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.In a school, 3/5 of the students study French. Of these students, 2/3 also study Spanish. What fraction of all the students study both French and Spanish?
- 2.Amelia is buying books. Each book costs £5 and she has at most £30 to spend. Write down an inequality for x, the number of books she can buy.
- 3.A mortar mix is made from sand and cement in the ratio 5 : 3. Write the ratio of sand to the total mix in its simplest form.
- 4.A rectangular name card has a perimeter of 30 cm. The card is 9 cm long. Work out the width of the card.
- 5.A café offers 3 types of sandwich, cheese, ham and egg, and 4 types of drink, tea, coffee, juice and water. A customer chooses one sandwich and one drink at random. Work out the probability that the customer chooses egg and water.
- 6.A sports centre in Ipswich has 2,000 members. It wants to know what its members think of its opening hours, so it asks a random sample of 100 of them. Write down what the population is in this survey.
- 7.Work out the value of .
- 8.Which of these equations is true for every value of x, making it an identity rather than an equation with just one solution?
- 9.A map has a scale of 1 : 25 000. A footpath measures 6 cm on the map. Work out the real length of the footpath, in kilometres.
- 10.Two similar shapes have lengths in the ratio 1 : 3. A side of the smaller shape is 4 cm long. Work out the length of the corresponding side of the larger shape.
- 11.A biased six-sided dice is rolled once. The probability that it lands on 6 is 0.25. The other five scores are all equally likely. Work out the probability that it lands on 3.
- 12.Four students work out 6 + 2 × 3. Which student has worked it out correctly?
- 13.A quadratic curve has a minimum turning point at (3, −4). Which of these statements about the curve must be true?
- 14.The length of ribbon A is 5/12 of the length of ribbon B. Write the length of ribbon B as a fraction of the length of ribbon A.
- 15.A parallelogram has a base of 9 cm and a perpendicular height of 4 cm. Work out its area.
- 16.A tin of beans has a mass of 650 g. A bag of rice has a mass of 1.35 kg. Work out the total mass, in kilograms.
- 17.Write down the coordinates of the point that is 4 units to the left of the origin and 7 units up.
- 18.A straight-line graph shows the cost, C pounds, of hiring a small van for m miles driven. The line passes through the origin and the point (25, 20). Work out the gradient of the line.
- 19.A square petri dish has an area of 121 mm². A scientist wants to know its side length. Work out the side length of the dish.
- 20.The angles of a triangle are in the ratio 2:3:4. Work out the size of the smallest angle.
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.