OCR GCSE English Language grade calculator
Type a mark from a mock or a past paper to see the grade it would have got on OCR's own grade boundaries, for the newest series and every year before it. It runs in this browser, so nothing you type is sent to us.
Type a mark to see the grade it would have got on OCR GCSE English Language's past boundaries.
How the boundaries have moved
A grade 7 needed 69.4% of the marks in November 2017 and 68.1% in November 2025.
Each point is the lowest mark for that grade in the November series, as a percentage of the total. Other series, such as November resits, are left out so the years compare like with like. A solid line is the higher grade and a dashed line the lower one.
Show as a table
| Series | Grade 7 | Grade 4 |
|---|---|---|
| November 2025 | 109/160 (68.1%) | 74/160 (46.3%) |
| November 2024 | 108/160 (67.5%) | 71/160 (44.4%) |
| November 2023 | 107/160 (66.9%) | 69/160 (43.1%) |
| November 2022 | 100/160 (62.5%) | 65/160 (40.6%) |
| November 2021 | 99/160 (61.9%) | 59/160 (36.9%) |
| November 2020 | 99/160 (61.9%) | 60/160 (37.5%) |
| November 2019 | 111/160 (69.4%) | 69/160 (43.1%) |
| November 2018 | 118/160 (73.8%) | 74/160 (46.3%) |
| November 2017 | 111/160 (69.4%) | 72/160 (45%) |
More for English Language
Common questions
What mark do you need for each grade in GCSE English Language?
In June 2026, a grade 7 needed 110 out of 160 and a grade 4 needed 75. Boundaries are set again for every series, so these are last time's marks rather than the next exam's.
Is a mock exam grade the same as the real grade?
Not always. Schools often mark mocks against an older year's boundaries, sometimes more strictly to leave room to improve, and the real exam's boundaries are set only after it has been marked. A grade from a mock is a useful guide to where things stand, not a prediction of the result.
Can I work out a grade from one paper?
As a rough guide, yes: OCR publishes a boundary for each paper, which it calls notional, and the calculator uses those. The real grade comes from the marks for all the papers added together, so one strong or weak paper can be balanced by the others.
Why does the same mark get a different grade in different years?
Boundaries are set after each exam is marked, so that a grade means the same standard even when one year's paper is harder than another's. A harder paper usually has lower boundaries, so the same mark can be worth a higher grade.
cookie is independent and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any exam board. Every paper here is a link to the board's own copy on its own website, and the papers belong to the boards that set them. If a link has stopped working, the board's own past paper page is linked on each course. The grade boundaries are copied from the boards’ own published documents, each linked under its table.