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.In a board game Mia moves forward by the total of two ordinary fair dice. Work out the probability that her total is 7. Give your answer as a fraction in its simplest form.
- 2.The exchange rate is £1 = 1.28 US dollars. Convert £350 into US dollars.
- 3.A straight-line graph passes through the origin and the point (4, 10). The line represents y = kx. Write down the ratio x : y in its simplest form.
- 4.Water flows into a tank at a constant rate. After 8 minutes the tank holds 200 litres. Write the ratio of time in minutes to volume in litres, in its simplest form.
- 5.Simplify x⁶ ÷ x²
- 6.A quadratic graph has equation y = (x − 4)². A student says this graph crosses the x-axis at two different points. Explain why the student is wrong.
- 7.Two numbers are in the ratio 5 : 8. The larger number is 40. Work out the smaller number.
- 8.A is the point (1, 3) and B is the point (7, 3). Work out the coordinates of the midpoint of AB.
- 9.A box holds 140 pens. 25% of the pens are red. Work out how many of the pens are red.
- 10.The graph of P = 480 ÷ V shows how the pressure, P pascals, of a gas depends on its volume, V cm³, at constant temperature. Use the relationship to work out the volume when the pressure is 32 pascals, and then work out by how much the volume increases when the pressure drops to 24 pascals.
- 11.A shop assistant says that 7.2 × 3.9 = 56.16. Work out an estimate for 7.2 × 3.9, by rounding each number to the nearest whole number, to show that the assistant’s answer cannot be correct.
- 12.At a gym, 45 members are surveyed. 24 use the running machines, 20 use the weights machines, and 9 use both. Work out how many of the 45 members use neither machine.
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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