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 charity raises money from a raffle and a cake sale in the ratio 5 : 3. Altogether the charity raises £320. Work out how much money the cake sale raised.
- 2.A car passes the 15 km marker on a road and passes the 195 km marker 3 hours later. Work out the gradient of the distance-time graph, that is the rate of change of distance with time.
- 3.A class has 28 pupils. 16 of the pupils are girls and the rest are boys. Write the ratio of girls to boys in its simplest form.
- 4.A triangle has vertices X, Y and Z, with a right angle at Y. Side XY is twice as long as side YZ. Which of the following correctly describes this triangle?
- 5.A train company runs 25 trains a day, every day. The probability that any one train is late is 0.08. Work out how many late trains the company should expect over a period of 4 weeks.
- 6.In a spelling test the 20 pupils in Group A had a mean mark of 80, and the 30 pupils in Group B had a mean mark of 70. Work out the mean mark of all 50 pupils.
- 7.Four weather stations each recorded their lowest overnight temperature. Which of these readings is the lowest?
- 8.A school trip costs a £15 deposit plus £9 per student for the coach. The total cost for a class is £186. Work out how many students went on the trip.
- 9.A gardener mixes 300 ml of plant feed concentrate with 1.2 litres of water to make a spray. Write the ratio of concentrate to water in its simplest form.
- 10.A student draws a net using 5 identical squares arranged in a row of four with one extra square attached to the side of one of them. Can this net be folded to make a closed cube?
- 11.An ordinary fair dice is rolled once. Set A is the set of even scores and set B is the set of scores greater than 4. Work out the probability that the score rolled is in set A or in set B or in both.
- 12.Work out the value of ∛125.
- 13.Work out the value of 3b − 4 when b = 6
- 14.Write 3 hours 45 minutes as a decimal number of hours.
- 15.A locus consists of all the points that are the same perpendicular distance from two parallel lines 6 cm apart. Describe this locus.
- 16.A spreadsheet shows that 812 − 397 = 315. Work out an estimate for 812 − 397, by rounding each number to the nearest 100, to check whether the spreadsheet's answer is reasonable.
- 17.A rectangular field has length (3a + 2) metres and width (a − 1) metres. Write a simplified expression for the perimeter of the field.
- 18.The number of biscuits, b, that each guest at a party receives is inversely proportional to the number of guests, g. Which equation could show this relationship?
- 19.Write 60 as a product of its prime factors, using index notation.
- 20.To make orange paint, red and yellow paint are mixed in the ratio 6:15. Write the amount of red paint as a fraction of the amount of yellow paint, in its simplest form.
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.