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 100 − 4 × 5²
(a)0
(b)2400
(c)60
(d)−300
2.A quiz has 50 questions. Freya answers 10% of them incorrectly. Work out how many questions she answers incorrectly.
(a)5
(b)10
(c)500
(d)45
3.Write 200 as a product of its prime factors, using index notation.
(a)2 × 5³
(b)2³ × 5
(c)2² × 5³
(d)2³ × 5²
4.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
5.Grace works out 7 × 99 by writing 99 as 100 − 1. Use her method to work out 7 × 99.
(a)707
(b)700
(c)693
(d)699
6.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
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.
(a)300 g
(b)540 g
(c)450 g
(d)270 g
8.Write down the reciprocal of 5/8
(a)−8/5
(b)8/5
(c)5/8
(d)3/8
9.The angles of a triangle are in the ratio 2:3:4. Work out the size of the smallest angle.
(a)80°
(b)60°
(c)40°
(d)20°
10.Work out the value of √(16 + 9)
(a)5
(b)12
(c)7
(d)−5
11.Work out an estimate for 89 + 52, by rounding each number to the nearest 10.
(a)141
(b)130
(c)150
(d)140
12.A concert hall has 300 seats. 20% of the seats are in the balcony. Work out how many of the seats are in the balcony.
(a)15
(b)6
(c)30
(d)60
13.A jumper is reduced by 15% in a sale to a price of £42.50. Work out the original price.
(a)£283.33
(b)£36.13
(c)£48.88
(d)£50.00
14.Work out 2 × (−3 + 7)
(a)1
(b)6
(c)−20
(d)8
15.Work out an estimate for 37 × 84, by rounding each number to 1 significant figure.
(a)3200
(b)2400
(c)120
(d)3108
16.Write the ratio 5 : 8 in the form 1 : n.
(a)1:0.6
(b)1:1.6
(c)1:1.5
(d)0.6:1
17.Which of these ratios is equivalent to 6 : 10 : 14?
(a)8:12:16
(b)3:5:8
(c)9:15:21
(d)12:20:14
18.At midday the temperature in the Lake District was 3 °C. By midnight it had fallen to −6 °C. Work out the fall in temperature.
(a)9 °C
(b)6 °C
(c)3 °C
(d)−9 °C
19.A spreadsheet shows that 812 − 397 = 315. Work out an estimate for 812 − 397, by rounding each number to the nearest 100, to check whether the spreadsheet's answer is reasonable.
(a)415
(b)400
(c)300
(d)500
20.Work out an estimate for 79.3 − 24.6, by rounding each number to the nearest whole number.
(a)55
(b)54
(c)59
(d)54.7

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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