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 washing machine costs £320 before VAT. VAT is charged at 20%. Work out the total price including VAT.
- 2.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.
- 3.A sponsored walk is 36 km long. Aisha has completed 8/12 of the walk. Work out how far she has walked.
- 4.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.
- 5.Work out 25% of 200.
- 6.3/5 of the students in a year group walk to school. 90 students walk to school. Work out the total number of students in the year group.
- 7.Work out 3/8 of 96.
- 8.Write 1/5 as a percentage.
- 9.40% of a number is 12 more than 25% of the same number. Work out the number.
- 10.£3000 is invested in a savings account that pays 4% compound interest each year. Work out the value of the investment after 2 years.
- 11.A laptop is bought for £600. Its value decreases by 20% after 1 year. Work out the value of the laptop after 1 year.
- 12.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.
- 13.After a 20% discount, a jacket costs £48. Work out the original price of the jacket.
- 14.A recipe uses 160 g of flour. Sam wants to increase the amount by 1/4. Work out the new amount of flour.
- 15.A box holds 80 chocolates. 75% of them are milk chocolates. Work out how many milk chocolates are in the box.
- 16.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.
- 17.The value of a rare coin increases by 12% each year. The coin is currently worth £270. Work out the value of the coin after 2 years, giving your answer to the nearest penny.
- 18.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.
- 19.2/3 of an amount of money is £30. Work out the amount.
- 20.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.
- 21.Work out the difference between 45% of 70 and 35% of 80.
- 22.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.
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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