12 short questions across all six content areas, designed as a lesson starter or a daily warm-up.

⏱️ Ten-minute starters — Foundation

Maths · GCSE Foundation · 12 questions · ~10 min

MathsUKwww.geekhero.co.uk

Twelve short questions, two from each of the six content areas: number, algebra, ratio, geometry, probability and statistics. Nothing here needs more than a minute, and nothing needs a calculator. It is built as a lesson starter — print it, hand it out, take ten minutes, mark it together — and it works just as well as a daily warm-up at home in the fortnight before a mock. The value is in the spread rather than the depth: a student who has spent a week on algebra can find out in ten minutes what a week away from statistics has cost. Generate a new sheet whenever you want a fresh twelve on the same pattern.

1.A line segment is measured with a ruler and found to be 6.5 cm long. What is this length in millimetres?
(a)65
(b)0.65
(c)650
(d)6.5
2.A taxi company charges a £2.50 booking fee plus £1.80 per mile. A journey costs £15.10 in total. Work out the number of miles travelled.
(a)9.78
(b)8.39
(c)5.32
(d)7
3.A fan-shaped rug is in the shape of a sector of a circle with radius 4 m and angle 180°. It costs £4 per square metre to make. Using π = 3.14, work out the total cost of the rug.
(a)£50.24
(b)£25.12
(c)£200.96
(d)£100.48
4.The graph of y = 24/x is drawn for x > 0. Work out the value of y when x = 6.
(a)y = 18
(b)y = 30
(c)y = 144
(d)y = 4
5.£120 is shared between three cousins in the ratio 3:4:5. Work out the largest share.
(a)£10
(b)£50
(c)£30
(d)£40
6.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.
(a)15
(b)6
(c)30
(d)60
7.A shape is translated by the vector $(3 - 8)$ , and one vertex of the image is at the point (1, 6). The original shape is instead translated by the vector $(- 5 2)$ . Work out the coordinates of the image of that same vertex under this second translation.
(a)(7, 8)
(b)(11, 3)
(c)(3, 1)
(d)(11, −2)
8.A shop records the colour of every car that uses its car park one Tuesday. Its frequency table reads: black 44, silver 37, blue 26, red 18, white 12. Write down the frequency of black cars.
(a)37
(b)137
(c)5
(d)44
9.Which pair of points lies on a horizontal line when the points are plotted on a coordinate grid?
(a)(0, 0) and (1, 1)
(b)(1, 2) and (2, 1)
(c)(2, 4) and (6, 4)
(d)(3, 5) and (3, 8)
10.A journey takes 4 hours at an average speed of 60 km/h. The time taken is inversely proportional to the average speed. Work out how long the same journey takes at an average speed of 80 km/h.
(a)4 hours
(b)2 hours 40 minutes
(c)3 hours
(d)5 hours 20 minutes
11.A table shows values of y = x² − x − 6 for x from −3 to 4: at x = −3, y = 6; x = −2, y = 0; x = −1, y = −4; x = 0, y = −6; x = 1, y = −6; x = 2, y = −4; x = 3, y = 0; x = 4, y = 6. Using the table, write down the two roots of x² − x − 6 = 0.
y = x²
(a)x = −1 and x = 2
(b)x = −3 and x = 4
(c)x = 0 and x = 1
(d)x = −2 and x = 3
12.A tap fills a 20 litre bucket in 2 minutes 30 seconds. Work out the rate of flow, in litres per minute.
(a)8 litres per minute
(b)0.125 litres per minute
(c)8.7 litres per minute
(d)10 litres per minute

What is on this worksheet?

The sheet holds 12 questions drawn from the MathsUK bank — the content areas covered: Number, Algebra, Ratio, proportion and rates of change, Geometry and measures, Probability, Statistics. It is pitched at GCSE Foundation and takes about 10 minutes to work through in full. It works as a class handout, a homework, or a warm-up before a test.

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 12 questions before checking — about 10 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 12 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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