The Year 4 multiplication tables check explained

What it is

Multiplication tables check

A short check of how well your child remembers their times tables, often called the MTC. State-funded schools in England must give it to their Year 4 children.

Times table fact

One multiplication from a times table, such as 7 × 8 = 56.

Fluent recall

Knowing a fact straight away, from memory, rather than working it out by counting up. This is what the check looks for.

The check is about one thing only: whether your child can remember times table facts quickly. It doesn't test problem solving or written methods. Those are part of your child's other maths work and assessments at school.

Your child answers 3 practice questions first, then the 25 questions that count. Every question is set out the same way, for example 7 × 8 =. Your child has up to 6 seconds to answer each one, and there is a 3-second pause before the next one appears.

On average, the whole check takes no longer than 5 minutes. Children answer on a computer or tablet, using the keyboard or an on-screen number pad. When the 6 seconds run out, whatever is on the screen counts as your child's answer.

• Questions come from the 2 to 12 times tables. The 1 times table isn't in the check itself, though it can appear in the practice questions.
• There are more questions from the 6, 7, 8, 9 and 12 times tables, because these are the trickiest ones.
• Each child is given one of several versions of the check at random. The versions are all of the same difficulty.
• Anything that would help to work out the answers, such as a calculator or a times table poster on the wall, is taken out of the room.

How it's taught at school

Times tables are built up over several years. The national curriculum for England sets out which tables come when:

• Year 1: counting in 2s, 5s and 10s. The curriculum's guidance links this to arrays, which are objects set out in equal rows.
• Year 2: the 2, 5 and 10 times tables, and the division facts that go with them.
• Year 3: the 3, 4 and 8 times tables, and their division facts.
• Year 4: every table up to 12 × 12. By the end of Year 4, children should have memorised them all.

Children are also taught to use facts they already know to find new ones. In Year 3, the curriculum's guidance connects the 2, 4 and 8 times tables by doubling. Double a 2 times table fact to get the 4 times table, and double again to get the 8 times table.

2 × 7 = 14
4 × 7 = 28
8 × 7 = 56

Children learn about commutativity from Year 2. That's a long word for a simple idea: you can multiply two numbers in either order and get the same answer. By Year 4 it's a handy shortcut, because learning one fact gives your child two.

6 × 8 = 48
8 × 6 = 48

From April, schools can use a practice version of the check called the try it out area, so children know what the screen looks like before June. Children can use it as many times as they need, and it doesn't give them a score.

Common mistakes (and how to help)

Counting up from the start of the table every time

Counting up gets the right answer, but it's too slow for 6 seconds. Praise the correct answer, then practise that one fact until it comes straight away. Start with the facts your child almost knows.

Mixing up facts that sound alike, such as 6 × 8 and 7 × 8

Practise the two side by side and say the whole fact aloud, for example "six eights are forty-eight". Hearing the full sentence, not just the answer, gives your child more to hold on to.

Treating 8 × 6 as a new fact to learn after 6 × 8

Show your child that it's the same answer with the numbers turned round. Once they see this, there are only about half as many facts to learn.

Worrying about the timer

Some children rush or freeze when something is timed. Remind your child that missing a question is fine, the next one comes along in a moment, and there is no pass mark.

Three quick activities at home

Questions parents ask

Sources

1. Standards and Testing Agency: Multiplication tables check: information for parents
2. Standards and Testing Agency: Multiplication tables check administration guidance
3. Standards and Testing Agency: Multiplication tables check assessment framework
4. Department for Education: National curriculum in England: mathematics programmes of study