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
GCSE Foundation sample Paper 1 (non-calculator)
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- 1.A recipe for one cake needs 2/3 of a cup of sugar. Priya has 3 1/2 cups of sugar. Work out how many complete cakes she can make.
- 2.The formula for the profit, £P, made on an item is P = S − C, where S is the selling price and C is the cost price. Make S the subject of the formula.
- 3.1 metre = 100 cm. Work out how many square centimetres there are in 1 square metre.
- 4.Two angles lie on a straight line. One angle is 37°. Work out the size of the other angle.
- 5.A charity tombola has 30 tickets, 6 of which win a prize. Priya buys a ticket at random and does not return it. Her friend Tom then buys a second ticket at random from the remaining tickets. Work out the probability that both Priya and Tom win a prize.
- 6.A stacked bar for one day at a café in Norwich shows total drink sales of 50 drinks, split into three parts: 22 were tea, 15 were coffee and the rest were hot chocolate. Work out the number of hot chocolates sold.
- 7.Jack buys 3 books, each costing £4.25, and pays with a £20 note. Work out how much change he receives.
- 8.Expand 2(x − 13)
- 9.A straight-line graph shows the cost, C pounds, of hiring a bike for h hours. The line passes through the points (1, 12) and (4, 27). Which of these statements about the line is true?
- 10.A solid has a plan view that is a circle, and a front elevation that is a triangle. Which solid is this?
- 11.A spinner has three equal sections, coloured red, blue and green. It is spun twice, and each outcome is listed as an ordered pair of colours, such as (red, blue). Work out how many outcomes are in the full list.
- 12.The diameter of an artificial silk fibre is 4 × 10⁻⁶ metres. One nanometre is 10⁻⁹ metres. Work out the diameter of the fibre in nanometres.
- 13.Make x the subject of the formula y = 4(x − 6).
- 14.£5000 is invested in an account paying 4% compound interest each year. Work out the total interest earned after 3 years.
- 15.The bearing of a campsite B from a walker's position A is 070°. What is the bearing of A from B?
- 16.Work out 3 1/5 + 1 2/3. Give your answer as a mixed number in its simplest form.
- 17.Make a the subject of the formula b = 20 − a.
- 18.The population of a village is 1200. It is predicted to grow by 5% next year. Work out the predicted population after 1 year, to the nearest whole number.
- 19.Light travels at 2.998 × 10⁸ metres per second. A distant object in space is 3.1 × 10¹⁵ metres from Earth. Work out an estimate for the number of seconds light takes to travel from the object to Earth, by rounding each number to 1 significant figure.
- 20.A map has a scale of 1 : 1000. A road is 300 m long in real life. Work out the length of the road on the map, in centimetres.
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.