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 company's profit was £2000 in its first year. Each following year, the profit increases by £800. Work out the first year in which the profit is more than £7000.
- 2.Work out (3 × 10²) × (2 × 10⁵). Give your answer in standard form.
- 3.150 people at a gym were asked whether they prefer weight training or cardio; each person chose exactly one. 84 of the people are women. 50 of the women prefer cardio. 40 of the men prefer weight training. Work out the probability that a person, chosen at random from the 150, prefers weight training. Give your answer as a fraction in its simplest form.
- 4.A car uses fuel at a constant rate. It uses 24 litres of fuel to travel 300 km. Assuming the same rate, work out how many litres of fuel are needed for a journey of 175 km.
- 5.An oven is preheating. Its temperature, T °C, is plotted against time, t minutes, on a straight-line graph. The line passes through the points (2, 60) and (6, 140). Work out the gradient of the line.
- 6.A trapezium has parallel sides of length 6 cm and 10 cm, and a perpendicular height of 4 cm. Work out its area.
- 7.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.
- 8.A population of penguins on an island is 2400. The population is predicted to grow by 7% each year. Work out the predicted population after 2 years, to the nearest whole number.
- 9.A tap fills a tank at a rate of 18 litres per minute. The tank holds 0.45 m³. Work out how long the tap takes to fill the tank.
- 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.
- 11.Freya is designing a triangular flower bed. Two of its corners have equal angles, and the angle at the third corner is 40°. Work out the size of one of the two equal corner angles.
- 12.Priya buys b balloons for a party. Each balloon costs 15p. Write down an expression for the total cost, in pence.
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.
Similar worksheets worth a look
- ✏️ Paper 1 non-calculator warm-up — Foundation · 20 questions · ~25 min
- 🧮 Paper 1 non-calculator warm-up — Higher · 20 questions · ~25 min
- 🎯 Grade 4 pass booster · 25 questions · ~40 min
- ⚖️ Foundation to Higher crossover check · 20 questions · ~35 min