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.A straight-line graph shows the number of pages printed, p, plotted against the time in minutes, t, since a printer started a print job. The line passes through the points (2, 30) and (5, 90). Work out the gradient of the line.
(a)18
(b)20
(c)0.05
(d)−20
2.Work out (−2/5) × (−10/3). Give your answer as a fraction in its simplest form.
(a)−56/15
(b)3/25
(c)−4/3
(d)4/3
3.A chord is drawn across a circle, dividing the circle into two regions. Write down the name of one of these two regions.
(a)segment
(b)arc
(c)sector
(d)radius
4.Write 350 ml : 1.4 l as a ratio in its simplest form.
(a)2:8
(b)25:1
(c)4:1
(d)1:4
5.Solve 5(x + 3) = 40
(a)x = 8
(b)x = 11
(c)x = 7.4
(d)x = 5
6.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).
(a)(7, 2)
(b)(12, −8)
(c)(3, −8)
(d)(12, −2)
7.6 identical taps fill a paddling pool in 20 minutes. Each tap fills at the same steady rate. Work out how long 3 of these taps would take to fill the same pool.
(a)30 minutes
(b)10 minutes
(c)40 minutes
(d)17 minutes
8.A quiz has 50 questions. Freya answers 10% of them incorrectly. Work out how many questions she answers incorrectly.
(a)5
(b)10
(c)500
(d)45
9.A student is estimating the probability that a spinner lands on red. In her first 85 spins it landed on red 34 times. She then spins it 165 more times, and in those it lands on red 58 times. Work out the best estimate of the probability of red from all 250 spins. Give your answer as a decimal, correct to 3 decimal places.
(a)0.368
(b)0.352
(c)0.400
(d)0.376
10.A ferry's distance-time graph is a straight line from (0 minutes, 0 km) to (25 minutes, 15 km). Work out the ferry's speed in kilometres per hour.
(a)36 km/h
(b)14.4 km/h
(c)6.25 km/h
(d)0.6 km/h
11.A plant is 4 cm tall in week 1. Each week after that, its height increases by 5 cm. Work out the first week in which the plant is taller than 30 cm.
(a)Week 8
(b)Week 7
(c)Week 5
(d)Week 6
12.A blue ribbon is 45 cm long. A red ribbon is 30 cm long. Write the length of the blue ribbon as a fraction of the length of the red ribbon. Give your answer in its simplest form.
(a)3/5
(b)2/3
(c)1/2
(d)3/2

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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