Sample paper · GCSE Foundation · grades 1–5
GCSE Foundation sample Paper 2 (calculator)
The real Paper 2 is 1.5 hour 30 minutes and 80 marks, 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 a calculator allowed. AO1 / AO2 / AO3 at this tier: 50% / 25% / 25%.
CalculatorGCSE Foundation
GCSE Foundation sample Paper 2 (calculator)
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- 1.Work out (−3) × 4 + 2 × (−5)
- 2.A car park charges by the hour. Parking for 1 hour costs £5, 2 hours costs £9, 3 hours costs £13 and 4 hours costs £17, with the cost increasing by the same amount for each extra hour. Work out an expression, in terms of n, for the cost, in pounds, of parking for n hours.
- 3.A necklace uses 22 blue beads and 8 red beads. Write the number of blue beads as a fraction of the number of red beads. Give your answer as a mixed number in its simplest form.
- 4.A water tank holds 2.5 m³. Work out this volume in cm³.
- 5.An archer hits the bullseye with probability 0.24 on any one shot. She wants to know how many shots she must take to expect to hit the bullseye 12 times. Work out how many shots this is.
- 6.In a random sample of 40 pupils at a school, 6 are left-handed. The school has 900 pupils. Work out an estimate for the number of left-handed pupils in the school.
- 7.Simplify x⁷ × x⁴, giving your answer as a single power of x.
- 8.Ethan is 10 years old and his father is 40 years old. Work out how many years ago Ethan's father was seven times as old as Ethan.
- 9.A straight-line graph shows the cost, C pounds, of buying n litres of paint. The line passes through the origin and through the point (5, 40). Work out the gradient of the line.
- 10.The diagram shows a cuboid. Work out the area of its front elevation, in square centimetres.
- 11.The probability that Isla answers a quiz question correctly is 0.8. She answers three questions, and her answers are independent of each other. Work out the probability that she answers all three correctly.
- 12.3.4 × 10⁵ is written as an ordinary number. Work out this number.
- 13.Simplify (5x² + 3x − 2) − (2x² − x + 5)
- 14.A shop sells rope by the metre. 3 m costs £7.50 and 5 m costs £11.00. Does this data show that the cost is directly proportional to the length of rope bought? Choose the correct verdict and reason.
- 15.A parallelogram has a base of 9 cm and a perpendicular height of 6 cm. Work out the area of the parallelogram.
- 16.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?
- 17.Solve the inequality x − 10 < −3.
- 18.A company's profit this year is 130% of last year's profit. Last year's profit was £40,000. Work out this year's profit.
- 19.Is 120 divisible by 5? Give a reason for your answer.
- 20.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.
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.