A-Level

How to get an A* in A-level Maths

7 min read · updated 2026-10-13

An A* in A-level Maths needs close to 85-87% of the marks: in June 2026 the A* boundary was 260 out of 300 with AQA and 254 out of 300 with Edexcel. With so little room, the grade is decided by accuracy and by not leaving any topic weak.

How the exam is built

Both AQA and Edexcel set three 2-hour papers of 100 marks each. Two-thirds of the marks are pure maths and one-third applied (statistics and mechanics). Edexcel puts pure on Papers 1 and 2 and statistics and mechanics on Paper 3; AQA splits applied across Papers 2 and 3.

The 2026 boundaries

✓ AQA (7357): A* 260/300 (87%), A 219
✓ Edexcel (9MA0): A* 254/300 (85%), A 210
✓ Boundaries move each year, so aim for 90% in practice papers

Where A* candidates lose marks

✓ Proof questions without a clear concluding statement
✓ Integration by parts and substitution under time pressure
✓ Mechanics diagrams without all forces labelled
✓ Statistics: hypothesis tests without the conclusion in context
✓ The large data set: questions assume familiarity with the board's data set, so study it, don't just look at it

A plan from January

✓ January-February: pure topic gaps from mocks; one integration and one proof question daily
✓ March: applied topics and the large data set; timed applied sections
✓ April-May: full papers weekly, marked strictly; redo every lost mark
✓ Final weeks: the most recent papers under exam conditions

Keep a mistakes log

After every past paper, write each lost mark in one of four columns. Patterns appear within three or four papers, and fixing the biggest column is the fastest route to the top grade.

✓ Knowledge: didn't know the fact, definition or method
✓ Method: knew it but set it out wrongly or skipped a step
✓ Reading: misread the question or answered a different one
✓ Slip: arithmetic, units, copying or rounding errors

Exam technique for the last 15%

✓ Read the whole paper in the first five minutes and start where you are strongest
✓ Leave a question that stalls you for more than five minutes and come back to it
✓ Keep exact values until the final line, then round as the question asks
✓ Use the last 10 minutes to check the questions worth the most marks