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.A parcel of flour has a mass of 750 g. A sack of flour has a mass of 4 kg. Write the mass of the parcel as a fraction of the mass of the sack. Give your answer in its simplest form.
- 2.Work out the equation of the straight line through the points (−3, 4) and (1, −8).
- 3.A sector of a circle has radius 9 cm and angle 40°. Work out the area of the sector, in terms of π.
- 4.A company's profit is £500 in its first year. Each year after that, the profit is £300 more than the year before. Work out the profit in the company's 6th year.
- 5.A garden shed is shaped like a triangular prism: two identical vertical triangular end walls (the gable ends), joined by a sloping rectangular roof and a vertical rectangular back wall. Looking at the shed from directly above (the plan view), what shape is seen?
- 6.A straight line has equation y = 2x − 7. Write down the coordinates of the point where the line crosses the y-axis.y = 2x − 7
- 7.A crowd of 8,400 people is recorded correct to the nearest 100. Work out the smallest possible number of people in the crowd.
- 8.A sector of a circle has radius 8 cm and takes up three-quarters of the full circle. Work out the perimeter of the sector, in terms of π.
- 9.The price of a cycling helmet rises from £80 to £116. Work out the percentage increase.
- 10.The universal set is {1, 2, 3, ..., 30}. Set A is the set of multiples of 4 between 1 and 30. Work out n(A′), the number of elements not in A.
- 11.Factorise fully 5x + 5y − 5
- 12.Which of these is an equation, rather than an expression, a formula or an identity?
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.
Similar worksheets worth a look
- ✏️ Paper 1 non-calculator warm-up — Foundation · 20 questions · ~25 min
- 🧮 Paper 1 non-calculator warm-up — Higher · 20 questions · ~25 min
- 🎯 Grade 4 pass booster · 25 questions · ~40 min
- ⚖️ Foundation to Higher crossover check · 20 questions · ~35 min