or two years’ study, assessed in one May/June series | Linear, all assessment at the end of two years |
| Content covered | Sections 3.1 to 3.5 only | Sections 3.1 to 3.5 in Year 12, sections 3.6 to 3.13 in Year 13 |
| Total marks | 140 (two papers, 70 marks each) | Reported only once the full course is complete |
| Practical endorsement | Does not apply; assessed via written papers only | Applies across both years, certificated separately from the grade |
| June 2026 grade boundaries | A 89, B 78, C 67, D 56, E 46 (of 140) | Published only once the full course is complete |
| DfE discount code | 1210 | 1210 (all options, 7408A–E) |
Source: AQA AS Physics 7407 specification and June 2026 grade boundaries; AQA A-level Physics 7408 subject-content and specification pages.
Sections 3.1 to 3.5 are the foundation for everything that follows in AQA A-level Physics — our expert Year 12 Physics tutors make sure that foundation is solid before Year 13 builds on it.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppThe A-Level Physics page covers what the practical endorsement is and how it is assessed across the full two-year course. The narrower question for a Year 12 family weighing up the AS route is whether any of that applies if a student is entered for AS only.
AQA answers directly, on its AS-specific practical-assessment documentation: “Assessment of practical skills in this AS specification will be by written exams only. The practical endorsement does not apply to the AS specification.” There is no separate Pass/Not Classified certificate for an AS-only student, and nothing reported alongside the AS grade beyond the grade itself.
That does not mean practical work is skipped. AQA’s AS specification still requires AS students to have carried out a minimum of 6 of the 12 required practical activities specified across the full A-level, and states that “at least 15% of the marks for all AS level Physics courses will require the assessment of practical skills” — assessed entirely through the two written AS papers, never through a separate practical exam or a teacher sign-off.
AS Physics (7407) is assessed by two written papers, 1 hour 30 minutes each, 70 marks apiece, 140 marks in total, each paper worth 50% of the AS grade. The AS qualification is graded on a five-point scale — A, B, C, D, E — with no A*, unlike the A-level’s six-point A* to E scale.
AQA’s confirmed grade boundaries for the June 2026 AS Physics series, out of that 140-mark total, ran A at 89, B at 78, C at 67, D at 56 and E at 46. A family comparing a Year 12 AS result against an eventual A-level grade is comparing two different mark scales entirely — the raw numbers are not interchangeable, even where the letter grade happens to match.
For the next AS series, AQA’s published key dates set Paper 1 (7407/1) for the morning of 12 May 2027 and Paper 2 (7407/2) for the afternoon of 18 May 2027. AQA’s own exams-administration hub describes this as a confirmed timetable, stating plainly that “the timetables on this page are definitive” — checked on 7 September 2026 directly against the linked timetable document, which carries no provisional watermark or wording anywhere in it.
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Our expert A-level Physics tutors work paper by paper from AQA’s own specification, so a Year 12 student is exam-ready for whichever papers their school has actually entered them for.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppEvery AQA specification carries a national discount (classification) code, and AQA states the consequence of that plainly on its A-level Physics specification page: “If a student takes two specifications with the same discount code, Further and Higher Education providers are likely to take the view that they have only achieved one of the two qualifications. Please check this before your students start their course.”
AS Physics (7407) and every version of A-level Physics — 7408A (Astrophysics), 7408B (Medical physics), 7408C (Engineering physics), 7408D (Turning points in physics) and 7408E (Electronics) — all carry the identical discount code, 1210. AQA states this as a general rule about how the code works and asks schools to check it before enrolment; it does not say what any individual university or further-education provider will decide for a specific applicant, and neither do we — the honest answer for a family weighing up AS entry is to ask the school, and where relevant the universities being considered, directly.
AQA also publishes an Ofqual accreditation number for each qualification: 601/4746/5 for the AS and 601/4747/7 for the A-level — confirmation that both are recognised, independently accredited qualifications in their own right, not one certificate issued in two stages.
A Year 12 Physics programme starts from a question that varies school to school: is this student sitting AS Physics in May/June, or moving straight through to the full A-level with no separate AS sitting at all? Our tutors confirm which route a school has actually chosen before building anything, because the two routes call for different priorities within the same academic year — a student sitting AS needs sections 3.1 to 3.5 finished to exam standard, with written-paper practical technique secure, ahead of the May/June series; a student going straight through has the whole of Year 13 to consolidate the same five sections before sections 3.6 onward begin.
Our expert A-level Physics tutors work from AQA’s own subject-content specification and June 2026 grade boundaries, building each Year 12 programme around a student’s actual school and, where relevant, AS entry decision, rather than a generic “A-level Physics” syllabus that ignores the difference. Diagnostic work at the start of a programme establishes which of the five Year 12 sections a student is weakest in, and sessions are weighted towards those rather than worked through in a fixed order. For the wider subject, our Physics tutor service covers GCSE and A-level together, our A-Level tutoring page lists every subject we cover, and families juggling AS Physics alongside AS Maths may also find our Year 12 AQA A-Level Maths page useful.
Whichever route your child’s school has chosen for AS Physics, our expert A-level Physics tutors can build a Year 12 programme around it — get in touch and we’ll confirm what your child actually needs.
Book a Free Consultation Message us on WhatsAppYes. AQA enters AS Physics under specification 7407 and A-level Physics under specification 7408, each with its own dedicated specification pages, key dates and assessment resources. AQA states that “the AS specification is designed to be taken over one or two years with all assessments taken at the end of the course,” a genuinely separate structure from the A-level’s two-year design. A school decides independently whether to enter a Year 12 cohort for AS, for the full A-level only, or for both.
AQA’s AS-specific subject-content page states that “sections 3.1 - 3.5 are designed to be covered in the first year of the A-level and are also the AS subject content,” covering measurements and errors, particles and radiation, waves, mechanics and materials, and electricity. The specification’s own contents list marks sections 3.6 to 3.13 individually as “(A-level only)” — eight sections held back for Year 13, including fields, nuclear physics, astrophysics and the five optional topics.
No. AQA’s AS-specific practical-assessment documentation states directly that “assessment of practical skills in this AS specification will be by written exams only. The practical endorsement does not apply to the AS specification.” An AS-only student is still expected to have carried out a minimum of 6 of the 12 required practical activities, with at least 15% of AS marks relating to practical work, but there is no separate Pass/Not Classified certificate at AS.
AS Physics (7407) is assessed by two written papers, 70 marks each, 140 marks in total, each worth 50% of the AS grade. It is graded on a five-point scale, A to E, with no A*, unlike the A-level’s six-point A* to E scale. AQA’s confirmed grade boundaries for the June 2026 AS Physics series, out of 140, ran A at 89, B at 78, C at 67, D at 56 and E at 46.
AQA states that “if a student takes two specifications with the same discount code, Further and Higher Education providers are likely to take the view that they have only achieved one of the two qualifications.” AS Physics (7407) and every version of A-level Physics (7408A to 7408E) share the identical discount code, 1210. AQA presents this as a general rule for schools to check before enrolment; it does not say what any specific university will decide.
AQA’s published key dates set AS Physics Paper 1 (7407/1) for 12 May 2027 and Paper 2 (7407/2) for 18 May 2027. AQA’s exams-administration hub describes the current version of this timetable as confirmed, stating plainly that “the timetables on this page are definitive.” The linked timetable document itself carries no provisional watermark or wording anywhere in it, checked directly against the PDF rather than assumed from an earlier, superseded edition.
Yes, independently. AQA publishes a separate Ofqual qualification accreditation number (QAN) for each: 601/4746/5 for AS Physics (7407) and 601/4747/7 for A-level Physics (7408). Both are recognised, standalone qualifications in their own right rather than one certificate issued in two stages, which is also why they are examined, graded and reported on entirely separate scales, each with its own papers and its own grade boundaries.
Our expert A-level Physics tutors build every Year 12 programme around AQA's own subject-content split and, where a school enters for it, AS Physics 7407. Leading Tuition is rated 4.8 out of 5 on Trustpilot from 58 reviews, and 91% of our students go on to achieve their desired grades. Read more on the A-Level Physics page or explore Physics tutoring across GCSE and A-level.
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