I use these as a break from the "past paper drudgery" in the run up to exams. The questions are taken from past papers (amended in some cases). The idea is to answer each question fully then scan the QR code linked to the correct answer to form a code. Each QR code (correct or incorrect to avoid "cheating") scans to a song or artist that contains a number or colour, so this generates the code.

Read the box plots carefully and discover the punchline to a cheesy gag… Errors corrected…

Clive has a homework on function notation involving domains, ranges, inverses and composite functions. He has, as per usual, made errors that your class can find, correct and explain so that Clive learns from his mistakes. These are designed to create discussion in class and this one could be used as a transitional activity between GCSE/IGCSE and A level.

This is a presentation involving six real recipes (linked on each slide) and their ingredients which students have to work with to make the number of each required. This is designed to create a bit of discussion and the questions get more challenging as you work through them.

Erica is having trouble with her homework (as she usually does) and requires help from your classes to correct her answers and explain the errors she’s made. This encourages discussion in class…

Designed for the AQA Further Maths Level 2 Certificate course, answer the questions, reveal the joke. This is essentially multiplying matrices.

Five questions of increasing difficulty on this topic; there are ten potential answers to prevent students guessing but allows students to get on in the knowledge that their answer should be one of the options whilst the teacher can help those who need it.

Two true or false activities: one on Venn diagrams including probability and one on shading regions of Venn diagrams with both using set notation. Students decide and discuss whether the answers given are true or false. These have worked successfully in real-life and online lessons for me.

I say polynomials but actually I could only really use cubics, but there you go. Answer the questions (given one real root) and reveal the hilarious joke… I actually quite like this one (so did my form group).

Integrate the expressions, reveal the punchline… This includes “reverse chain rule”, one integration by parts and where the differential of the denominator is the numerator. A useful starter?

Using the "If you like a lot of chocolate on your biscuit, join our club" advert from the 1980s, some maths questions based loosely on it. Designed as a bit of fun and to practise functional maths.

Calculate the answers; if even colour in the question number in the grid, if not leave it blank. It scans to the Depeche Mode song "Policy of Truth" linking in that we have "lies, damn lies and statistics".

Five questions each on finding a side and finding an angle using the Sine Rule, with gaps to fill in, working forwards and backwards. This was designed as an introduction to the Sine Rule but use it (if you do at all) however you like…

This takes students through factorising quadratics, solving them and onto completing the square, including solving quadratics that won't factorise nicely. Designed as starters/plenaries/assess the learning activities.

I needed something for deriving formulae and came up with this. There are some that take students through the process by the hand and then four at the end that ask students to go solo (as it were).

Use one calculation and place value to answer the other questions; these sheets contain 10 answers for 8 questions so that guesses are avoided but students know that if their answers are in the table then they are likely to be heading in the right direction.

Use place value to find how many times larger one digit is from another and then find the difference between them. This idea was floated on Twitter by Dave Taylor (@taylora01) and full credit goes to him for the idea and I hope this does it some justice.

I am going to be teaching Year 7 some surface area of cuboids and cubes but only had one of these involving prisms which might be a step too far at this point. This was what I came up with. The answers are on the sheet (although there are more answers than questions to avoid default answers at the end) which gives students the confidence to keep going if they are getting questions correct allowing the teacher to help those who really need it.

Eight questions with ten possible answers. These allow the students who understand the topic to move on with the confidence of seeing their answers on the sheet (screen for online lessons) whilst the teacher can help those who need it.

Indefinite integrals using the skills learned in Year 1 of the Edexcel A Level course that reveal a lame joke. These are a nice break from ploughing through a text book!