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%.

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GCSE Foundation sample Paper 2 (calculator)

Maths · GCSE Foundation · Paper 2 · Calculator · 20 questions

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1.Work out ⁴√16
(a)4
(b)8
(c)64
(d)2
2.Make x the subject of the formula y = 4(x − 6).
(a)x = 4y + 96
(b)x = (y + 6)/4
(c)x = (y + 24)/4
(d)x = y/4 − 6
3.A jug holds 3 litres of a drink that is 60% fruit juice. 1 litre of water is added to the jug. Work out the percentage of the new mixture that is fruit juice.
(a)60%
(b)75%
(c)45%
(d)15%
4.In a right-angled triangle, the side opposite angle θ is 6 cm and the hypotenuse is 10 cm. Work out the size of angle θ. Give your answer correct to 1 decimal place.
(a)31.0°
(b)36.8°
(c)53.1°
(d)36.9°
5.A card is taken at random from an ordinary pack of 52 playing cards. The probability that the card is a diamond is 1/4. Work out the probability that the card is not a diamond.
(a)1/2
(b)3/4
(c)1/4
(d)3/52
6.A café in Preston records the type of drink ordered by 20 customers one morning: tea 8, coffee 7, hot chocolate 4 and juice 1. Write down the modal drink.
(a)Hot chocolate
(b)Tea
(c)Juice
(d)Coffee
7.A length, L cm, has the error interval 24.5 ≤ L < 25.5. Write down the degree of accuracy to which the length was measured.
(a)to the nearest centimetre
(b)to 1 decimal place
(c)to the nearest 0.5 cm
(d)to the nearest 10 cm
8.Factorise fully 12x² + 18x.
(a)2x(6x + 9)
(b)6(2x² + 3x)
(c)6x(2x + 3)
(d)3x(4x + 6)
9.A candle burns down at a constant rate. Its height, h cm, is plotted against time, t minutes, on a straight-line graph. The gradient of the line is −0.3. Which statement correctly describes what the gradient means?
(a)The candle's height decreases by 3 cm every minute.
(b)The candle burns for 0.3 minutes in total.
(c)The candle's height increases by 0.3 cm every minute.
(d)The candle's height decreases by 0.3 cm every minute.
10.A television cable runs in a straight line from the edge of a flat roof 20 m above the ground to a bracket on a wall 5 m above the ground. The horizontal distance between the roof edge and the bracket is 15 m. Work out the length of the cable. Give your answer to 1 decimal place.
(a)25.0 m
(b)30.0 m
(c)15.0 m
(d)21.2 m
11.A clinic recorded 300 booked appointments using a frequency tree. The first branch splits them into 210 adult appointments and the rest child appointments. Of the adult appointments, 189 were attended and the rest were missed. Of the child appointments, 81 were attended. Work out the probability that a booked appointment, chosen at random from the 300, was missed. Give your answer as a fraction in its simplest form.
(a)3/100
(b)1/9
(c)1/10
(d)7/100
12.In a fruit crate the ratio of oranges to lemons is 5 : 6. What fraction of the fruit in the crate are lemons?
(a)6/11
(b)5/6
(c)5/11
(d)6/5
13.A student says 4(2x − 3) is equivalent to 8x − 3. Which statement gives the correct verdict and reason?
(a)False — 4(2x − 3) = 8x − 12, not 8x − 3.
(b)True — 4(2x − 3) = 8x − 3 when the bracket is expanded.
(c)False — 4(2x − 3) = 2x − 12, only the −3 is multiplied.
(d)True — 4(2x − 3) = 8x − 3, since both are linear.
14.A printer prints pages at a constant rate. It prints 45 pages in 6 minutes. Work out how many pages it prints in 10 minutes.
(a)70 pages
(b)55 pages
(c)27 pages
(d)75 pages
15.A treasure map has a scale of 1 cm to 4 m. A path from the start to a rock is drawn as two straight sections, measuring 3 cm and 2.5 cm. Work out the total real distance from the start to the rock, in metres.
(a)44
(b)22
(c)10
(d)5.5
16.Round 0.006482 to 2 significant figures.
(a)0.01
(b)0.00648
(c)0.0065
(d)0.006
17.The diagram shows the graph of a straight line, drawn on a grid numbered from −5 to 5 on both axes. Which equation could represent the line?
(a) $y = 2 x + 1$
(b) $y = - 2 x - 1$
(c) $y = x - 1$
(d) $y = 2 x - 1$
18.A shop sells fruit juice concentrate that must be diluted with water in the ratio 2 : 5 (concentrate : water) to make squash. Priya has 8 litres of concentrate. Work out how much water she needs to keep the same ratio.
(a)40 litres
(b)3.2 litres
(c)11 litres
(d)20 litres
19.Which one of these statements about negative numbers is true?
(a)−3 > 0
(b)0 > −1
(c)0 < −1
(d)−5 > −3
20.£1 is worth 1.25 US dollars. Write the ratio of pounds to dollars in its simplest form, using whole numbers.
(a)1:1
(b)5:4
(c)1:5
(d)4:5

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.