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.Given that (x − 4)(x + 9) = 0, write down the two solutions of x.
(a)x = −4 or x = 9
(b)x = 4 or x = 9
(c)x = −4 or x = −9
(d)x = 4 or x = −9
2.A cheese counter sells cheddar at £8.40 per kilogram. Work out the cost of a 350 g piece of cheddar.
(a)£24.00
(b)£2.94
(c)£29.40
(d)£2940.00
3.A ball's height, h metres, t seconds after being thrown follows h = (t − 1)(9 − t). Given that the ball is at ground level at t = 1 and t = 9, work out at what time t the ball reaches its maximum height, using symmetry.
(a)t = 4
(b)t = 8
(c)t = 10
(d)t = 5
4.u is the column vector with top number 5 and bottom number 1. v is the column vector with top number 2 and bottom number 4. Work out u − v, giving your answer as a column vector in the form (top, bottom).
(a)(−3, 3)
(b)(3, −3)
(c)(3, 3)
(d)(7, 5)
5.A company charges for hiring chairs for a day. Hiring 1 chair costs £12, hiring 2 chairs costs £19, hiring 3 chairs costs £26, and hiring 4 chairs costs £33. Work out an expression, in terms of n, for the cost in pounds of hiring n chairs for a day.
(a)7n
(b)12n + 7
(c)7n + 12
(d)7n + 5
6.Work out the coordinates of the point halfway between (−9, −2) and (−1, −2).
(a)(−10, −2)
(b)(−5, −2)
(c)(−4, −2)
(d)(5, −2)
7.At a fun run, a raffle stall charges £1.50 per ticket. The probability that any one ticket wins a prize worth £8 is 0.12, and a losing ticket wins nothing. Nadia buys 25 tickets. Work out how much money Nadia should expect to lose in total.
(a)£24.00
(b)£13.50
(c)£37.50
(d)£34.50
8.Square P has sides of length 3 cm. Square Q has sides of length 12 cm. Write the ratio of the area of square P to the area of square Q in its simplest form.
(a)1 : 64
(b)16 : 1
(c)1 : 16
(d)1 : 4
9.In a school choir the ratio of boys to girls is 3:4. When 6 more boys join the choir, the ratio of boys to girls becomes 1:1. Work out how many girls are in the choir.
(a)18
(b)24
(c)42
(d)30
10.A mortar mix is made from sand and cement in the ratio 5 : 3. Write the ratio of sand to the total mix in its simplest form.
(a)8:5
(b)5:8
(c)3:8
(d)5:3
11.A window cleaner charges a call-out fee plus an amount per window. The total charge, C pounds, is shown on a straight-line graph against the number of windows cleaned, w. The line passes through the points (2, 14) and (6, 26). Work out the gradient of the line.
(a)£3.00 per window
(b)£1.50 per window
(c)£2.00 per window
(d)£0.33 per window
12.A tank contains 120 litres of water. Water is drained out at a rate of 8 litres per minute for 6 minutes, and then a hose adds 15 litres. Work out how much water is left in the tank.
(a)121 litres
(b)57 litres
(c)87 litres
(d)72 litres

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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