20 questions with no calculator: the four operations, fractions, percentages, order of operations, factors and estimation.
✏️ Paper 1 non-calculator warm-up — Foundation
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.The price of a jacket increases by 50% and then decreases by 50%. Describe the overall change from the original price.
- 2.Write 0.45 as a fraction in its simplest form.
- 3.Work out (−2)² − 3
- 4.After a 20% discount, a jacket costs £48. Work out the original price of the jacket.
- 5.Work out 250 ÷ 1000.
- 6.The angles of a triangle are in the ratio 2:3:4. Work out the size of the smallest angle.
- 7.Work out 100 − 4 × 5²
- 8.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.
- 9.Work out 3/8 of 96.
- 10.Write the fraction 47/50 as a decimal.
- 11.Work out 4368 ÷ 12.
- 12.Work out how many factors 36 has.
- 13.Work out 25% of 200.
- 14.A water tank holds 80 litres when full. It currently contains 60 litres. Work out what fraction of the tank is empty.
- 15.Write down the fraction, in its simplest form, that is equal to 0.6
- 16.A sofa costs £800. Its price is increased by 25%. Work out the new price of the sofa.
- 17.Write the ratio 18:22 in its simplest form.
- 18.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.
- 19.Work out an estimate for 6.8 × 41, by rounding each number to 1 significant figure.
- 20.In a test, Amelia answered 18 of the 24 questions correctly. Work out the percentage of the questions she answered correctly.
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.
Similar worksheets worth a look
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- 🎯 Grade 4 pass booster · 25 questions · ~40 min
- ⚖️ Foundation to Higher crossover check · 20 questions · ~35 min
- 💷 Percentages and compound interest · 22 questions · ~40 min