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 children's slide is built as a right-angled triangle: the vertical ladder side is 2.4 m, the horizontal base along the ground is 3.2 m, and the sloping slide is the third side. Work out the exact length of the sloping slide.
- 2.Work out −4.5 + 2.8.
- 3.The graph of y = 20/x is drawn for x > 0. As the value of x increases, what happens to the value of y?
- 4.A sector of a circle has radius 15 cm and angle 216°. Using π = 3.14, work out the arc length of the sector.
- 5.At a bus station one bus leaves every 6 minutes and another leaves every 9 minutes. The two buses leave together at the start of the day. Work out how long it is until they next leave together.
- 6.Work out 1 − 1/2 − 1/4 − 1/8 − 1/16. Give your answer as a fraction.
- 7.A water tank is a cube with edges of length 2 m. Work out how many cubic centimetres the tank holds when it is full.
- 8.A tin of paint has a mass of 5.672 kg. Round this mass to 1 decimal place.
- 9.A water butt holds 200 litres and is being drained at a steady 8 litres per minute. Write down the function for the amount of water y, in litres, left after x minutes.
- 10.A wooden block is a cuboid measuring 2 cm by 10 cm by 15 cm. Work out the volume of the block.
- 11.A straight line passes through the points (1, 20) and (5, 8). Work out the gradient of the line.
- 12.Work out the value of 3a − 2b when a = 5 and b = 4
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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