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 pack contains 20 stickers. Noah gives 1/5 of the pack to his sister. Work out how many stickers he gives away.
- 2.Make b the subject of the formula a = 5b.
- 3.A jar contains 24 green sweets and 16 orange sweets. Write the ratio of green sweets to orange sweets in its simplest form.
- 4.Write down the mathematical name for a quadrilateral that has exactly one pair of parallel sides.
- 5.Four pupils each flip the same coin a number of times and record the results. Sam flips it 40 times and gets 24 heads. Priti flips it 25 times and gets 10 heads. Leo flips it 20 times and gets 9 heads. Fatima flips it 15 times and gets 6 heads. Combine all four pupils' results to estimate the probability that the coin lands on heads.
- 6.A café in York counts the number of customers in each of the nine hours it is open on one day: 4, 4, 4, 11, 13, 15, 18, 22 and 25. The owner says that a typical hour has about 4 customers, because 4 is the mode. Is the owner right? Give a reason for your answer.
- 7.A van has a mass of 2,000 kg, correct to 1 significant figure. Using m for the mass of the van in kilograms, write down the error interval for m.
- 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 cookery class lasts 45 minutes. A double lesson at school lasts 2 hours. Write the length of the cookery class as a fraction of the length of the double lesson. Give your answer in its simplest form.
- 10.A hiker starts by walking on a bearing of 245°. She turns clockwise through 50°, then turns clockwise through a further 15°, and continues walking in a straight line. What bearing is she now walking on?
- 11.A fair six-sided dice is rolled 120 times. Work out how many of the rolls you would expect to give a score of 3 or more.
- 12.Work out 35% of 180.
- 13.Solve the inequality x + 5 < 12.
- 14.A factory machine produces bottles at a constant rate. In 45 minutes it produces 810 bottles. The factory needs 2,160 bottles for an order. Working at the same rate, work out how many minutes it will take to produce the order.
- 15.Triangles PQS and RQS share the common side QS. PQ equals RQ, and PS equals RS. Which condition proves that triangle PQS is congruent to triangle RQS?
- 16.A block of butter has a mass of 250 g, correct to the nearest 10 g. Using m for the mass of the block in grams, write down the error interval for m.
- 17.A rectangular garden has width w metres and length (w + 3) metres. A gardener writes its perimeter as 2w + 3. Which statement corrects the gardener's mistake?
- 18.Two mathematically similar oil drums have a length scale factor of 3 from the smaller drum to the larger drum. Work out the volume scale factor from the smaller drum to the larger drum.
- 19.Write 45,000 in standard form.
- 20.A model car is built at a scale of 1 : 20 compared with the real car. Work out the factor by which the surface area to be painted on the real car is bigger than the surface area of the model.
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.