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.A necklace is made from red beads and gold beads in the ratio 7 : 3. What fraction of the beads are gold?
- 2.The first four terms of a sequence are 4, 9, 14, 19. Work out an expression, in terms of n, for the nth term.
- 3.Work out 2/3 × 3/4 exactly, giving your answer in its simplest form.
- 4.The first term of an arithmetic sequence is 5, and each term after that increases by 6. Work out the 8th term of the sequence.
- 5.Which of these correctly compares a 'line' with a 'line segment'?
- 6.Quadrilateral WXYZ has WX parallel to ZY, and WZ = XY (the two non-parallel sides are equal in length). Give a reason why angle W = angle X.
- 7.Write down the expression that means the same as (x + 7) ÷ 4.
- 8.A conversion graph between kilometres and miles passes through the origin and the point (50, 31), with the number of kilometres on the horizontal axis and the number of miles on the vertical axis. Work out the number of miles equivalent to 1 kilometre.
- 9.A shop sold seven pairs of shoes in these sizes: 4, 4, 5, 6, 6, 6, 9. Write down the modal size.
- 10.The highest common factor of two numbers is 4 and their lowest common multiple is 60. One of the numbers is 20. Work out the other number.
- 11.a is the column vector with top number 3 and bottom number −2. Work out 4a, giving your answer as a column vector in the form (top, bottom).
- 12.The times taken, in minutes, by 30 runners in a Portsmouth fun run are grouped in this table: 0 < t ≤ 20 — 5 runners, 20 < t ≤ 40 — 10 runners, 40 < t ≤ 60 — 10 runners, 60 < t ≤ 80 — 5 runners. Work out an estimate for the mean time, in minutes.
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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