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.In quadrilateral ABCD the two sides AB and BC are each 6 cm long and meet each other at B. The two sides CD and DA are each 9 cm long and meet each other at D. No side of ABCD is parallel to any other side. Write down the mathematical name of this quadrilateral.
(a)Isosceles trapezium
(b)Kite
(c)Parallelogram
(d)Rhombus
2.A gas company charges a standing charge plus a rate per unit used. The total cost, y in pounds, for using x units is given by y = 0.15x + 20. Work out the cost of using 200 units.
y = 0.15x + 20
(a)£50
(b)£30
(c)£203
(d)£320
3.A carton of orange juice holds 1.35 litres. Ruby pours the juice equally into 4 identical glasses. Work out how much juice is in each glass, giving your answer as a fraction of a litre in its simplest form.
(a)27/20
(b)17/50
(c)27/5
(d)27/80
4.A sequence has the position-to-term rule: the term is the square of the position number. Its first four terms are 1, 4, 9, 16. Work out the 10th term.
(a)20
(b)81
(c)100
(d)1000
5.A crane's hook starts at the point (3.4, 9.5) on a construction site plan measured in metres. It moves along the vector $(- 4.5 - 1.2)$ to pick up a beam, then along the vector $(- 2.5 0.8)$ to place it. Work out the single column vector that describes the hook's overall movement from its start position to where it places the beam.
(a) $(- 2 - 2)$
(b) $(- 7 - 0.4)$
(c) $(7 - 0.4)$
(d) $(- 7 2)$
6.A charity collects donations from adults and children in the ratio 5:2. Altogether, £238 is collected. Work out how much more the adults donate than the children.
(a)£102
(b)£68
(c)£136
(d)£170
7.In a game, Zara says the probability of scoring is 3/8, the probability of missing is 5/12 and the probability of a rebound is 1/6, and that these are the only three outcomes. Is Zara correct that her three probabilities are valid?
(a)Yes, because 3/8 + 5/12 + 1/6 = 1
(b)Yes, because all three fractions are between 0 and 1
(c)No, because 3/8 + 5/12 + 1/6 = 3/4
(d)No, because 3/8 + 5/12 + 1/6 = 23/24
8.Which of these decimals lies between 1/4 and 2/5?
(a)0.45
(b)0.2
(c)0.5
(d)0.3
9.A fair six-sided dice is rolled 120 times. Work out how many of the rolls you would expect to give a score of 3 or more.
(a)80
(b)40
(c)60
(d)20
10.A shop stacks tins in a display block. The front elevation of the block is 4 tins wide and 3 tins high. The side elevation shows the block is 2 tins deep. Every position in the block is filled. How many tins are used in total?
(a)24
(b)6
(c)12
(d)9
11.Work out 3/7 × 14/9. Give your answer as a fraction in its simplest form.
(a)17/16
(b)2/21
(c)2/3
(d)27/98
12.A section of a kitchen wall has an area of 45,000 cm². Work out the area of this section in m².
(a)0.45 m²
(b)450.00 m²
(c)4500000.00 m²
(d)4.50 m²

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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