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5cm
GCSE Higher Maths
Practice Paper 3
(Calculator)
Edexcel Specification
Time: 1 hour 30 minutes (80 Marks)

Name 

Class Date 
 GCSE Higher Maths Practice Paper 3 (Calculator) Edexcel Specification

1. On the grid below, draw the graph of x + y = 7 for -4 ≤ x ≤ 4.

[3]

2. On average, a baby is born in the UK every 75 seconds.

Find the average number of babies born in the UK in 24 hours. You must show all your working.


[2]

3. Akande, Bingwen and Charles share £117.

Charles gets 4 times the amount Akande does, whilst Bingwen gets double the amount Charles does.

How much money does Akande get?

£ 

[3]

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 GCSE Higher Maths Practice Paper 3 (Calculator) Edexcel Specification

4. The diagram shows a scale drawing of a garden.

Rosemary wants to plant flowers within 7m of the tree. The flowers must also be closer to the fence
than the wall of the house.

Shade the region where the flowers can be planted.

tree Scale: 1cm = 2m

fence

[3]
wall of house

5. Sarah is making some cupcakes using the recipe below:

Calculate the greatest number of cupcakes Sarah can make using the ingredients she currently has.

Ingredients for 16 cupcakes: She has:

240g flour 4kg flour

140g butter 3.5kg butter

150g sugar 3kg sugar

4 eggs 36 eggs



[4]

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 GCSE Higher Maths Practice Paper 3 (Calculator) Edexcel Specification

6. a. A runner can sprint 100 metres in 12.5 seconds. Calculate the average speed of the runner in m/s.

 m/s
[1]

b. Calculate their speed in km/h.

 km/h
[2]

7. In a company, the ratio of the number of employees who work full time to the number who work part
time is 8:5.

40% of the full-timers are under 30.

3 of the part-timers are under 30.
8
What proportion of the company’s employees are under 30?

[3]

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 GCSE Higher Maths Practice Paper 3 (Calculator) Edexcel Specification
8. Elise needs to buy some bottles of sparkling water for a dinner party. She needs 20 bottles. All
individual bottles of sparkling water have the same recommended retail price but Elise visits three
different shops:

Shop A has a special offer of buy two get one free;

Shop B has a special offer of buy one get the second half price;
Shop C is selling each bottle at 65% of its RRP.

Elise can buy the bottles from more than one shop. How should she buy the 20 bottles, so that she
spends as little money as possible?

Show your working.

[4]

9. The tree diagram shows the probability Jacques will pass two college tests.

Test One Test Two

pass
0.8
pass
0.7
 fail

pass


fail

0.4
fail

a. Complete the tree diagram.  [2]

b. Calculate the probability Jacques fails at least one test.

[3]

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 GCSE Higher Maths Practice Paper 3 (Calculator) Edexcel Specification

10. The vectors a and b are given by:

a = ( 47 ) and b = (-2
3)

Work out 3a − b

[2]

11. Here are the first five terms of the sequence of triangular numbers.

1 3 6 10 15

a. Find the 8th term of this sequence.

[1]

b. The nth term of this sequence is given by 1n(n + 1). Show that the 18th term of the sequence is 171.
2


[1]

12. Line L is drawn on the grid below.

Find an equation for the line L, giving your answer in the form y = mx + c.
y

10

x
-5 0 5


-5
[2]

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 GCSE Higher Maths Practice Paper 3 (Calculator) Edexcel Specification

13. A cylinder has a diameter of 40cm and height of 75cm. Calculate the volume of the cylinder, giving
your answer in m³. Give your answer correct to 2 significant figures.

 m³

[3]

14. Shape ABCD is a rectangle.

Shape EFG is a triangle.

The two shapes have the same perimeter.

Find the area of the triangle. All measurements are in cm.

4x − 1 E
C D
Diagram not drawn to scale
x 2x + 3

A B
F G
3x + 1

 cm²

[6]

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 GCSE Higher Maths Practice Paper 3 (Calculator) Edexcel Specification

15. There are 13 boys and 19 girls in a class. The teacher decides to give a house point to two of the girls
and two of the boys during a lesson. How many ways are there for the teacher to select two boys and
two girls from this class?

[2]

16.
y
5

2
A
1

x
-5 -4 -3 -2 -1 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

-1

-2

-3

-4

-5

Enlarge triangle A by a scale factor of -2, centre (2, 1).  [3]

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 GCSE Higher Maths Practice Paper 3 (Calculator) Edexcel Specification

17. A field is in the shape of a rectangle.

The length of the field is 210m, to the nearest metre.

The width of the field is 95m, to the nearest 5 metres.

A farmer wants to cover the field with seed.

A bag of seed will cover 4m² correct to the nearest square metre.

Calculate the minimum number of bags the farmer should buy to ensure the he has enough seed to
cover his field.

 bags

[3]

18. Ship A is on a bearing of 280° from a lighthouse at a distance of 7km.

Ship B is on a bearing of 075° from the lighthouse at a distance of 8.5km.

Find the distance between the two ships, giving your answer correct to 3 significant figures.

 km

[3]

19. Find the values a and b such that

x² − 10x + 3 ≡ (x + a)² + b

a = 

b = 

[2]

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 GCSE Higher Maths Practice Paper 3 (Calculator) Edexcel Specification

20. The shape shown is a pattern for a piece of jewellery.

Sector OAB has a radius 5cm and angle AOB is 72°. A chord connects A and B.

Calculate the area of the shaded region, giving your answer correct to 1 decimal place.

A B Diagram not drawn to scale

5cm
72°

 cm²

[3]

21. A frustum is made by removing a small cone from a large cone as shown.

The height of the frustum is 18cm.

4cm The radius of the small cone is 4cm.

The radius of the large cone is 16cm.

18cm

16cm

Work out the volume of the frustum, giving your answer correct to 3 significant figures.

 cm³

[4]

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 GCSE Higher Maths Practice Paper 3 (Calculator) Edexcel Specification

22. Show that

1
÷
1
can be written as
ax + b where a, b, c and d are integers.
12x2 − 17x − 5 9x2 − 25 cx + d

[3]

23. The Venn diagram shows some information about the number of visitors to a museum.

ε = 60 visitors
A = visitors over the age of 30

B = tourists

ε
A B

x + 17 2x −1 x(x + 5)

2x + 5

A visitor is chosen at random.

Given that they are a tourist, find the probability that they are over the age of 30.

[4]

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 GCSE Higher Maths Practice Paper 3 (Calculator) Edexcel Specification

24. A curve has equation y = f (x)

The turning point of this graph lies at (7, -2)

Write down the turning point of the curve with equation:

a. y = f (x − 3)

 ( , ) [1]

b. y = f (-x)

 ( , ) [1]

1
25. x is directly proportional to y2. w is inversely proportional to y.

When x = 12, y = 9.

When w = 8, y = 7.

Express w in terms of x.


[6]

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