Sample paper · GCSE Higher · grades 4–9
GCSE Higher 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 Higher qualification — number 15%, algebra 30%, ratio, proportion and rates of change 20%, geometry and measures 20%, probability 7.5%, statistics 7.5% — with a calculator allowed. AO1 / AO2 / AO3 at this tier: 40% / 30% / 30%.
CalculatorGCSE Higher
GCSE Higher sample Paper 2 (calculator)
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- 1.Maya buys 4 plants at £3.20 each and a bag of compost for £6.75. She pays with a £20 note. Work out her change.
- 2.The curve y = −x² + 6x − 5 has a maximum point. Use completing the square to find its coordinates.y = −x² + 6x − 5
- 3.A cartographer is choosing a scale for a map to show a small park in as much detail as possible. Which of these scales would show the MOST detail — 1 : 500, 1 : 5000, or 1 : 50 000? Give the correct scale and reason.
- 4.A right-angled triangle has its two shorter sides equal to 8 cm and 15 cm. Work out the value of cos θ, where θ is the angle opposite the 8 cm side. Give your answer as a fraction.
- 5.At a fair, a game costs £2 to play. The probability of winning the game is 0.15, and each win pays out £10. Amir plays the game 200 times. Work out how much money Amir should expect to lose in total.
- 6.The masses, m kg, of 80 sacks of grain are summarised by these cumulative frequencies: m < 10, 6 sacks; m < 20, 22 sacks; m < 30, 58 sacks; m < 40, 74 sacks; m < 50, 80 sacks. Use interpolation to estimate the median mass.
- 7.Simplify √8 + √18, giving your answer in the form k√2.
- 8.A taxi company charges a £2.50 booking fee plus £1.80 per mile. A journey costs £15.10 in total. Work out the number of miles travelled.
- 9.In a fruit bowl, the ratio of apples to oranges is 5 : 3. Work out what percentage of the fruit in the bowl is apples.
- 10.A sector of a circle has radius 6 cm and an area of 4.71 cm². Using π = 3.14, work out the angle of the sector.
- 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.
- 12.Two allotments are combined. Allotment A grows vegetables and flowers in the ratio 3 : 2, and has 20 plots in total. Allotment B grows vegetables and flowers in the ratio 1 : 4, and has 20 plots in total. Work out the fraction of all the plots, in both allotments combined, that grow vegetables.
- 13.Two brothers have ages that add up to 30. The elder brother is 6 years older than the younger brother. Work out the age of the younger brother.
- 14.The rent on a flat increases by 10% one year and by a further 10% the following year. Work out the overall percentage increase over the two years.
- 15.PT is a tangent to a circle with centre O, touching the circle at T. C is a point on the circle such that C lies inside angle OTP (the right angle between the radius OT and the tangent PT), and OC is a radius. Angle TOC = 130°. Work out the size of angle PTC, the angle between the tangent PT and the chord TC.
- 16.The table shows the speed, in m/s, of a car at times, in seconds, all 2 seconds apart: 0 at t = 0, 3 at t = 2, 8 at t = 4, 15 at t = 6, 24 at t = 8. A student uses the trapezium rule with these five readings to estimate the distance the car travels. By finding the second differences of the speed values, decide whether this trapezium estimate is an overestimate or an underestimate of the true distance.
- 17.Noah runs 2 km in 10 minutes. Work out how long he takes to run 5 km at the same speed.
- 18.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.
- 19.Solve x² − 5x + 6 = 0 by factorising.
- 20.Ben writes n + 4 ≤ 9. Which statement describes what Ben has written? Give a reason for your answer.
How the 20 questions are shared out
- Number — 3 questions (15% of the qualification)
- Algebra — 6 questions (30% of the qualification)
- Ratio, proportion and rates of change — 4 questions (20% of the qualification)
- Geometry and measures — 4 questions (20% 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.