Proportion | Edexcel GCSE Foundation | 40 Worked Examples

40 fully worked, exam-style questions on proportion, written for Edexcel GCSE Foundation Tier Maths (1MA1). Every single question has a complete step-by-step worked solution, mark-scheme style annotations (M1, A1, B1, P1, C1) at every stage, and a clearly stated final answer, so students can mark their own work and see exactly where each mark is won or lost.

This pack is built for Foundation students who want confidence, not jargon. It teaches the unitary method (find the value of one, then scale up) as the reliable backbone for direct proportion, and the total-work method (worker-hours, machine-hours, pipe-minutes) for inverse proportion, so students stop guessing whether to multiply or divide. It leans on the real-world worded problems that Edexcel loves: money, recipes, fuel, exchange rates and best-buy comparisons.

The pack builds gently from the basics up to genuine exam-standard problem solving, covering: the unitary method, direct proportion, scaling recipes and quantities, unit pricing and best value for money, currency conversion (both directions), rates such as speed and price per litre, inverse proportion (workers and time, machines, taps and pumps), limiting-ingredient recipe problems, multi-step exchange with a spend in the middle, and interpreting a direct proportion relationship.

What’s inside:
Easy: the unitary method for cost, weight and quantity, simple recipe scaling, fuel and coverage rates, and straightforward pounds-to-euros or pounds-to-dollars conversion.
Standard: best-value comparisons with a stated conclusion, reverse currency conversion, steady-speed distance, price-per-litre rates, and the first inverse proportion questions (workers, machines, taps and pumps) taught through the fixed total of work.
Challenging: limiting-ingredient recipes, two-step currency exchange with a spend in between, a two-stage inverse proportion job where workers leave partway through, three-way best-buy with a unit conversion, a multi-step miles-per-gallon petrol-cost problem, a direct proportion relationship, and inverse proportion in both directions, with extra worked explanation of the classic exam traps (why inverse proportion is not scaled like direct proportion, and why you divide rather than multiply when converting a foreign currency back into pounds).

Note on scope: this Foundation pack teaches direct and inverse proportion through the unitary and total-work methods and interprets a proportional relationship. The formal algebraic constant-of-proportionality work (setting up y = kx or y = k/x and finding k) is Higher tier only and is covered in the separate Higher proportion pack.

Ideal for Year 10 and Year 11 students sitting Edexcel GCSE Foundation Tier Maths (1MA1), plus tutors and teachers who want ready-made, self-marking homework or revision material on proportion.