Grades & grade boundaries
What does a 5-5 or a 4-3 mean in Combined Science?
Combined Science is a double award: one qualification, two GCSEs, one pair of grades written like 5-5 or 4-3. The scale runs from 9-9 down to 1-1 in seventeen steps, including the in-between grades such as 5-4. A 4-4 is two standard passes. A 5-5 is two strong passes. A 4-3 is one 4 and one 3, so it is not two passes. Check what your sixth form actually asks for.
Last updated 19 August 2026 · Written and fact-checked by the GCSEwiz team
One course, two GCSEs, one pair of numbers
Combined Science (Trilogy on AQA, and the equivalent double awards on the other English boards) covers biology, chemistry and physics together. You leave with two GCSE grades, written as a pair. 6-6 is two grade 6s. 6-5 is one 6 and one 5, a notch apart. The pair is not two separate science grades you can split: there is no “my chemistry was the 6”. It is one double result for the whole course.
The scale has seventeen steps: 9-9, 9-8, 8-8, 8-7, and so on down to 2-1 and 1-1. The in-between grades exist so a student sitting between two whole numbers is not forced up or down a whole grade on both GCSEs at once.
| Pair | What it means | Pass language |
|---|---|---|
| 9-9 to 7-7 | Two grades at 7 or above | Old A-grade territory, twice |
| 6-6, 6-5, 5-5 | Two grades at 5 or 6 | Two strong passes, or a strong pass and a 6 |
| 5-4, 4-4 | At least two 4s, or a 5 and a 4 | Two standard passes, or a strong pass and a standard pass |
| 4-3 | One 4 and one 3 | One standard pass, one below a pass |
| 3-3 and below | Both grades below 4 | Not two passes |
Foundation tops out at 5-5
Combined Science is tiered, like maths. Foundation papers award up to 5-5. Higher papers award up to 9-9, and can still award down around 4-4 (with a 4-3 as a near-miss on some series). If a sixth form has asked for 6-6 or 7-7, you need to be on higher, or moving there while there is teaching time. Chasing a 7-7 on foundation is not a plan. The paper cannot award it.
What sixth forms actually ask for
There is no national Combined Science offer. Some sixth forms want two 4s (4-4). Some want 5-5 for science A-levels. A few still prefer triple. A 4-3 is the pair that causes the most confusion: it is not two standard passes, and a course that asked for “two 4s in science” will usually read it as a miss. The published entry requirements of the sixth forms you might actually apply to beat any general rule.
Combined does not, by itself, block science A-levels. Plenty of students go from a strong double grade onto biology, chemistry or physics in Year 12. The A-level is taught from the start. Triple makes the first term feel more familiar; it is not a secret password.
How the pair is earned
The double grade comes from the total across the Combined papers - typically two biology, two chemistry and two physics - not from a separate grade in each science. That is why a student who is strong in biology and shaky in chemistry still gets one pair. The leak list for a better pair is the topics costing marks across all three, not “do more biology because it feels nicer”.