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.There are 400 students at a school. 25% of them have a brother, 40% have a sister and 15% have both a brother and a sister. Work out how many of the students have neither a brother nor a sister.
(a)140 students
(b)300 students
(c)200 students
(d)260 students
2.A bag holds 50 counters. 2/5 of them are red and the rest are blue. 5 red counters are then taken out of the bag. Work out the new ratio of red counters to blue counters. Give your answer in its simplest form.
(a)2 : 3
(b)1 : 2
(c)4 : 5
(d)2 : 1
3.After a translation by the vector $(6 - 2)$ , a point lands on (4, 1). Write down the coordinates of the point before the translation.
(a)(2, −5)
(b)(2, 7)
(c)(6, −5)
(d)(6, 7)
4.A fair spinner has 8 equal sections: 5 are red and 3 are blue. Freya spins it twice, and each spin is independent of the other. Work out the probability that she gets one red and one blue in the two spins, in either order.
(a)39/64
(b)15/32
(c)15/28
(d)15/64
5.A shortbread recipe uses flour and butter in the ratio 5 : 2. Yuki changes the recipe by doubling the amount of butter but keeping the amount of flour the same. Work out the fraction of the new mixture that is butter.
(a)2/9
(b)4/9
(c)2/5
(d)4/7
6.Two straight lines cross at a point. To find the points that are the same distance from both lines, which construction should be used?
(a)construct a perpendicular from the crossing point
(b)bisect the angle between the two lines
(c)construct the perpendicular bisector of the two lines
(d)draw a circle centred at the crossing point
7.Solve 2x + 1 = 9
(a)x = 8
(b)x = 16
(c)x = 4
(d)x = 5
8.A roof truss is shaped like an isosceles triangle resting on a horizontal ceiling joist. The truss's sloping edges are equal in length, and the angle at its apex is 40°. The ceiling joist continues in a straight line beyond the foot of the truss. Work out the angle between the truss's sloping edge and the extended joist, on the outside of the truss.
(a)110°
(b)70°
(c)140°
(d)20°
9.The number of members of a running club increases from 45 to 54. Work out the percentage increase.
(a)9%
(b)120%
(c)20%
(d)16.7%
10.A tangent touches a circle with centre O at the point P. Q is a point on the tangent. Write down the circle fact that tells you the size of angle OPQ.
(a)A tangent always passes through the centre of the circle
(b)A tangent is always parallel to the radius it touches
(c)The angle in a semicircle is 90°
(d)The angle between a tangent and a radius is 90°
11.Write down the number of lines of symmetry a rhombus has.
(a)4
(b)2
(c)0
(d)1
12.A charity raffle sells 250 tickets. A group of friends buy 40 of the tickets between them. Three prizes are awarded, each to a different randomly drawn ticket, and no ticket can win more than one prize. Work out the expected number of prizes won by the group. Give your answer as a fraction in its simplest form.
(a)64/15625
(b)4/25
(c)4/75
(d)12/25

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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