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.Last year a company made a profit of £5,200,000. Write this amount in standard form.
- 2.Which of these is a term, rather than a whole expression, an equation, or a formula?
- 3.A crate exerts a force of 84 N on the floor through a base with an area of 2.4 m². Work out the pressure on the floor, in N/m².
- 4.A model of a bridge is built to a scale where every length on the model is 1/240 of the matching length on the real bridge. A support beam on the model measures 3.6 cm. Work out the length of the real support beam, giving your answer in metres.
- 5.A bag contains 5 letter tiles spelling the word MATHS, with one letter on each tile. Two tiles are drawn at random, one after the other, without the first tile being put back. Work out the probability that both tiles drawn are consonants.
- 6.A Year 10 class has 20 boys with a mean height of 150 cm and 10 girls with a mean height of 168 cm. Work out the mean height of all 30 pupils in the class.
- 7.Write 90 as a product of its prime factors.
- 8.A ball is dropped and bounces. The height of each bounce after the first is 8 cm less than the bounce before it. The first bounce reaches 60 cm. Work out the height of the 5th bounce.
- 9.£120 is shared between three cousins in the ratio 3:4:5. Work out the largest share.
- 10.Two straight lines cross at a point. To find the points that are the same distance from both lines, which construction should be used?
- 11.A bag contains 5 red counters and 5 green counters. Three counters are taken out one at a time and are not put back. Work out the probability that all three counters are red.
- 12.Work out the value of .
- 13.Here are the first five terms of an arithmetic sequence: 2, 5, 8, 11, 14. Work out the 8th term.
- 14.A recipe uses flour, sugar and butter in the ratio 8 : 3 : 5. Write the ratio of flour to the rest of the mixture (sugar and butter combined) in its simplest form.
- 15.Two straight lines PQ and RS cross at point O. Angle POR = 52°. Work out angle QOS.
- 16.Oliver drives 95 km at an average speed of 50 km/h. Work out an estimate for the time the journey takes, by rounding the distance to the nearest 100 km.
- 17.The simultaneous equations y = 3 and 4x − y = 9 are given. Work out the value of x.
- 18.Two mathematically similar jugs have heights 8 cm and 12 cm. The smaller jug holds 200 ml when it is full. Work out how much the larger jug holds when it is full.
- 19.A student writes 0.08 as the fraction 8/10, reading the 8 as if it stood in the tenths column and ignoring the zero. Work out the correct fraction that 0.08 is equal to, giving your answer in its simplest form.
- 20.Line P passes through the origin and the point (3, 21). Line Q passes through the origin and the point (5, 45). Both lines represent the distance, in metres, run by an athlete against the time, in seconds. Work out the gradient of the steeper line.
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.