22 questions on percentage change, reverse percentages, simple and compound interest, and depreciation.

💷 Percentages and compound interest

Maths · GCSE Foundation · 22 questions · ~40 min

MathsUKwww.geekhero.co.uk

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 shop buys a coat for £24 and sells it for a profit that is 3/8 of the buying price. Work out the selling price.
(a)£27.00
(b)£15.00
(c)£9.00
(d)£33.00
2.The same jumper is sold at two shops. Shop A charges £40 and Shop B charges £50. Write down the price at Shop A as a percentage of the price at Shop B.
(a)90%
(b)80%
(c)20%
(d)125%
3.Maya buys a vintage car for £15000. Its value is expected to increase by 4% each year for 2 years. She then plans to sell the car and use £2000 of the money from the sale to buy a trailer. Work out how much money she will have left after selling the car and buying the trailer.
(a)£14224
(b)£13600
(c)£14200
(d)£18224
4.The population of a village is 1200. It is predicted to grow by 5% next year. Work out the predicted population after 1 year, to the nearest whole number.
(a)1260
(b)1800
(c)1205
(d)60
5.Aisha invests £3200 in Account A, which pays 5% compound interest each year. She also invests £3200 in Account B, which pays 3% simple interest each year. Work out how much more Account A is worth than Account B after 2 years.
(a)£3528
(b)£3392
(c)£136
(d)£128
6.The price of a cycling helmet rises from £80 to £116. Work out the percentage increase.
(a)45%
(b)145%
(c)36%
(d)31%
7.A sponsored walk raised £350 for charity. 20% of the money raised is spent on equipment. Work out how much is spent on equipment.
(a)£35
(b)£280
(c)£70
(d)£17.50
8.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
9.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
10.After a price increase of 10%, a laptop costs £330. Work out the original price.
(a)£3,300
(b)£300
(c)£363
(d)£297
11.A gym increases its membership price by 1/5. The original price is £60. Work out the new price.
(a)£48
(b)£72
(c)£75
(d)£12
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.
(a)200 m
(b)1050 m
(c)150 m
(d)50 m
13.£5000 is invested in an account paying 4% compound interest each year. Work out the total interest earned after 3 years.
(a)£600.00
(b)£408.00
(c)£624.32
(d)£5624.32
14.Write 0.25 as a percentage.
(a)2.5%
(b)0.25%
(c)250%
(d)25%
15.40% of a number is 12 more than 25% of the same number. Work out the number.
(a)48
(b)80
(c)15
(d)30
16.Work out 35% of 180.
(a)45
(b)63
(c)145
(d)126
17.Work out 8% of £250.
(a)£25
(b)£2
(c)£200
(d)£20
18.Work out 25% of 200.
(a)50
(b)100
(c)25
(d)800
19.Write 3/4 as a percentage.
(a)133%
(b)34%
(c)0.75%
(d)75%
20.A sofa costs £800. Its price is increased by 25%. Work out the new price of the sofa.
(a)£1,000
(b)£600
(c)£825
(d)£200
21.£3000 is invested in a savings account that pays 4% compound interest each year. Work out the value of the investment after 2 years.
(a)£3244.80
(b)£3120.00
(c)£244.80
(d)£3240.00
22.The price of a jacket increases by 50% and then decreases by 50%. Describe the overall change from the original price.
(a)no change
(b)an increase of 25%
(c)a decrease of 25%
(d)a decrease of 50%

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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