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.Grace asked 12 children how many brothers and sisters they have. Her results, in order, were 0, 0, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 6. Work out the median number of brothers and sisters.
(a)1.5
(b)1
(c)6
(d)2
2.Which of these statements about −0.7 and −0.25 is true?
(a)−0.7 = −0.25
(b)−0.7 < −0.25
(c)−0.7 ≥ −0.25
(d)−0.7 > −0.25
3.The mass of a length of copper pipe is proportional to its length. A pipe of length 4.5 m has a mass of 12.6 kg. Work out the mass of a pipe of the same type of length 9.5 m.
(a)12.6
(b)3.4
(c)17.6
(d)26.6
4.Five balls numbered 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are in a bag. Two of them are taken out together at random. Work out the probability that the two numbers on them add up to more than 7.
(a)1/10
(b)2/5
(c)4/5
(d)1/5
5.A shop sells rope by the metre. 3 m costs £7.50 and 5 m costs £11.00. Does this data show that the cost is directly proportional to the length of rope bought? Choose the correct verdict and reason.
(a)No — the cost per metre differs: £2.50/m vs £2.20/m
(b)Yes — because both amounts increase as length increases
(c)No — because 5 m costs more than 3 m in total
(d)Yes — the cost per metre is £2.50 in both cases
6.A quadrilateral has all four sides equal in length and all four interior angles equal to 90°. Its diagonals are equal in length and bisect each other at right angles. Which quadrilateral matches this description exactly?
(a)Rectangle
(b)Square
(c)Kite
(d)Rhombus
7.A drone starts at the point (3.5, −2) on a grid measured in metres. It flies by the vector $(4.5 - 6.2)$ to check a first sensor. The drone then needs to fly in a straight line to reach the point (−1.7, 9) to check a second sensor. Work out the column vector of this second flight.
(a) $(6.5 1)$
(b) $(- 6.5 - 1)$
(c) $(6.5 - 4.4)$
(d) $(11 - 5.2)$
8.A rhombus has all four sides equal in length, but it is not a square — its angles are not all 90°. How many lines of symmetry does this rhombus have?
(a)2
(b)1
(c)4
(d)0
9.Round 24,681 to the nearest 1,000.
(a)24,700
(b)24,000
(c)20,000
(d)25,000
10.Spinner P and Spinner Q are each fair and have 5 equal sections, numbered 1 to 5. Both spinners are spun once, and every outcome is listed as an ordered pair, Spinner P then Spinner Q, such as (2, 4). Work out how many of the outcomes have the score on Spinner P less than the score on Spinner Q.
(a)4
(b)10
(c)15
(d)20
11.Two mathematically similar cylinders have heights in the ratio 3 : 4. Write the ratio of their volumes in its simplest form.
(a)9 : 16
(b)27 : 4
(c)27 : 64
(d)3 : 4
12.A jug holds 2 litres. Given that 1 litre = 1000 cm³, work out the capacity of the jug in cm³.
(a)20 cm³
(b)2000 cm³
(c)200 cm³
(d)20000 cm³

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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