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.Write down the symbol that makes this statement true: −9 ___ −4
- 2.A plumber charges a call-out fee of £30 plus £25 per hour worked. Work out the total charge for a job that takes 3 hours.
- 3.Work out 25% of 200.
- 4.A parallelogram has a base of 9 cm and a perpendicular height of 6 cm. Work out the area of the parallelogram.
- 5.A weather station records whether it rains each day for 40 days: it rains on 9 of the days and does not rain on the rest. A local forecaster claims that the probability of rain on any day is 0.3. Work out the relative frequency of rain from the recorded data.
- 6.A pictogram shows the number of cars sold by a garage in Plymouth each month, where each whole car symbol represents 8 cars sold and a half symbol represents 4 cars. March shows 3 whole symbols and one half symbol. Work out how many cars were sold in March.
- 7.Work out √144
- 8.Which of these equations gives a straight-line graph when plotted?
- 9.A prize fund of £240 is shared between two winners in the ratio 3 : 5. Write the smaller winner's share as a fraction of the whole prize fund.
- 10.A shop sells a scale model of a van. The model and the real van are similar shapes, with lengths in the ratio 1 : 24. The model is 18.5 cm long. Work out the length of the real van, giving your answer in metres.
- 11.The probability that the Hughes family go away during the summer holidays is 3/7. Work out the probability that they do not go away during the summer holidays.
- 12.Work out an estimate for 6.4 × 3.9, by rounding each number to the nearest whole number.
- 13.Make x the subject of the formula y = 4(x − 6).
- 14.The mass of a length of copper pipe is proportional to its length. A pipe of length 4.5 m has a mass of 12.6 kg. Work out the mass of a pipe of the same type of length 9.5 m.
- 15.Write down the name given to a quadrilateral with exactly one pair of parallel sides.
- 16.A student works out the exact area of a circle with radius 4 cm by squaring the radius but forgetting to multiply by π. Work out the correct exact area of the circle, in terms of π.
- 17.A rule turns each input x into an output y. An input of 1 gives an output of 1, an input of 2 gives an output of 4 and an input of 3 gives an output of 9. Work out the rule.
- 18.Write 400 g : 1.5 kg as a ratio in its simplest form.
- 19.A bag holds 5 different sweets. Noah takes 2 of the sweets out of the bag together, so the order in which he takes them does not matter. Work out how many different pairs of sweets he could take.
- 20.Two mathematically similar flags are made in different sizes. The length scale factor from the smaller flag to the larger flag is 5. Work out the area scale factor from the smaller flag to the larger flag.
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.