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.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
2.Work out (2/3)² + (1/2)². Give your answer as a fraction.
(a)7/3
(b)49/36
(c)25/36
(d)5/13
3.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
4.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
5.Which of these ratios is equivalent to 2:3?
(a)12:8
(b)8:12
(c)4:5
(d)8:3
6.Write the fraction 9/25 as a decimal.
(a)0.9
(b)2.8
(c)0.36
(d)0.925
7.In the number 3.472, work out the value of the digit 7.
(a)0.007
(b)0.7
(c)0.07
(d)7
8.Work out the difference between 45% of 70 and 35% of 80.
(a)11.5
(b)3.5
(c)59.5
(d)10
9.Write 0.325 as a fraction in its simplest form.
(a)13/40
(b)3/8
(c)8/25
(d)13/4
10.Write down the reciprocal of 0.2
(a)−0.2
(b)0.8
(c)5
(d)0.5
11.The price of a games console is reduced by 10%. In a later sale the reduced price is reduced by 10% again. Work out the overall percentage decrease.
(a)21%
(b)81%
(c)20%
(d)19%
12.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
13.Work out 3.7 × 24.
(a)8.88
(b)88.8
(c)888
(d)87.8
14.A bag contains 7 red counters and 15 blue counters. Write down the ratio of red counters to blue counters in its simplest form.
(a)7:5
(b)15:7
(c)1:2
(d)7:15
15.Write down the fraction, in its simplest form, that is equal to 0.6
(a)1/6
(b)2/3
(c)3/50
(d)3/5
16.A pack contains 20 stickers. Noah gives 1/5 of the pack to his sister. Work out how many stickers he gives away.
(a)4
(b)5
(c)100
(d)16
17.A company's turnover this year is £180,000. Last year's turnover was £120,000. Write down this year's turnover as a percentage of last year's turnover.
(a)50%
(b)180%
(c)150%
(d)66.7%
18.A country's population is 8,340,000, and it is estimated that 1,950,000 of them live in the capital city. By rounding each number to 1 significant figure, work out an estimate for the number of people who do not live in the capital city.
(a)6,300,000
(b)8,000,000
(c)6,390,000
(d)6,000,000
19.Write 350 ml : 1.4 l as a ratio in its simplest form.
(a)2:8
(b)25:1
(c)4:1
(d)1:4
20.There are 400 students at a school. 25% of them have a brother, 40% have a sister and 15% have both a brother and a sister. Work out how many of the students have neither a brother nor a sister.
(a)140 students
(b)300 students
(c)200 students
(d)260 students

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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