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.In a school long jump competition Priya's jump is recorded as 3.8 m and Nadia's jump is recorded as 3.9 m, each correct to the nearest 0.1 m. Priya says she may have jumped further than Nadia. Decide whether Priya is right, and give a reason for your answer.
(a)Yes — Priya's jump could have been up to 3.9 m
(b)No — their possible jump lengths do not overlap
(c)Yes — both jumps could have been 3.85 m
(d)No — a recorded jump is exactly the length jumped
2.A fair spinner is divided into 5 equal sections, 2 labelled win and 3 labelled lose. Zara spins it twice, and the two spins are independent. Work out the probability that she wins on the first spin and loses on the second spin.
(a)9/25
(b)6/25
(c)4/25
(d)3/10
3.A charity raises 8 × 10⁶ pounds. This total is shared equally among 2 × 10² local projects. Work out how much each project receives, in standard form.
(a)4 × 10⁸
(b)4 × 10¹²
(c)4 × 10⁴
(d)6 × 10⁴
4.Triangle A and triangle B are mathematically similar. A side of triangle A is 4 cm long and the corresponding side of triangle B is 10 cm long. Write the ratio of the length in triangle A to the length in triangle B in its simplest form.
(a)2 : 3
(b)4 : 25
(c)2 : 5
(d)5 : 2
5.Work out an estimate for 113 + 491, by rounding each number to the nearest 100.
(a)700
(b)500
(c)600
(d)604
6.Write down the mathematical name for a quadrilateral that has exactly one pair of parallel sides.
(a)Rhombus
(b)Trapezium
(c)Kite
(d)Parallelogram
7.The table shows values of x and y. x: 3, 5, 8. y: 12, 20, 32. Which statement correctly describes the relationship between x and y?
(a)y is always 4 times x.
(b)y is always double x, plus 6.
(c)y is always x plus 9.
(d)x is always 4 times y.
8.A room plan is drawn to a scale of 1 : 50. A wall in the room is 4 m long in real life. Work out the length of the wall on the plan, in centimetres.
(a)80 cm
(b)20000 cm
(c)0.08 cm
(d)8 cm
9.A worker is paid £13.20 per hour. Work out this rate of pay in pence per minute.
(a)22p
(b)79200p
(c)2.2p
(d)1320p
10.A bar chart is drawn for a set of categorical data. Write down what the height of each bar represents.
(a)The total of all the data
(b)The mean of all the data
(c)The frequency of that category
(d)The number of different categories
11.A bag contains 5 yellow marbles and 3 blue marbles. Noah takes a marble at random, notes its colour and puts it back in the bag. He then takes a second marble at random. Work out the probability that the first marble is yellow and the second marble is blue.
(a)15/16
(b)9/64
(c)5/8
(d)15/64
12.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

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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