20 questions on the grade 4-5 content both tiers share — a fair test of whether a Higher entry is the right call.
⚖️ Foundation to Higher crossover check
The tier decision is made by the school, but it is made on evidence, and this sheet is designed to produce some. Every question on it sits in the crossover band — the grade 4 to 5 content that appears on both the Foundation and the Higher papers: multiplying out and factorising, solving linear equations and inequalities, straight-line graphs and gradients, ratio and proportion, Pythagoras' theorem, angle reasoning, and averages from a frequency table. A student who works through this comfortably has the foundation a Higher entry needs. A student who is guessing on half of it will almost certainly come away with a better grade from a Foundation paper they can attempt in full. Useful for a parents' evening conversation, and for a department deciding entries.
- 1.The same jumper is sold at two shops. Shop A charges £40 and Shop B charges £50. Write down the price at Shop A as a percentage of the price at Shop B.
- 2.A roof truss has two horizontal parallel rafters, one above the other. A straight strut crosses both rafters. Where the strut crosses the lower rafter, the angle above the rafter and to the left of the strut is 65°. Work out the size of the angle above the upper rafter and to the right of the strut, where the strut crosses it.
- 3.£120 is shared between three cousins in the ratio 3:4:5. Work out the largest share.
- 4.Simplify 5x + 3y − 2x + y.
- 5.A company's profit this year is 130% of last year's profit. Last year's profit was £40,000. Work out this year's profit.
- 6.A company's turnover this year is £180,000. Last year's turnover was £120,000. Write down this year's turnover as a percentage of last year's turnover.
- 7.A recipe for pastry uses flour and butter in the ratio 3:2. A baker has 180 g of butter and wants to make pastry using all of it. Work out the total mass of pastry the baker can make.
- 8.A rectangular garden gate is 3 m wide and 4 m high. A straight brace runs from one corner of the gate to the opposite corner. Work out the length of the brace.
- 9.Solve x/4 + 1 = 3
- 10.At an animal shelter, the ratio of cats to dogs is 2:5. There are 18 more dogs than cats. Work out the number of cats.
- 11.Factorise fully 56x − 24
- 12.In triangle ABC, angle A is 2x°, angle B is 3x° and angle C is 4x°. Work out the size of angle B.
- 13.Three angles lie on a straight line. They measure 38°, 95° and x°. Work out the value of x.
- 14.Write 3/4 as a percentage.
- 15.A water butt holds 200 litres and is being drained at a steady 8 litres per minute. Write down the function for the amount of water y, in litres, left after x minutes.
- 16.The angles of a triangle are in the ratio 2:3:4. Work out the size of the smallest angle.
- 17.A right-angled triangle has angles of 90°, 40° and x°. Work out the value of x.
- 18.To solve 6x − 4 = 2x + 20, Yusuf's first step is to subtract 2x from both sides. Work out what equation this gives.
- 19.A sofa costs £800. Its price is increased by 25%. Work out the new price of the sofa.
- 20.A ribbon of length 90 cm is cut into two pieces in the ratio 4:5. Work out the length of the shorter piece.
What is on this worksheet?
The sheet holds 20 questions drawn from the MathsUK bank — the content areas covered: Algebra, Ratio, proportion and rates of change, Geometry and measures, Statistics (statements A4, A17, A22, A9, R5, R9, G20, G3, S4). It is pitched at GCSE Foundation and takes about 35 minutes to work through in full. It works as a class handout, a homework, or a warm-up before a test.
How to use the sheet well
- Print it or open it on screen — both work. Printing is A4; the screen view fits phones and tablets.
- Do all 20 questions before checking — about 35 minutes is the guide, but there is no time pressure.
- Check the answers — press “Show answers” or print the answer page separately.
- Redo the questions you got wrong — twice as effective as doing 20 fresh ones.
- “New questions” — builds a fresh sheet on the same statements, so you can practise again without repeats.
Why this sheet helps
MathsUK worksheets use questions graded by difficulty and a fair spread of correct-answer positions (the answer is not always (a)) — so the student really has to think about each question rather than guess a pattern. Every question is tagged to a DfE content statement and checked before it enters the bank. The answers come with a step-by-step explanation, not just a value — so a wrong answer becomes a lesson.
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