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.Work out (−6) + (−4) × 3
- 2.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.
- 3.A survey team measures the angle between two fences with a protractor and gets a reading of 254°. What type of angle is this?
- 4.On a Saturday, 2,000 customers go through the tills at a supermarket. The probability that a customer buys a reusable bag is 0.08. Work out how many customers you would expect to buy a reusable bag.
- 5.Which expression is equivalent to 4(x − 2) + 10?
- 6.A polygon has 9 sides. What is the name of this polygon?
- 7.Two quantities are connected by the formula y = 0.8x. Write down the ratio y : x in its simplest form.y = 0.8x
- 8.Work out (2/3)² + (1/2)². Give your answer as a fraction.
- 9.Work out 3 + 4 × 2²
- 10.A washing machine costs £320 before VAT. VAT is charged at 20%. Work out the total price including VAT.
- 11.A student works out the exact area of a circle with radius 4 cm by squaring the radius but forgetting to multiply by π. Work out the correct exact area of the circle, in terms of π.
- 12.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.
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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