Your doctor can use the results of an A1C test to diagnose borderline diabetes. A “normal” A1C level is under 5.7%. In prediabetes, A1C is higher than normal (5.7 to 6.4%). You can be diagnosed with diabetes if your A1C is higher than than 6.5%.  Your A1C results can also be used to monitor prediabetes or diabetes if you have already been diagnosed. Your goal might be to reverse prediabetes and lower your A1C to under 5.7%. For otherwise healthy individuals with diabetes, a common goal to lower the risk for complications is to keep A1C under 7%. For some people with diabetes, such as older adults or people with complications, reducing or maintaining A1C under 8% may be safer. In general, your risk for diabetes complications rises when A1C is higher.