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 triangle ABC the angle at C is 90°, AC = 8 cm and the angle at A is 30°. Work out the length of BC. Give your answer to 1 decimal place.
(a)13.9 cm
(b)4.0 cm
(c)6.9 cm
(d)4.6 cm
2.In Manchester the probability of rain on any day in November is taken to be 0.3, and whether it rains on one day is independent of whether it rains on the next. Work out the probability that it rains on both the 10th and the 11th of November.
(a)0.09
(b)0.6
(c)0.9
(d)0.3
3.A coach travels the 54 miles from London to Brighton in 1 hour 30 minutes. Work out the average speed of the coach, in mph.
(a)1.8 mph
(b)41.54 mph
(c)81 mph
(d)36 mph
4.A chord divides a circle into two regions, one larger than the other. Write down the term used for the smaller of these two regions.
(a)major segment
(b)arc
(c)minor segment
(d)sector
5.Solve 2x + 1 = 9
(a)x = 8
(b)x = 16
(c)x = 4
(d)x = 5
6.A two-way table records whether each of 50 pupils in Year 10 or Year 11 at a school walks to school or is driven. 28 of the 50 pupils are in Year 10. In total, 22 of the 50 pupils walk to school. Of the Year 10 pupils, 15 walk to school. Work out how many Year 11 pupils are driven to school.
(a)15
(b)7
(c)28
(d)35
7.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
8.A survey team measures the angle between two fences with a protractor and gets a reading of 254°. What type of angle is this?
(a)Right
(b)Acute
(c)Reflex
(d)Obtuse
9.Last year a company made a profit of £5,200,000. Write this amount in standard form.
(a)5.2 × 10⁵
(b)5.2 × 10⁶
(c)52 × 10⁵
(d)5.2 × 10⁻⁶
10.A charity trek covers 830 miles over roughly 19 days. By rounding each number to 1 significant figure, work out an estimate for the number of miles walked per day.
(a)4 miles
(b)830 miles
(c)41.5 miles
(d)40 miles
11.The angle between north and a cycle path is 40°, but it is measured anticlockwise from north. What is the three-figure bearing of the cycle path?
(a)040°
(b)320°
(c)400°
(d)220°
12.The length of a pencil is 8.4 cm, correct to 1 decimal place. Using L for the length of the pencil in centimetres, write down the error interval for L.
(a)8.35 ≤ L < 8.45
(b)8.4 ≤ L < 8.5
(c)8.3 ≤ L < 8.5
(d)8.35 < L ≤ 8.45

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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