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.A café sold 10 sandwiches on each of four days: 10, 10, 10, 10. Work out the range of the numbers sold.
- 2.The mean of three numbers is 50. A fourth number, 100, is added to the set. Work out the mean of the four numbers.
- 3.Amelia is buying books. Each book costs £5 and she has at most £30 to spend. Write down an inequality for x, the number of books she can buy.
- 4.In a recipe the mass of chocolate to the mass of milk is in the ratio 1:4. Amelia uses 200 g of milk. Work out the mass of chocolate she needs.
- 5.Angle ABC is 130°. The line BF divides angle ABC into two equal parts. Work out the size of angle FBC.
- 6.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.
- 7.Noah says that y = 3 is the solution of the equation y + 10 = 12. Noah is wrong. Work out the correct value of y.
- 8.Two investors put money into a business in the ratio 3:5. The first investor puts in £1,200. Work out the total amount invested by both investors.
- 9.A zip wire is fixed at an angle of 50° to the horizontal, running from a high platform down to the ground. The zip wire itself, from the platform to the ground, is 12 m long. Work out the horizontal distance covered by the zip wire. Give your answer correct to 1 decimal place.
- 10.Work out the equation of the straight line that passes through (−2, 3) and (4, −9).
- 11.A right-angled triangle has a hypotenuse of 10 cm and one of its other angles is 45°. Work out the length of one of the two shorter sides. Give your answer to 1 decimal place.
- 12.There are 400 students at a school. 25% of them have a brother, 40% have a sister and 15% have both a brother and a sister. Work out how many of the students have neither a brother nor a sister.
- 13.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.
- 14.Simplify 2a + 3b − a + 2b − b
- 15.Expand and simplify 2(a + 6) − 2(a − 7)
- 16.A regular nonagon has 9 sides. Work out the sum of its interior angles.
- 17.The price of a share falls by 10% on Monday and then rises by 10% on Tuesday. Work out the overall percentage change from Monday's starting price.
- 18.A rectangular garden has length (x + 7) m and width (x − 7) m. Work out an expression for the area of the garden, giving your answer in its simplest form.
- 19.A support strut for a shed roof is in the shape of a right-angled triangle. The two shorter sides of the strut are 5 m and 9 m. Work out the length of the sloping strut (the hypotenuse). Give your answer correct to 1 decimal place.
- 20.The price of a cycling helmet rises from £80 to £116. Work out the percentage increase.
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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