Year 10 Mock Topics 1-8 Test Name:

Q1.

Tom and Amy set the alarms on their phones to sound at 6.45 am.

Both alarms sound together at 6.45 am.

Tom's alarm then sounds every 9 minutes.
Amy's alarm then sounds every 12 minutes.

At what time will both alarms next sound together?

...........................................................

(Total for question = 3 marks)

Q2.

Express 180 as a product of its prime factors.

...........................................................

(Total for Question is 3 marks)

Q3.
(a) Express 180 as a product of its prime factors.

...........................................................
(3)

Martin thinks of two numbers.

He says,
"The Highest Common Factor (HCF) of my two numbers is 6
The Lowest Common Multiple (LCM) of my two numbers is a multiple of 15"
(b) Write down two possible numbers that Martin is thinking of.

.......................... , ..........................
(2)
(Total for Question is 5 marks)
Q4.

(a) Work out +8 − 6

.........................
(1)
(b) Work out −5 − 4

.........................
(1)
(c) Work out −12 ÷ +4

.........................
(1)

(Total for Question is 3 marks)

Q5.

(a) Simplify 3y + 2x – 4 + 5x + 7

..............................................................................................................................................
(1)
(b) Factorise 2x2 – 4x

..............................................................................................................................................
(2)
(c) Expand and simplify 11 – 3(x + 2)

..............................................................................................................................................
(2)
(d) Expand and simplify (x – 6)(3x + 7)

..............................................................................................................................................
(2)
(Total for Question is 7 marks)
Q6.

(a) Simplify 2a + 4b + 3a – b

..............................................................................................................................................
(2)
(b) Expand 5(m + 2)

..............................................................................................................................................
(1)
(c) Simplify a5 × a4

..............................................................................................................................................
(1)
(Total for Question is 4 marks)

Q7.

(a) Expand 2m(m + 3)

...........................................................
(1)
(b) Factorise fully 3xy2 − 6xy

...........................................................
(2)

(Total for Question is 3 marks)

Q8.

(a) Expand and simplify 3(x + 4) + 2(5x− 1)

..............................................................................................................................................
(2)
(b) Expand and simplify (2x + 1)(x − 4)

..............................................................................................................................................
(2)
(c) Factorise completely 6y2 − 9xy

..............................................................................................................................................
(2)
(Total for Question is 6 marks)

Q9.
(a) Expand and simplify 3(y − 2) + 2(y + 5)

...........................................................
(2)

(b) Simplify

...........................................................
(1)

(c) Factorise 5x + 20

..........................................................
(1)
(Total for question = 4 marks)
Q10.

(a) Make t the subject of the formula

2(a + t) = 5t + 7

t=......................
(3)
(b) Solve the simultaneous equations
3x – 4y = 8
9x + 5y = –1.5

x=......................

y=......................
(3)
(Total for Question is 6 marks)
Q11.

Gemma has the same number of sweets as Betty.

Gemma gives 24 of her sweets to Betty.

Betty now has 5 times as many sweets as Gemma.

Work out the total number of sweets that Gemma and Betty have.

...........................................................

(Total for question = 4 marks)

Q12.

ABC is a triangle.

Angle ABC = angle BCA.

The length of side AB is (3x − 5) cm.

The length of side AC is (19 − x) cm.

The length of side BC is 2x cm.

Work out the perimeter of the triangle.

Give your answer as a number of centimetres.

........................................................... cm

(Total for Question is 5 marks)

Q13.

(a) Write down the reciprocal of 5

...........................................................
(1)

(b) Evaluate 3−2

...........................................................
(1)

(c) Calculate 9×104×3×103

Give your answer in standard form.

...........................................................
(2)

(Total for Question is 4 marks)

Q14.

(a) Write down the value of 271⁄3

..............................................................................................................................................
(1)
-½
(b) Find the value of 25

..............................................................................................................................................
(2)
(Total for Question is 3 marks)
Examiner's Report
Q1.

Most students approached this question by adding 9 minutes many times to 6.45 and then 12 minutes on
to 6.45. There were many arithmetic errors found when using this approach. Those that were able to do
this accurately tended to get the correct answer of 7.21 am. Very few students approached this by trying
to find the LCM of 9 and 12.

Q2.

There were many blank responses to this question. Many had little idea of what was required and simply
wrote down some factor pairs for 180. It was rare to see continual prime factorisation used and when it
was, it was invariably incomplete. The most common and generally successful method seen was the
factor tree method with many gaining 2 marks if it was fully correct or 1 mark for a partially correct factor
tree. Only a few were able to use the factor tree to write the answer as the product of the factors. It was
more usual to see a list of numbers or 15 (the sum of the prime factors).

Q3.

Part (a) was done quite well. Many students were able to write 180 as a product of prime factors- the use
of factor trees being by far the most popular approach. Here, as elsewhere, basic arithmetic was an issue
for some students, eg 180 written as 2 × 60 or as 8 × 20. A common incorrect answer was to write the
prime factors as a list of prime factors rather than as a product of prime factors.

Part (b) was not done so well, though many students were able to get 1 mark for writing two numbers with
one of the two required properties, ie as having an HCF of 6 or as having a LCM a multiple of 15. Popular
incorrect answers, scoring 1 mark, were 30, 60 and 3, 5.

Q4.

Addition of directed numbers caused relatively few problems in part (a) but when subtracting in part (b)
some did give 9 as an answer to – 5 – 4 presumably from a misconception along the lines of "2 negatives
make a positive".

In part (c) an answer of 3 was the most common error with the negative sign being completely ignored. In
other cases, the division symbol was read as subtraction leading to an answer of – 8

Q5.

Approximately two thirds of candidates gave the correct answer to part (a) of this question. Where a
candidate's response was not correct, this was usually due to the presence of "− 3" or "− 3x". In part (b)
almost 70% of candidates were able to identify at least one factor of 2x² − 4x. However many attempts
showed only partial factorisation or a lack of care and less than a half of candidates scored full marks.

Candidates are reminded that their answers may be checked by multiplying out the brackets. Fully
correct answers to part (c) of this question were quite rare. 14% of candidates scored 2 marks here with a
further 4% of candidates scoring 1 mark for a correct expansion of − 3(x + 2) followed by an incorrect final
answer. It is disappointing to report that many candidates did not appreciate the need to expand the
brackets first. Many answers of "8x + 16" were seen.

Many candidates expanded the expression in the same way as they would for a quadratic expression,
writing down 4 terms from an expansion of (11 − 3)(x + 2) before collecting like terms. Those who did
attempt to expand − 3(x + 2) first, often gave "− 3x + 6" as their expansion. Expansion of the quadratic
expression in part (d) was done more successfully, though there were many errors in signs and in
evaluating 6 multiplied by 7. Some candidates tried to combine terms in "x" with terms in "x2". About two
fifths of candidates scored 2 marks for this part of the question and a further one quarter of candidates
scored 1 mark for a partially correct expansion.

Q6.

Part (a) was well attempted by almost all candidates; however, more candidates made errors in this part
than in parts (b) and (c). The most common repeated error was 5a – 3b. It was rare to see candidates
incorrectly simplify answers to 8ab and similar, though various other incorrect simplifications were seen
such as 9a – b. Part (b) was well attempted and it was rare to see incorrect responses. The only repeated
errors were to add 5 and 2 leading to 5m + 7 and failing to multiply both terms leading to 5m + 2.

Part (c) was well attempted and it was rare to see incorrect responses. The only repeated errors were a20
and less common a1.

Q7.

In part (a) too many candidates could not carry out this simple expansion correctly. There were many
responses of the form 2m2 + 6 or worse.

Part (b) also proved to be a challenge for many candidates. A few candidates could carry out a correct
partial factorisation. A common error was 3xy(xy − 2), presumably displaying a misunderstanding of the
interpretation of x2y2 as against xy2. There were, of course, many candidates who gained both marks.

Q8.

Success in all three parts of this question was very variable.

The most common error in part (a) was to fail to expand both brackets correctly. Of those who did expand
correctly many seemed unable to simplify, with 12 and −2 being combined incorrectly to give −10.

In part (b), candidates who knew how to find the product of two linear expressions frequently made
arithmetic errors when simplifying, with −8x + x often being simplified to 9x or −9x rather than the correct
−7x. Another common error was to give −3 as the product of 1 and −4, adding rather than multiplying the
numbers.

In part (c), some candidates failed to factorise fully but did gain 1 mark for a correct partially factorised
answer. A significant proportion of incorrect answers occurred when candidates tried to factorise into two
brackets.

Q9.
Candidates were able to score highly on all parts of this question. In part (a) most candidates were able to
expand the brackets correctly, but some went on to simplify incorrectly. In part (b) a few candidates were
not able to apply the correct index law. Part (c) was almost always correctly answered.

Q10.

Most students showed they were able to expand the brackets correctly. Many also demonstrated that they
could rearrange terms, either by rearranging a t term, or by dividing through by a numerical value. Some
struggled with sign changes. The final mark was frequently lost when the candidate could not resolve all
terms correctly. The final expression did not have to be fully simplified, but candidates did have to write an
expression that was algebraically equivalent with the correct answer.

In part (b) clear working out was essential. It was encouraging to see many detailed attempts. Trial and
improvement approaches rarely resulted in correct solutions. Substitution methods were equally
unsuccessful. Most errors were due to arithmetic mistakes or error in handling negative signs. Most
candidates were able to manipulate the equations but processing them was much harder.

Q11.

This question proved to be beyond most students. Some did attempt an algebraic approach but this was
not generally successful as they could not cast the problem into the form of finding the solution of an
algebraic equation. This was usually because they had no clear idea of what their "x" stood for and how
this could be used to express the final amounts Gemma and Betty had and so get a valid equation. For
those attempting an algebraic method, x − 24 = 5x was the most common approach, leading to x = 6 (sic).

A few students used a trial and improvement approach – if they found the correct final amounts for the
two girls and clearly stated this they were awarded three marks and if they went to state the total, all four
marks

Q12.

Many candidates were unable to make any meaningful progress because they failed to spot that the
triangle was isosceles and consequently this question was answered very poorly. Candidates who did
recognise that AB = AC usually wrote the equation 3x − 5 = 19 − x. Isolating the x terms and the non-x
terms in this equation proved a challenge for many with 2x = 14 being quite a common error. Those who
solved the equation correctly almost always went on to work out the perimeter as 38 cm. There were a
number of trial and error attempts to find the value of x. The majority of candidates worked out the
perimeter as an algebraic expression which was usually simplified to 4x + 14. This was often turned into
the equation 4x = 14 (or 4x = −14) and solved to give x = 3.5 (or x = −3.5). Many candidates scored just
one mark for this question for substituting their value of x into either 4x + 14 or into the three expressions
and adding to find the perimeter.

Q13.

In part (a) many candidates did not know the meaning of the word 'reciprocal'. A variety of incorrect
answers were seen with the most common being 25.
Part (b) was poorly answered. The most common incorrect answers were −9 and 0.03. Some candidates

with the right idea failed to evaluate 3−2 and gave the answer as

In part (c) Many candidates were able to gain one mark for evaluating 9×104 × 3 × 103 as 270 000 000 or
as 27 × 107. The difficulty for many was changing their answer to standard form. Many thought 27 × 107
was in standard form and failed to do the final step. Candidates who first converted the numbers in the
question to ordinary numbers often ended up with too many or too few zeros. Some evaluated 9×3
incorrectly.

Q14.

One third of candidates knew that raising a number to power 1 ⁄3 is equivalent to taking the cube root
and so successfully evaluated 271⁄3 in part (a) of this question.
Part (b) discriminated well between those candidates who understood negative indices, those who
understood fractional indices and those who could combine both concepts. Over 40% of candidates made
some progress in finding the value of 25−½ with just over 25% of candidates completing the question
successfully. Most of the candidates who presented a partially correct solution were able to evaluate 25½.
Fewer candidates were able to interpret a negative index as a reciprocal. Commonly seen incorrect
answers include 5, − 5, − 12.5 and 12.5 .

Mark Scheme
Q1.
Q2.

Q3.

Q4.
Q5.

Q6.

Q7.
Q8.

Q9.
Q10.

Q11.
Q12.

Q13.

Q14.