20 questions with no calculator: the four operations, fractions, percentages, order of operations, factors and estimation.

✏️ Paper 1 non-calculator warm-up — Foundation

Maths · GCSE Foundation · 20 questions · ~25 min

MathsUKwww.geekhero.co.uk

Paper 1 is worth exactly as much as each calculator paper, and it is the one most Foundation students practise least. This sheet is a warm-up for it: twenty questions drawn from the number and ratio statements that turn up on the non-calculator paper year after year — column arithmetic with decimals and negatives, adding and subtracting fractions, percentages of amounts, priority of operations, factors and multiples, and estimating by rounding to one significant figure. Do it with a pen and nothing else. Twenty-five minutes is about right, but do not stop early if you need longer; the point is to find out which of these have quietly gone rusty, not to score well. Mark it, then go back to the topic page for whichever one cost you the most.

1.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.
(a)300 g
(b)540 g
(c)450 g
(d)270 g
2.A jug holds 3 1/3 litres of juice. Each glass holds 2/3 of a litre. Work out how many glasses can be filled from the jug.
(a)5
(b)20/9
(c)5/3
(d)2
3.Work out the difference between 45% of 70 and 35% of 80.
(a)11.5
(b)3.5
(c)59.5
(d)10
4.A café orders 340 bread rolls at 24p each and 85 cakes at £1.35 each. Work out the total cost of the order.
(a)£114.75
(b)£81.60
(c)£196.35
(d)£122.91
5.Work out 2 × (−3 + 7)
(a)1
(b)6
(c)−20
(d)8
6.A rectangular garden has its length and width in the ratio 5:3. Given that the perimeter of the garden is 64 m, work out the width of the garden.
(a)8 m
(b)24 m
(c)12 m
(d)20 m
7.Which of these ratios is equivalent to 2:3?
(a)12:8
(b)8:12
(c)4:5
(d)8:3
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.
(a)£2,400
(b)£2,000
(c)£3,200
(d)£6,000
9.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.
(a)121%
(b)11%
(c)21%
(d)20%
10.A sponsored walk is 36 km long. Aisha has completed 8/12 of the walk. Work out how far she has walked.
(a)288 km
(b)4.5 km
(c)12 km
(d)24 km
11.A shop assistant says that 7.2 × 3.9 = 56.16. Work out an estimate for 7.2 × 3.9, by rounding each number to the nearest whole number, to show that the assistant’s answer cannot be correct.
(a)56
(b)21
(c)35
(d)28
12.A box holds 140 pens. 25% of the pens are red. Work out how many of the pens are red.
(a)35
(b)105
(c)25
(d)70
13.Work out 3/7 × 14/9. Give your answer as a fraction in its simplest form.
(a)17/16
(b)2/21
(c)2/3
(d)27/98
14.Work out the highest common factor of 12 and 18.
(a)2
(b)6
(c)36
(d)3
15.Write 45 minutes : 2 hours as a ratio in its simplest form.
(a)9:24
(b)8:3
(c)45:2
(d)3:8
16.Write down the reciprocal of 5/8
(a)−8/5
(b)8/5
(c)5/8
(d)3/8
17.Write 1/5 as a percentage.
(a)20%
(b)5%
(c)50%
(d)25%
18.For any two whole numbers, the product of the numbers is equal to the product of their highest common factor and their lowest common multiple. The highest common factor of 6 and 8 is 2, and 6 × 8 = 48. Work out the lowest common multiple of 6 and 8.
(a)24
(b)12
(c)48
(d)96
19.Write down the reciprocal of 0.2
(a)−0.2
(b)0.8
(c)5
(d)0.5
20.A textbook is reduced from £60 to £45. Work out the percentage reduction.
(a)33%
(b)15%
(c)75%
(d)25%

What is on this worksheet?

The sheet holds 20 questions drawn from the MathsUK bank — the content areas covered: Number, Ratio, proportion and rates of change (statements N2, N3, N4, N10, N12, N14, R4, R5, R9). It is pitched at GCSE Foundation and takes about 25 minutes to work through in full. It is built for independent practice, with full answers at the end for self-marking.

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 25 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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