12 short questions across all six content areas, designed as a lesson starter or a daily warm-up.
⏱️ Ten-minute starters — Foundation
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.The first four terms of a sequence are 6, 13, 20, 27. Work out an expression, in terms of n, for the nth term.
- 2.m is the column vector with top number 3 and bottom number −4. Which of these column vectors is a scalar multiple of m?
- 3.Which expression is equivalent to 6x − (2x − 5)?
- 4.In a recipe the mass of chocolate to the mass of milk is in the ratio 1:4. Amelia uses 200 g of milk. Work out the mass of chocolate she needs.
- 5.Two similar triangular tiles have lengths in the ratio 3 : 5. The longest side of the smaller tile is 9 cm. Work out the length of the longest side of the larger tile.
- 6.A spinner is spun 50 times. It lands on green 18 times. Work out the relative frequency of landing on green.
- 7.A concrete mix is made from cement and sand in the ratio 3 : 5 by mass. A builder mixes 96 kg of concrete. Work out the mass of cement in the mix.
- 8.At a point on a straight line, two angles are formed. One of them is 63°. Work out the size of the other angle.
- 9.Make c the subject of the formula k = 6c.
- 10.6 identical printers can print a batch of exam papers in 40 minutes, all working at the same rate. Working at the same rate, work out how many minutes 4 of these printers would take to print the same batch.
- 11.A cinema sells adult tickets for £10 and child tickets for £6. A family group buys 9 tickets in total, spending £74. Work out how many adult tickets were bought.
- 12.The angle between north and a cycle path is 40°, but it is measured anticlockwise from north. What is the three-figure bearing of the cycle path?
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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