One of the main issues with my foundation GCSE maths group is that although they are keen to prepare for their exams, they don’t know which areas to work on and the specific names of topics. Here are 7 foundation maths D.I.R.T. worksheets with answers that have worked brilliantly for my class. Each worksheet could be used as a good length starter or as a main part of lesson. They cover a variety of topics on each worksheet and once the students have completed the worksheet, and the answers checked, they fill in a table on the front of the worksheet using a RAG analysis to identify which topics they need to work on. Answers are provided on a powerpoint to show to the class.

A powerpoint, with answers, of differentiated problem solving - what is half way between .... and .... Includes fractions and decimals and negatives. Extension - this number is halfway between this number and which other... A really good problem solving starter or could be used as main part of lesson.

Students have to cut out the first set of 12 cards - 8 of the cards match up (1 question with 1 correct answer) and the 4 remaining cards spell an animal which the students have to spot. Then repeat for set 2, then 3 then 4. Answers and an explanation powerpoint included.

Work out the area of the sheep, crocodile, flamingo, snake, jellyfish and fish. They are made of rectangles, squares, parallelograms, triangles and trapezia. There is scaffolding under each picture to help students work out the total area. The worksheet is in both PDF and Microsoft Publisher formats.

Work out the volume of the three robots (one fairly easy, one medium, one quite tricky). The robots are made of cubes, cuboids and cylinders. The students will need to know that the volume of a cylinder can be calculated as the area of the cross-section multiplied by the length/height. This worked really well with both my KS3 and KS4 classes and is a fun way to practice finding volumes of compound solids. The last robot has some tricky metric conversions of length and area also. Tables are provided for each robot to scaffold the calculation of the total volume, and answers are provided. Worksheet provided in both PDF and Publisher versions.

A simple worksheet for a bottom set that I teach - a quick recap of definitions, then two examples which we fill in together as a class, then one practice question. Good for breaking up the lesson into manageable chunks on this topic that can often be problematic!

Note the letters of the “true” boxes - this gives the anagram of “apricot”. A nice recap to start a lesson off!

There are three slides of 5 questions, students have to work out the answer then put in order. It covers loads of topics, such as numbers of sides on polygons, types of number, speed, days in months and lots of other stuff!