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.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
2.Write the ratio 4x : 6x in its simplest form, where x is a positive number.
(a)2x:3x
(b)4:6
(c)2:3
(d)3:2
3.Insert one pair of brackets into 2 + 3 × 5 − 1 so that the calculation is equal to 24. Which calculation is correct?
(a)(2 + 3 × 5) − 1
(b)(2 + 3) × 5 − 1
(c)2 + 3 × (5 − 1)
(d)(2 + 3) × (5 − 1)
4.Which of these ratios is equivalent to 2:3?
(a)12:8
(b)8:12
(c)4:5
(d)8:3
5.A bag contains red counters and blue counters in the ratio 5:3. There are 56 counters in the bag altogether. Work out how many counters are blue.
(a)35
(b)7
(c)28
(d)21
6.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.
(a)24
(b)15
(c)5
(d)25
7.Write the ratio 2 : 1/4 as a ratio of whole numbers in its simplest form.
(a)8:1
(b)8:4
(c)1:8
(d)2:4
8.Work out 8% of £250.
(a)£25
(b)£2
(c)£200
(d)£20
9.Amelia estimates 48 × 21 by working out 50 × 20 = 1,000. Work out whether her estimate is an under-estimate or an over-estimate, and by how much.
(a)An over-estimate, by 19
(b)Neither — the estimate is exactly right
(c)An under-estimate, by 8
(d)An over-estimate, by 8
10.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.
(a)£2,400
(b)£2,000
(c)£3,200
(d)£6,000
11.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
12.Write 60 as a product of its prime factors, using index notation.
(a)2 × 3 × 5
(b)2² × 3 × 5
(c)2 × 3 × 5²
(d)2² × 3² × 5
13.A metal alloy is made from copper and tin in the ratio 7:3. Work out the mass of tin in 250 g of the alloy.
(a)125 g
(b)75 g
(c)25 g
(d)175 g
14.For any two whole numbers, the product of the numbers is equal to the product of their highest common factor and their lowest common multiple. The highest common factor of 6 and 8 is 2, and 6 × 8 = 48. Work out the lowest common multiple of 6 and 8.
(a)24
(b)12
(c)48
(d)96
15.Freya types 4² + 3² into her calculator and writes down 49. Work out the correct value of 4² + 3².
(a)14
(b)25
(c)49
(d)12
16.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
17.Write 12 as a product of its prime factors.
(a)2² × 3
(b)2 × 3²
(c)2 × 3
(d)2 × 6
18.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
19.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.
(a)4:7
(b)3:4
(c)8:6
(d)4:3
20.Jamal invests £600 in a savings account paying 3% simple interest per year. Work out the total amount in the account after 4 years.
(a)£675.31
(b)£72
(c)£672
(d)£618

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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