Distributions, not difficulty
The one thing this site refuses to tell you: which subject is easier.
Grade distributions reflect who enters each subject as much as the exam itself, so a higher A* rate never means an easier course, and nothing here is ranked by difficulty. Grade Britain shows the published picture honestly and leaves the judgement where it belongs: with you.
Two measures, two tables
Change which grade you measure, and the table rearranges itself.
36 A-level subjects, 2026, ranked on A*–A and then on pass rate. The middle subject shifts about 8 places between the two tables, and 16 of them move ten or more. The two orders are close to unrelated. Knowing where a subject sits on A*–A tells you very little about where it sits on pass rate.
Every subject the awarding bodies published nationally in 2026 with at least 1,000 entries. Smaller entries are left out because a rank drawn from a few dozen candidates describes the sample rather than the subject; the picture is the same whether the line is drawn at 500 or at 2,000. Ties are separated alphabetically. Nothing here is ranked by difficulty.
Three lenses on the data
One dataset, three questions answered.
01 · Where grades land
The full spread for every subject, and how it has moved.
League views and complete grade profiles for 74 A-level and 62 GCSE subjects, nationally and within each board, with every year of trend since 2022 so the post-pandemic reset is visible subject by subject.
Open the explorerMaths · national A* rate
2022 was the assessed-grades peak; the reset since is visible in one glance.
02 · Compare boards
One subject, side by side across every board that offers it.
In 2026, the A-level Maths A* rate ranged from 13.3% to 25.1% across boards, around a national figure of 17.7%. Same subject, same year: the compare view puts the whole picture on one screen, national reference included.
Compare boardsMaths · A* rate by board · 2026
National (JCQ): 17.7%. Cohorts differ by board; this is a difference, not a difficulty ranking.
03 · Compare content
What each board actually teaches.
Specification content mapped topic by topic across AQA, Edexcel, OCR, WJEC and Eduqas, quoted verbatim from the published specs. If you are weighing a board switch, this shows exactly what you would pick up and what you would leave behind.
Compare specifications13 subjects mapped
The GCSE layer
GCSE, kept honest.
Sixty-two GCSE subjects across AQA, Edexcel, OCR and Eduqas, with the England national picture alongside. The 9–1 scale and Combined Science's paired 9–9 award stay in separate lanes, never blended, and tiering caveats are flagged where they bite.
Explore GCSE resultsWho it's for
Built for the conversations grades start.
Heads of department
Walk into a results meeting with the national spread, not a hunch. See how your board and your subject sit against the national picture before anyone asks the question.
Options evening
Show parents and students the real shape of a subject’s results. Deep links open the exact view you prepared, charts print cleanly, and there is no login between you and the figure.
Students choosing
See the honest spread for every subject you are weighing, and how it has moved since 2022. No difficulty rankings, no spin, just the published picture.
iPhone app
The whole dataset, offline, in your pocket.
Grade Britain for iOS carries every distribution inside the app itself: no account, no tracking, and it works with no signal in the staffroom. The same verified dataset in a native interface — app updates follow the website as each results series lands.
Free · iPhone & iPadProvenance
Where the figures come from.
Published cumulative grade distributions from JCQ and the awarding bodies, rebuilt into one comparable dataset: 1,933 rows across GCSE and A-level, 2022 to 2026. Every row traces to a public source, and where a board publishes no entry count, none is invented. An independent audit in June 2026 checked every row then published and confirmed the dataset against the official publications; rows added since — the provisional 2026 results — are built from the boards' own results-day tables and pass the same automated consistency checks.
Grade Britain is independent, and is not affiliated with or endorsed by any awarding body. Board names appear as plain text, not official logos.
Read about the data