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.Work out −7 − (−3).
(a)4
(b)−4
(c)10
(d)−10
2.Grace's mean mark in her maths tests rises from 70 to 84. Work out the percentage increase in her mean mark.
(a)20%
(b)120%
(c)17%
(d)14%
3.A bag contains red counters and blue counters in the ratio 5:3. There are 56 counters in the bag altogether. Work out how many counters are blue.
(a)35
(b)7
(c)28
(d)21
4.Work out 3 1/5 + 1 2/3. Give your answer as a mixed number in its simplest form.
(a)4 3/8
(b)3 13/15
(c)4 1/5
(d)4 13/15
5.A number is divided by 5, then 6 is subtracted, giving the result −1. Work out the number.
(a)25
(b)−5
(c)1
(d)−35
6.Freya buys three items whose prices are in the ratio 2:3:5. Altogether she pays £400. Work out the price of the most expensive item.
(a)£120
(b)£80
(c)£40
(d)£200
7.Write the fraction 9/25 as a decimal.
(a)0.9
(b)2.8
(c)0.36
(d)0.925
8.A recipe uses 160 g of flour. Sam wants to increase the amount by 1/4. Work out the new amount of flour.
(a)200 g
(b)128 g
(c)240 g
(d)40 g
9.Grace drinks 1/3 of a bottle of water in the morning and another 1/3 of the same bottle in the afternoon. Work out what fraction of the bottle she has drunk altogether.
(a)2/6
(b)2/9
(c)2/3
(d)1/9
10.Work out 8% of £250.
(a)£25
(b)£2
(c)£200
(d)£20
11.At a bus station one bus leaves every 6 minutes and another leaves every 9 minutes. The two buses leave together at the start of the day. Work out how long it is until they next leave together.
(a)18 minutes
(b)54 minutes
(c)3 minutes
(d)15 minutes
12.Write 0.325 as a fraction in its simplest form.
(a)13/40
(b)3/8
(c)8/25
(d)13/4
13.Work out 1/2 of 1/4 of 80.
(a)20
(b)10
(c)60
(d)40
14.The highest common factor of two numbers is 4 and their lowest common multiple is 60. One of the numbers is 20. Work out the other number.
(a)12
(b)240
(c)16
(d)15
15.In a test, Amelia answered 18 of the 24 questions correctly. Work out the percentage of the questions she answered correctly.
(a)75%
(b)133%
(c)25%
(d)18%
16.Work out the lowest common multiple of 4 and 6.
(a)12
(b)2
(c)6
(d)24
17.A recipe for one cake needs 2/3 of a cup of sugar. Priya has 3 1/2 cups of sugar. Work out how many complete cakes she can make.
(a)5.25
(b)5
(c)6
(d)7
18.Write '3.2 million' as a number in figures.
(a)320,000
(b)3,002,000
(c)32,000,000
(d)3,200,000
19.A charity bake sale sells 187 cakes at £2.95 each. By rounding each number to 1 significant figure, work out an estimate for the total amount raised.
(a)£600
(b)£400
(c)£561
(d)£570
20.Write 0.35 as a fraction in its lowest terms.
(a)7/25
(b)35/10
(c)3/10
(d)7/20

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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