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 concert hall has 300 seats. 20% of the seats are in the balcony. Work out how many of the seats are in the balcony.
- 2.A cinema has 250 seats. 12% of the seats are reserved. Work out how many of the seats are reserved.
- 3.A jacket normally costs £65. In a sale it is reduced by 20%, and the shop then takes a further £5 off at the till. Work out the final price.
- 4.A jumper is reduced by 15% in a sale to a price of £42.50. Work out the original price.
- 5.In a test, Amelia answered 18 of the 24 questions correctly. Work out the percentage of the questions she answered correctly.
- 6.A company's profit this year is 130% of last year's profit. Last year's profit was £40,000. Work out this year's profit.
- 7.Order these three values from smallest to largest: 3/8, 0.43, 41%.
- 8.Grace's mean mark in her maths tests rises from 70 to 84. Work out the percentage increase in her mean mark.
- 9.The price of a cycling helmet rises from £80 to £116. Work out the percentage increase.
- 10.£5000 is invested in an account paying 4% compound interest each year. Work out the total interest earned after 3 years.
- 11.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.
- 12.A cycle route is 350 m long. A footpath runs alongside it for 3/7 of that length. Work out the length of the footpath.
- 13.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.
- 14.£2000 is invested in a savings account that pays 5% compound interest each year. Work out the value of the investment at the end of 2 years.
- 15.Work out 8% of £250.
- 16.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.
- 17.A box holds 80 chocolates. 75% of them are milk chocolates. Work out how many milk chocolates are in the box.
- 18.The price of a jacket increases by 50% and then decreases by 50%. Describe the overall change from the original price.
- 19.Before a charity campaign, donations were £6400 per month. Donations grew by 8% in the first year after the campaign, and then fell by 3% in the second year as interest faded. Work out the amount donated per month at the end of the second year, to the nearest pound.
- 20.Work out 35% of 180.
- 21.A box holds 140 pens. 25% of the pens are red. Work out how many of the pens are red.
- 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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