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.The rainfall, in millimetres, was recorded in Cambridge on six days: 12, 5, 9, 15, 3 and 11. Work out the range of the rainfall.
- 2.A photocopier enlarges a document so that every length is multiplied by the same scale factor. A line on the original document is 3.2 cm long, and the same line measures 11.2 cm on the enlarged copy. A second line on the original document is 2.5 cm long. Work out the length of the second line on the enlarged copy, giving your answer to 2 decimal places.
- 3.Solve the simultaneous equations 3x + y = 14 and x + y = 6. Work out the value of x.
- 4.A polygon has 12 straight sides. What is the mathematical name for this polygon?
- 5.Josh buys 7 pencils at 85p each. He pays with a £10 note. Work out his change.
- 6.A rectangular plywood panel measures 2.4 m by 0.75 m. Work out the area of the panel in square metres, giving your answer as a fraction in its simplest form.
- 7.A cylinder has a volume of 942 cm³ and a height of 12 cm. Using π = 3.14, work out the radius of the cylinder.
- 8.Ffion is paid £11.20 per hour. She works 6 hours on Monday and 4.5 hours on Tuesday. Work out her total pay for the two days.
- 9.Two mathematically similar jugs have heights 8 cm and 12 cm. The smaller jug holds 200 ml when it is full. Work out how much the larger jug holds when it is full.
- 10.A bottle contains 1.5 litres of juice. Given that 1 litre = 1000 ml, work out the capacity of the bottle in millilitres.
- 11.The first five cube numbers are 1, 8, 27, 64, 125. Write down the next cube number in the sequence.
- 12.A number machine multiplies its input by 3 and then adds 7. The output is 1. Work out the input.
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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