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)
MathsUKwww.geekhero.co.uk
- 1.A shop buys boxes of pens for £4 each. It sells each box on to a school for £3 more than it paid, and charges an extra £2 delivery fee for the whole order. A school orders 5 boxes. Work out the total cost of the order.
- 2.The graph of t = 240 ÷ s shows how the time, t hours, taken for a car journey of 240 miles depends on its average speed, s mph. Use the relationship to work out the time taken when the average speed is 48 mph.
- 3.Jamal is paid £54 for working 6 hours. Work out his rate of pay, in £ per hour.
- 4.A cake recipe takes 135 minutes from start to finish. Write this time as hours and minutes.
- 5.In a trial, a drawing pin was dropped 80 times and landed point-up 52 times. Assuming this relative frequency continues, work out how many times you would expect it to land point-up in 300 drops.
- 6.A timetable shows the departure times of a bus from Leeds to Harrogate: 08:15, 08:50, 09:25, 10:05, 10:40. Chloe arrives at the bus stop at 09:30. Work out how many minutes she has to wait for the next bus.
- 7.n is a whole number and 2 ≤ n < 6. Write down all the possible values of n.
- 8.Two expressions are 6(x − 1) and 6x − 6. A student says these are equivalent for every value of x. Is the student correct?
- 9.A recipe requires flour and butter in the ratio 3 : 2. Write down which of these amounts could be used in the recipe.
- 10.A parallelogram has a base of 9 cm and a perpendicular height of 4 cm. Work out its area.
- 11.On the probability scale from 0 to 1, which word best describes an event with probability 0.9?
- 12.A cinema has 21 rows of seats with 29 seats in each row. Work out an estimate for the number of people the cinema can hold, by rounding each number to 1 significant figure.
- 13.Work out the value of 3a − 2b when a = 5 and b = 4
- 14.Isla and her brother share £60 in the ratio 1:2. Work out Isla's share.
- 15.A cylinder has a radius of 5 cm. Its volume is 471 cm³. Using π = 3.14, work out the height of the cylinder.
- 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.Which expression is equivalent to 0.5(4x + 6) − x?
- 18.After a 20% discount, a jacket costs £48. Work out the original price of the jacket.
- 19.Work out 1/2 of 1/4 of 80.
- 20.Write the ratio 20 : 30 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.