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.Write 90 as a product of its prime factors.
(a)2 × 3² × 5
(b)2 × 45
(c)2 × 3 × 15
(d)3 × 3 × 10
2.A jar contains 24 green sweets and 16 orange sweets. Write the ratio of green sweets to orange sweets in its simplest form.
(a)3:2
(b)3:5
(c)2:3
(d)6:4
3.2/3 of an amount of money is £30. Work out the amount.
(a)£15
(b)£45
(c)£20
(d)£90
4.£120 is shared between three cousins in the ratio 3:4:5. Work out the largest share.
(a)£10
(b)£50
(c)£30
(d)£40
5.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%
6.A textbook is reduced from £60 to £45. Work out the percentage reduction.
(a)33%
(b)15%
(c)75%
(d)25%
7.40% of a number is 12 more than 25% of the same number. Work out the number.
(a)48
(b)80
(c)15
(d)30
8.A rectangular garden has its length and width in the ratio 5:3. Given that the perimeter of the garden is 64 m, work out the width of the garden.
(a)8 m
(b)24 m
(c)12 m
(d)20 m
9.Work out an estimate for 588 ÷ 31, by rounding each number to 1 significant figure.
(a)20
(b)19
(c)17
(d)200
10.A number, n, is a multiple of both 6 and 9. Work out the smallest possible value of n that is greater than 20.
(a)36
(b)18
(c)54
(d)27
11.After a 20% discount, a jacket costs £48. Work out the original price of the jacket.
(a)£40
(b)£60
(c)£57.60
(d)£38.40
12.Simplify the ratio 45 : 30 : 75 to its simplest form.
(a)2 : 3 : 5
(b)15 : 10 : 25
(c)9 : 6 : 15
(d)3 : 2 : 5
13.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
14.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
15.2.4 kg of cheese costs £36. Work out the cost of 1.5 kg of the same cheese.
(a)£15
(b)£57.60
(c)£22.50
(d)£54
16.Work out 3.7 × 24.
(a)8.88
(b)88.8
(c)888
(d)87.8
17.Freya uses her calculator to work out 7² and writes down 14. Work out the correct value of 7².
(a)49
(b)14
(c)9
(d)77
18.A fruit punch is made from orange juice, pineapple juice and lemonade in the ratio 5:3:2. A jug holds 3.5 litres of punch in total. Work out the volume of pineapple juice needed.
(a)1.75 litres
(b)0.35 litres
(c)1.05 litres
(d)0.7 litres
19.A jug holds 3 litres of a drink that is 60% fruit juice. 1 litre of water is added to the jug. Work out the percentage of the new mixture that is fruit juice.
(a)60%
(b)75%
(c)45%
(d)15%
20.Write 0.45 as a fraction in its simplest form.
(a)9/20
(b)9/2
(c)9/100
(d)9/200

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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