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.Here are the first four terms of an arithmetic sequence: 5, 9, 13, 17. Work out the 5th term.
(a)22
(b)21
(c)25
(d)20
2.A quadratic curve has a root at x = −2 and its turning point has x-coordinate 3. Work out the curve's other root, using the symmetry of the graph.
(a)x = −8
(b)x = 1
(c)x = 8
(d)x = 5
3.A warehouse stores identical cube-shaped crates. Its plan view is a 2 by 4 rectangle of crate positions, and every position is filled to a height of 3 crates, except one corner position, which has only 2 crates stacked on it because a delivery was incomplete. How many crates are there in total?
(a)22
(b)23
(c)21
(d)24
4.A quality inspector examines a sample of 60 items from a production line and finds that 8 are faulty. Using this sample's proportion, work out how many faulty items would be expected in a new batch of 750 items.
(a)1
(b)100
(c)8
(d)75
5.y is inversely proportional to x. When x = 5, y = 8. Work out the value of y when x = 10.
(a)4
(b)0.8
(c)16
(d)3
6.At a book fair the ratio of fiction books to non-fiction books is 4 : 5. Of the non-fiction books, 3/5 are about history. Work out the fraction of all the books at the fair that are history books.
(a)5/9
(b)3/5
(c)1/3
(d)4/15
7.A rectangle has vertices at (2, 1), (9, 1), (9, 5) and (2, 5). Work out the area of the rectangle.
(a)22
(b)28
(c)35
(d)63
8.A round cake has a radius of 10 cm. Icing costs £0.02 per square centimetre. One slice of the cake is a sector with an angle of 90°. Using π = 3.14, work out the cost of icing the top of that slice, to the nearest penny.
(a)£0.31
(b)£1.57
(c)£0.16
(d)£6.28
9.A bead starts at position (2, −1) on a grid, in centimetres. It is moved by the column vector u, with top number 3 and bottom number 5, and then moved by the column vector v, with top number −7 and bottom number 2. Work out the coordinates of the bead's final position.
(a)(−5, 1)
(b)(5, 4)
(c)(−4, 7)
(d)(−2, 6)
10.A charity shop in Bath holds 2,000 books. Volunteer A checks a random sample of 50 books and finds 35 paperbacks. Volunteer B checks a different random sample of 50 books and finds 31 paperbacks. Work out the estimate each sample gives for the whole stock, and write down what the shop should do next.
(a)1,400 and 1,240, so combine the samples for one estimate
(b)1,400 and 1,240, so keep 1,400 as the larger estimate
(c)1,400 and 1,240, so one volunteer must have miscounted
(d)1,750 and 1,550, so the larger estimate must be right
11.Work out the value of 5m² + 3m when m = −2.4
(a)36
(b)29.4
(c)21.6
(d)−36
12.The formula connecting distance (d), speed (s) and time (t) is d = st. Make s the subject of the formula.
(a)s = t / d
(b)s = d / t
(c)s = d − t
(d)s = dt

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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