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.A restaurant offers a lunch deal of one starter from 5 options, one main from 6 options and one dessert from 3 options. Work out how many different lunch deals are possible.
- 2.A theatre's front row has 18 seats. Each row behind has 4 more seats than the row in front. Which row has exactly 62 seats?
- 3.In a mix of mortar the ratio of the mass of sand to the mass of cement is 5 : 2. Write the mass of cement as a fraction of the total mass of the mix.
- 4.The diagram shows a solid resting on its side on a table. Work out which shape is its plan view, the view looking straight down from above.
- 5.A bag is known to contain red, blue and green counters in equal numbers, so the theoretical probability of taking each colour is 1/3. In 90 trials with replacement, red was taken 38 times, blue was taken 26 times and green was taken 26 times. Which colour is over-represented compared with its theoretical probability?
- 6.A scatter graph has 50 points. Most of them lie close to a rising line of best fit, but two of them lie a long way from that line. Write down how those two points should be treated.
- 7.The population of a planet is 8 × 10⁹. Write this population as an ordinary number.
- 8.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.
- 9.In a car park there are 35 cars and 15 vans. Write the ratio of the number of vans to the number of cars in its simplest form.
- 10.In parallelogram ABCD the vertices are labelled in order round the shape, so angle A and angle B are at the two ends of the same side. Angle A is 70°. Work out the size of angle B.
- 11.On Amelia's walk to school there are two sets of traffic lights. The probability that the first set is green when she reaches it is 0.4. The probability that the second set is green when she reaches it is 0.5. The two sets work independently of each other. Work out the probability that both sets are green.
- 12.A gym increases its membership price by 1/5. The original price is £60. Work out the new price.
- 13.Which of these numbers is a cube number?
- 14.A river 120 km long is drawn as a line 6 cm long on a map. Work out the scale of the map.
- 15.A chocolate bar is a prism. Its cross-section is a triangle with a base of 6 cm and a perpendicular height of 5 cm, and the bar is 12 cm long. Work out the volume of the bar.
- 16.Which of these is equal to 5³?
- 17.Simplify (5x² + 3x − 2) − (2x² − x + 5)
- 18.A novel has 312 pages. A comic has 48 pages. Write the number of pages in the novel as a fraction of the number of pages in the comic, giving your answer in its simplest form.
- 19.A number, x, is truncated (not rounded) to 1 decimal place and the result is 6.2. Write down the error interval for x.
- 20.A post 2 metres tall casts a shadow 3 metres long. At the same time a nearby tree casts a shadow 12 metres long. Work out the height of the tree.
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.