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 an animal shelter, the ratio of cats to dogs is 2:5. There are 18 more dogs than cats. Work out the number of cats.
(a)6
(b)12
(c)9
(d)30
2.Work out the lowest common multiple of 9 and 15.
(a)24
(b)45
(c)135
(d)3
3.Work out 25% of 200.
(a)50
(b)100
(c)25
(d)800
4.Work out the value of √(16 + 9)
(a)5
(b)12
(c)7
(d)−5
5.A café orders 340 bread rolls at 24p each and 85 cakes at £1.35 each. Work out the total cost of the order.
(a)£114.75
(b)£81.60
(c)£196.35
(d)£122.91
6.Oliver uses his calculator to work out 25% of 80 and writes down 320. Without using a calculator, work out the correct value of 25% of 80.
(a)16
(b)20
(c)3.2
(d)25
7.A school orders 187 packed lunches for a trip. Each packed lunch costs £4.85. The school has £900 to spend. By rounding each number to 1 significant figure, work out an estimate for the total cost and decide whether £900 is enough.
(a)£935, so £900 is not enough
(b)£1,000, so £900 is not enough
(c)£800, so £900 is enough
(d)£950, so £900 is not enough
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.
(a)0%
(b)−1%
(c)−2%
(d)+1%
9.An amount of money is shared in the ratio 1:2:3. The largest share is £90 more than the smallest share. Work out the total amount that was shared.
(a)£180
(b)£540
(c)£135
(d)£270
10.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.
(a)£11.00
(b)£66.60
(c)£1.60
(d)£5.40
11.A restaurant adds a service charge of 15% to a bill of £120. Work out the service charge.
(a)£18
(b)£8
(c)£138
(d)£12
12.Work out (−3) × 4 + 10
(a)−42
(b)−2
(c)−22
(d)22
13.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
14.Work out how many factors 100 has.
(a)8
(b)4
(c)9
(d)10
15.Grace's mean mark in her maths tests rises from 70 to 84. Work out the percentage increase in her mean mark.
(a)20%
(b)120%
(c)17%
(d)14%
16.A shop buys boxes of pens for £4 each. It sells each box on to a school for £3 more than it paid, and charges an extra £2 delivery fee for the whole order. A school orders 5 boxes. Work out the total cost of the order.
(a)£45
(b)£37
(c)£25
(d)£22
17.Work out 50% of 60.
(a)6
(b)3000
(c)120
(d)30
18.A box holds 140 pens. 25% of the pens are red. Work out how many of the pens are red.
(a)35
(b)105
(c)25
(d)70
19.Work out 20 − 8 ÷ 2 + 1
(a)16
(b)15
(c)7
(d)17
20.Work out 0.6 × 0.04.
(a)2.4
(b)0.24
(c)0.024
(d)0.0024

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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