GCSE results day 2026 - live: Grade boundaries and resit options as students find out their grades

Thousands of teenagers up and down the country will collect their GCSE results this morning after sitting exams earlier in the summer. For the first time many will be accessing their results online, though most students are still expected to go to their schools to find out their grades.

Hard copy results will be handed out by schools from 8am before they are updated online at 11am . The Department of Education has encouraged students to go in person to collect their results so that they are able to speak to teachers and staff about what to do next if their results aren't as good as they had hoped.

Students will also be able to access their results via the Education Record app which has now been fully rolled out following a successful trial in Manchester in 2025.

GCSE grade boundaries will be confirmed today by exam boards including AQA, Pearson Edexcel, OCR, CCEA and WJEC. The grade boundaries - which have followed a numerical 9 to 1 system since 2017 are not fixed from one year to the next as exam boards set these once marking is almost complete.

Education Secretary Lucy Powell said today was a “big day” for those due to get their GCSE results and it marked a “really important moment in a child’s progression”.

Speaking to Sky News, Powell said: “This is a big day for tens of thousands of young people right across the country, including my own daughter, who’s about to get her GCSE results in a couple of hours as well.

“And I know that the vast majority of young people have worked incredibly hard for these quite tough exams that they have faced over the summer, and what they will be getting today, hopefully, is a gateway to continue their study, to continue learning, to continue training and move on to the next stage in their life.”

The Education Secretary said plans to bring in new post-16 vocational qualifications would mean there is a “path for everybody”.

“So there is a path for everybody, and I’m sure people today will feel proud of themselves, but they should be reassured that there is a pathway and there are options for them, and they need to make contact with their school or college and really talk about those options.”

Last year saw the GCE pass rate dip ever-so-slightly: dropping from 67..6% in 2024 to 67.4% across England, Wales and Norther Ireland.

However, despite the dip, the gap between boys and girls' pass rates dropped to its lowest on record, down to a paltry 6.1%, and the percentage of top grades marked 7/A or above rose from 21.8% to 21.9%

The pass rate also rose across Wales and Northern Ireland, with England seeing a slight drop from 67.4% to 67.1%

Like many a nervous student up and down the country, even members of the Royal Family once had to sit in the exam hall and put their nose to the grindstone to test their academic knowledge.

Despite the privilege of attending some of the finest schools in the land, with access to world-class tutors, they too will have felt the gut-wrenching anxiety of not knowing what lay inside that fateful envelope.