22 questions on percentage change, reverse percentages, simple and compound interest, and depreciation.
💷 Percentages and compound interest
Percentages appear on all three papers and in more contexts than any other single topic — prices, wages, interest, VAT, population, depreciation. This sheet covers the whole of it in order. It begins with percentage of an amount and percentage change, including finding the percentage rather than applying it; moves to multipliers, which make everything after this easier; then to reverse percentages, where you are given the value after the change and asked for the original, and where subtracting instead of dividing is the commonest error in the topic; then to simple interest, compound interest and depreciation, where the multiplier is raised to a power rather than multiplied by the number of years. The last few questions mix the types without labelling them, because on the paper they are not labelled either.
- 1.A charity raffle sells 240 tickets at £1.85 each. 40% of the money raised is given to a local hospital. Work out how much money the hospital receives.
- 2.A machine is bought for £8500. Its value depreciates by 6% each year. Work out the value of the machine after 3 years, to the nearest pound.
- 3.A company had 8000 employees. The number of employees decreased by 5% in the first year, and then increased by 5% in the second year. Work out the number of employees at the end of the second year, to the nearest whole number.
- 4.Work out the difference between 45% of 70 and 35% of 80.
- 5.Grace's mean mark in her maths tests rises from 70 to 84. Work out the percentage increase in her mean mark.
- 6.A colony of bacteria has 400 bacteria. The number increases by 15% each hour. Work out the number of bacteria after 1 hour.
- 7.Work out 1/2 of 1/4 of 80.
- 8.A laptop costs £800 when new. Its value decreases by 25% of its value at the start of each year. Work out how much value the laptop loses in the second year.
- 9.A box holds 140 pens. 25% of the pens are red. Work out how many of the pens are red.
- 10.Jamal invests £600 in a savings account paying 3% simple interest per year. Work out the total amount in the account after 4 years.
- 11.The value of a motorbike falls by 12% each year. The motorbike is worth £3200 now. Write down the calculation that gives its value after 3 years.
- 12.Write 1/5 as a percentage.
- 13.In a class, 1/3 of the pupils are girls. There are 12 girls in the class. Work out how many pupils are in the class.
- 14.A laptop is bought for £600. Its value decreases by 20% after 1 year. Work out the value of the laptop after 1 year.
- 15.The price of a jacket increases by 50% and then decreases by 50%. Describe the overall change from the original price.
- 16.The rent on a flat increases by 10% one year and by a further 10% the following year. Work out the overall percentage increase over the two years.
- 17.In a test, Amelia answered 18 of the 24 questions correctly. Work out the percentage of the questions she answered correctly.
- 18.A box holds 80 chocolates. 75% of them are milk chocolates. Work out how many milk chocolates are in the box.
- 19.The price of a cycling helmet rises from £80 to £116. Work out the percentage increase.
- 20.A sofa costs £800. Its price is increased by 25%. Work out the new price of the sofa.
- 21.Work out 8% of £250.
- 22.Work out 15% of £40, using 10% and 5%.
What is on this worksheet?
The sheet holds 22 questions drawn from the MathsUK bank — the content areas covered: Ratio, proportion and rates of change, Number (statements R9, R16, N12). It is pitched at GCSE Foundation and takes about 40 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 22 questions before checking — about 40 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 22 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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