Sample paper · GCSE Foundation · grades 1–5
GCSE Foundation sample Paper 1 (non-calculator)
The real Paper 1 is 1.5 hour 30 minutes and 80 marks, non-calculator, and all three papers carry equal weight. This sample is 20 original questions in the same content proportions as the Foundation qualification — number 25%, algebra 20%, ratio, proportion and rates of change 25%, geometry and measures 15%, probability 7.5%, statistics 7.5% — with no calculator-only items. AO1 / AO2 / AO3 at this tier: 50% / 25% / 25%.
Non-calculatorGCSE Foundation
Answer key: GCSE Foundation sample Paper 1 (non-calculator)
MathsUKwww.geekhero.co.uk
- (a) 24 — Method: rearrange the relationship so that the lowest common multiple stands alone; it is the product of the two numbers divided by their highest common factor. Working: 48 = 2 × the lowest common multiple, so the lowest common multiple is 48 ÷ 2 = 24. Checking, 24 is in the 6 times table and in the 8 times table. Answer: 24. The distractors: 48 comes from giving the product of the two numbers and never dividing by the highest common factor; 96 comes from multiplying by the highest common factor instead of dividing by it; 12 comes from dividing by the highest common factor twice, once for each of the two numbers.
- (c) 5 — Method: gradient = change in y ÷ change in x between the two points. Working: change in y = 9 − 4 = 5, change in x = 1 − 0 = 1, so gradient = 5 ÷ 1 = 5. Answer: the gradient is 5. 13 comes from adding the y-values instead of subtracting them. 4 comes from using the y-value at x = 0 instead of the change in y between the two points. 1/5 comes from inverting the gradient, dividing the change in x by the change in y instead of the other way round.
- (c) 30 km — First convert 1 hour 15 minutes to hours: 15 minutes is a quarter of an hour, so the time is 1.25 hours. Then multiply by the speed: 24 × 1.25 = 30 km. Reading 15 minutes as 0.15 hours (writing the minutes after the decimal point instead of as a fraction of 60) gives 24 × 1.15 = 27.6 km. Working out 24 × 75 = 1800 multiplies by the number of minutes instead of converting to hours first. Working out 24 ÷ 1.25 = 19.2 divides by the time instead of multiplying. The cyclist travels 30 km.
- (d) 300 cm³ — Method: the volume of a cuboid is length × width × height. Working: 2 × 10 = 20, then 20 × 15 = 300. Answer: 300 cm³. The distractors: 27 cm³ comes from adding the three edges, 2 + 10 + 15, instead of multiplying them; 400 cm² comes from working out the surface area, 2 × (2 × 10 + 2 × 15 + 10 × 15) = 400, which answers a different question and carries a different unit; 150 cm³ comes from multiplying 10 × 15 and leaving the 2 cm edge out of the calculation altogether.
- (a) 0.36 — Relative frequency is the number of times the event happened divided by the total number of trials: 18 ÷ 50 = 0.36. Dividing by 100 instead of the actual 50 spins gives 18 ÷ 100 = 0.18. Finding the relative frequency of NOT landing on green, using 50 − 18 = 32 spins, gives 32 ÷ 50 = 0.64. Misplacing the decimal point in the division, so that 18 ÷ 50 is carried out as 18 ÷ 500, gives 0.036 — a tenth of the correct value.
- (d) Testing destroys bulbs, so testing all leaves none to sell. — Method: testing every item in a population instead of a sample is a census — sensible only when testing does not use up or destroy what is being tested. Working: here, testing a bulb to find its lifespan destroys it, so testing all 50,000 bulbs would leave nothing left to sell — a sample lets the company estimate the typical lifespan without destroying its whole stock. Extra electricity used in testing is not the real reason a census is avoided here — it is the destruction of the product that matters. Saying a sample is always more accurate than a full census is the wrong way round: a census, if it could be carried out, gives the exact figure for the whole population — it is testing being destructive, not a lack of accuracy, that rules it out here. There is no law against testing every item a company makes — nothing in the question suggests that. When testing destroys the item being tested, sampling is necessary, not just convenient.
- (d) 19 — 2² = 4, then 4 × 4 = 16, then 3 + 16 = 19. Adding before multiplying gives 3 + 4 = 7, then 7 × 4 = 28 — multiplication comes before addition. Squaring the product instead of just the 2 gives 4 × 2 = 8, then 8² = 64, then 3 + 64 = 67. Working strictly left to right throughout gives 3 + 4 = 7, then 7 × 2 = 14, then 14² = 196.
- (a) x = 2 — Method: undo the subtraction first, then undo the multiplication, doing the same to both sides each time. Working: adding 2 to both sides gives 2x = 4, and dividing both sides by 2 gives x = 2. Answer: x = 2. The distractors: x = 4 comes from stopping at 2x = 4 and writing 4 as the value of x; x = 0 comes from subtracting 2 from both sides instead of adding it, giving 2x = 0; x = 8 comes from multiplying 4 by 2 instead of dividing by 2.
- (d) The 750 g box, at 36p per 100 g — Work out the cost per 100 g of each box. 750 g box: 270p ÷ 7.5 = 36p per 100 g. 500 g box: 195p ÷ 5 = 39p per 100 g. The lower cost per 100 g is the better value, so the 750 g box at 36p per 100 g is the answer. Choosing the 500 g box at 39p per 100 g gets the maths right but picks the higher unit price, not realising a smaller cost per 100 g is the better deal. Choosing the 500 g box because £1.95 is lower than £2.70 compares the total prices without allowing for the different pack sizes at all. Working out 270 ÷ 5 = 54p divides the 750 g box's price by the wrong number of hundred-grams (the 500 g box's), giving a rate that belongs to neither box. The 750 g box, at 36p per 100 g, is the better value.
- (a) 7 — Rearranging F + V − E = 2 gives F = 2 − V + E = 2 − 10 + 15 = 7. A candidate who works out E − V without the +2, giving 15 − 10, answers 5. A candidate who rearranges with a sign error, working out 2 + V − E = 2 + 10 − 15 = −3 and then drops the negative sign, answers 3. A candidate who adds all three numbers together, V + E + 2 = 10 + 15 + 2, answers 27, having used the wrong operation entirely. The correct number of faces is 7.
- (d) 0.80 — Evens is exactly halfway along the scale, at 0.5, and 3/10 written as a decimal is 0.3. A probability 3/10 higher than evens is 0.5 + 0.3 = 0.80. Giving 0.30 as the answer converts the increase but never adds it to the value of evens. Adding the increase to 1, the 'certain' end of the scale, instead of to evens gives 1 + 0.3 = 1.30, which cannot be a probability. Writing 3/10 as 0.03 instead of 0.3, a place-value slip, gives 0.5 + 0.03 = 0.53.
- (c) 125 — Method: a number cubed means multiplying the number by itself three times. Working: 5 × 5 × 5 = 125. 15 comes from working out 5 × 3 = 15, multiplying by the index instead of cubing. 8 comes from working out 5 + 3 = 8 instead of cubing. 53 comes from writing the base and the index next to each other instead of carrying out the calculation. Answer: 125.
- (d) x = 6 — Method: with an unknown on both sides, first collect the x terms on one side by subtracting the smaller x term from both sides, then deal with the numbers. Working: subtracting x from both sides gives x + 7 = 13, and subtracting 7 from both sides gives x = 6. Answer: x = 6. The distractors: x = 20 comes from adding 7 to 13 instead of subtracting it once the x terms have been collected; x = 2 comes from collecting the x terms by adding them, giving 3x + 7 = 13 and then 3x = 6; x = −6 comes from subtracting 2x from both sides to get 7 = −x + 13, reaching −6 = −x and then copying the sign straight across instead of dividing by −1.
- (c) £2743.60 — Each year the balance is multiplied by 1.03. After the first year: 4000 × 1.03 = 4120. After the second year: 4120 × 1.03 = 4243.60, so that is what Leah takes out. She then spends £1500 of it, which leaves 4243.60 − 1500 = 2743.60. She has £2743.60 left.
- (d) √3/2 — cos 30° is one of the exact values you must know: cos 30° = √3/2. The value 1/2 is the exact value of sin 30° (and of cos 60°), not cos 30°. The value √2/2 is the exact value of cos 45° (and of sin 45°). The value 1 is the exact value of cos 0°.
- (d) 1.65 litres — Method: convert both volumes to the same unit, then add. Working: 400 ml = 400 ÷ 1000 = 0.4 litres. Total = 1.25 + 0.4 = 1.65 litres. Answer: 1.65 litres. (401.25 litres comes from adding 1.25 and 400 directly without converting millilitres to litres first. 0.85 litres comes from subtracting 0.4 from 1.25 instead of adding. 5.25 litres comes from dividing 400 by 100 instead of by 1000 — using the centimetre-to-metre factor — which turns 400 ml into 4 litres before adding.)
- (b) An identity, since both sides are equal for every x. — Expanding the left-hand side: 5(2x−3)=10x−15, which is exactly the same as the right-hand side for every value of x, so it is an identity, not an equation that is only true for one particular x. A candidate who treats every equals-sign statement as an equation, without checking whether it holds for all values of x, would choose the equation option. A candidate who mistakes it for a formula is assuming it relates two different letters or quantities, but only x appears — there is no second variable such as area or cost — so it is not a formula. A candidate who mistakes it for an inequality is assuming the two sides are only equal for particular values of x, but expanding shows they are identical for every value, not just some.
- (a) 12/5 — If A is 5/12 of B, then B is the reciprocal of that fraction times A: flip 5/12 to get 12/5, so B is 12/5 of A. 5/12 comes from keeping the same fraction without flipping it, treating the relationship as if it works the same way in both directions. 7/12 comes from computing 1 − 5/12 = 7/12, which is not how a fraction reverses. 12/7 comes from subtracting 5 from 12 to get 7, and writing 12 over that, instead of swapping the numerator and denominator of 5/12.
- (a) 1/3 — To subtract these fractions, first write 3/4 with a denominator of 12: 3/4 = 9/12. Then 9/12 − 5/12 = 4/12, which simplifies to 1/3. Subtracting the numerators and the denominators separately, (3 − 5)/(4 − 12), gives −2/−8, which simplifies to 1/4. Changing 3/4 to twelfths by only changing the denominator, without scaling the numerator to match, gives 3/12 − 5/12 = −2/12, which simplifies to −1/6. Adding the fractions instead of subtracting them, 9/12 + 5/12, gives 14/12, which simplifies to 7/6.
- (b) 5/7 — The enlargement multiplier is 1.4, which as a fraction is 7/5. To reverse an enlargement, use the reciprocal of the multiplier: flip 7/5 to get 5/7. 7/5 comes from using the enlargement multiplier again, instead of reversing it. 3/5 comes from treating the reverse as 'give back the extra amount', working out 1 − (1.4 − 1) = 0.6, instead of using the reciprocal. 5/2 comes from ignoring the whole number in 1.4 and inverting only the decimal part, 0.4, as if it were the whole multiplier.
How the 20 questions are shared out
- Number — 5 questions (25% of the qualification)
- Algebra — 4 questions (20% of the qualification)
- Ratio, proportion and rates of change — 5 questions (25% of the qualification)
- Geometry and measures — 3 questions (15% of the qualification)
- Probability — 2 questions (7.5% of the qualification)
- Statistics — 1 question (7.5% of the qualification)
Where an area has fewer printable questions than its share, the shortfall is filled from the other areas. These are original questions, not past papers.