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.Jack buys 3 books, each costing £4.25, and pays with a £20 note. Work out how much change he receives.
- 2.A number, n, is a multiple of both 6 and 9. Work out the smallest possible value of n that is greater than 20.
- 3.Which of these ratios is equivalent to 2:3?
- 4.Write 0.45 as a fraction in its simplest form.
- 5.Write '3.2 million' as a number in figures.
- 6.Work out √144 − 2 × 3 + √25
- 7.Write 400 g : 1.5 kg as a ratio in its simplest form.
- 8.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.
- 9.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.
- 10.At a youth club the ratio of juniors to seniors is 3:5. There are 40 members altogether. Work out how many seniors there are.
- 11.Write 0.35 as a fraction in its lowest terms.
- 12.A roll of ribbon is 8.4 m long. Ribbon is cut into pieces that are each 0.6 m long. Work out how many complete pieces can be cut from the roll.
- 13.The angles of a triangle are in the ratio 2:3:4. Work out the size of the smallest angle.
- 14.A class has 28 pupils. 16 of the pupils are girls and the rest are boys. Write the ratio of girls to boys in its simplest form.
- 15.The number 24 can be written as 2³ × 3, and the number 60 can be written as 2² × 3 × 5. Work out the lowest common multiple of 24 and 60.
- 16.A jar contains 24 green sweets and 16 orange sweets. Write the ratio of green sweets to orange sweets in its simplest form.
- 17.Write the ratio 2 : 1/4 as a ratio of whole numbers in its simplest form.
- 18.A jumper costs £45 at Shop A, where it is reduced by 20%. The same jumper costs £34 at Shop B, where a further 10% reduction is then applied. Work out the difference between the two reduced prices.
- 19.Write down the fraction, in its simplest form, that is equal to 0.6
- 20.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.
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
- 🧮 Paper 1 non-calculator warm-up — Higher · 20 questions · ~25 min
- 🎯 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