Multiplication Tables Check practice

What the check is

The check is a short on-screen test taken at school in June of Year 4, in all state schools in England. It has 25 questions worth 1 mark each, takes under 5 minutes, and starts with 3 practice questions that do not count. Children type each answer on a keyboard or tap it on an on-screen number pad; it is not multiple choice.

It checks one thing only: whether a child can recall times tables quickly from memory. It does not test understanding of multiplication or problem solving, and it will not tell you which tables your child finds hard, only how fast their recall is overall.

The rules the questions follow

• Questions come from the 2 to 12 times tables, always as a plain fact like 7 × 8 =. The 1s never appear (except in the warm-up).
• The 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s and 12s come up most: each appears at least twice, because these are the tables children find hardest. The 2s, 5s and 10s appear only a few times at most.
• Each question allows 6 seconds from the moment it appears, with a 3-second pause between questions. When time runs out, whatever is typed is submitted. There is no way to skip a question or go back.
• No fact is repeated in a check, and you will never see it both ways round: if 7 × 8 comes up, 8 × 7 will not.
• Every child gets a different, randomly assigned set of questions built to these same rules. Our mock builds its checks to the same recipe.

How it is scored, and what counts as good

The score is simply out of 25, and there is no pass mark. Schools share each child's score with parents, results do not go into league tables, and the only thing published nationally is how many children scored full marks. So there is nothing to "fail": the score is information for you and the teacher, not a judgement of your child.

The most useful thing a parent can know: a child can know every fact and still drop marks for speed. "Knows it but needs a moment" and "does not know it yet" look identical in a score, and they need different practice. That is why our practice modes time every answer but never cut you off: your child can feel the real pace, and still take the moment they need to get a tricky one right instead of losing the mark.

How to help at home

• Little and often wins. A full mock takes under 5 minutes; two short goes in a week beat one long session.
• Start with Practice on the five hard tables (6s, 7s, 8s, 9s, 12s) rather than mixing everything at once. They carry the most marks.
• Chase individual facts, not whole tables. If 7 × 8 and 12 × 9 keep escaping, those two facts are the homework. "Go again" after a practice puts missed facts back in.
• Once most answers are coming inside the 6 seconds, switch to the mock so the cut-off and the pace of the real thing feel normal before the day.
• Typing on a keyboard and tapping a touchscreen are both exactly how the real check works, so practising on a phone, tablet or laptop all count.
• Near the day, keep it light. Confidence is worth marks, and there is no pass mark to miss.

If your child needs extra support

The real check offers adjustments for children who need them: high-contrast colour schemes, larger text, removing the on-screen number pad, a button to control when the next question comes, and an audio version. Schools arrange these, so if you think your child qualifies, ask the teacher well before June. One thing never changes: no child can be given more than 6 seconds to answer, because speed of recall is the thing being checked.

Our practice mirrors the free ones: the same four colour schemes, bigger text and a no-number-pad option live under "Colours and text size" on each start screen, so a child who will use them in the real check can practise with them too.

About the official practice area

The government runs its own "try it out" area, but it is only open from late April to mid June, it uses one fixed set of questions that never changes, and it does not give a score at the end. Ours is here all year, deals fresh questions every time to the same official recipe, and always tells you how it went. Practising the format is entirely allowed and encouraged; the only thing nobody can see in advance is the real check's actual questions, which are different for every child anyway.