What is my average GCSE grade, and will it get me into sixth form?
Add your grades and the calculator gives your average, your total points, and whether you clear the thresholds sixth forms usually set. Most ask for five GCSEs at grade 4 or above including English and maths. Selective sixth forms and grammar schools commonly want six to eight subjects at grade 6 or 7, and often a specific grade in the subject you want to study.
Last updated 23 August 2026 · Built and checked by the GCSEwiz team
Name them so the checker can spot English and maths, which almost every requirement mentions separately.
- Five subjects at grade 4 or above including English and maths, which is the requirement most sixth forms and colleges set.
- Six subjects at grade 6 or above, roughly what a selective sixth form asks for.
- An average points score of 6.0, asked for by the more competitive sixth forms.
Individual A-levels set their own entry grades on top of these, and they are often higher. Maths commonly asks for a grade 7. Always check the requirements published by the sixth form or college you are applying to.
What an average grade is actually used for
Sixth forms and colleges set entry requirements in two different currencies, and it helps to know which one you are being measured in. Some ask for a threshold: five subjects at grade 4 and above, including English and maths. Others ask for an average points score across your best eight, usually somewhere between 4.0 and 6.0 depending on how selective they are.
On the current scale the numbers are the points, so a grade 7 is worth seven. That makes the average easy to work out and easy to compare against a published requirement.
The subject requirement most people miss
Clearing the overall bar is only half of it. Individual A-levels carry their own entry grades, and they are often higher than the general requirement. A-level maths commonly asks for a grade 7 at GCSE. The sciences frequently want a 6 or 7 in the relevant subject, or in Combined Science. An overall average of 5.5 will get you through the door and still leave you short for the course you came for.
Check the requirements for the specific subjects you want, at the specific place you want to go, on their own website. They vary more than anyone expects.
Average point score, decoded
The formal name for this number is the average point score (APS), and on the 9-1 scale it is refreshingly literal: each grade is worth its own number of points, so a 6, a 5 and a 4 average to 5.0. When a sixth form asks for "an average of 5.5 across your best eight", this calculator's figure is the one they mean.
One relative worth telling apart: Attainment 8, the number in school league tables, is a measure of schools rather than students - it counts eight subjects with English and maths twice each. No sixth form will ask you for it, so if you are comparing yourself against a published Attainment 8 figure, you are comparing against the wrong yardstick.
If the number is lower than you hoped
There is more room here than it looks. Sixth forms have discretion and use it, particularly when a subject grade is strong even if the average is not. Colleges and sixth-form colleges often set lower bars than school sixth forms for the same courses. Resitting English or maths alongside Level 3 study is standard and well supported. And the November resit series exists precisely for the subjects that block a place.
If you are looking at this before Year 11 rather than after it, the number is not a verdict at all. It is a starting point with a lot of time attached to it.