Year 4 multiplication tables check practice

What the real multiplication tables check is

The multiplication tables check, or MTC, is a statutory check for Year 4 pupils in England. It is taken in state schools, including academies and free schools. Its purpose is to find out whether children can recall their times tables fluently up to 12, and to help schools spot pupils who need extra support.

• It is taken on screen and has 25 questions on the times tables up to 12.
• Children have 6 seconds to answer each question, with a 3-second pause between questions.
• There are 3 practice questions before the check begins.
• Answers are entered with a keyboard, or with an on-screen number pad using a touchscreen or mouse.
• On average it takes no longer than 5 minutes.
• Schools run it during a two-week window in June, with a catch-up week afterwards for children who were absent.
• Access arrangements are available for children with specific needs. Teachers decide which ones suit each child.

What happens to the results

There is no pass mark. A higher score simply shows more fluent recall. Children don't see their score when they finish the check.

Schools receive a total score for each pupil later in June, and the headteacher must report your child's score to you by the end of the summer term. The Department for Education does not publish results for individual schools. It publishes national and local authority figures instead.

How this practice run compares

The practice run on this page follows the same shape: 25 multiplication questions from the 2 to 12 times tables, 6 seconds each, typed answers. It is not the official check and is not connected to it. Eurekami is an independent practice service with no link to the Department for Education. The real check uses its own questions, so they won't match these exactly.

Schools have their own official 'try it out' version from April, which pupils can use to get familiar with the real check. The practice here is for building speed and confidence at home, as often as is useful.

MTC practice at home: a simple plan

Six seconds is plenty for a fact your child knows by heart, and very little for one they have to work out by counting. So the aim isn't to rush. It is to know the facts well enough that speed comes on its own.

• Find the gaps. Do one practice run and note which facts were slow or wrong.
• Learn a strategy for each gap. Times 9 is ten groups take away one: 9 × 7 = 70 − 7 = 63. Times 6 is five groups and one more: 6 × 7 = 35 + 7 = 42. Times 8 is double times 4: 8 × 6 = 24 + 24 = 48. Times 12 is ten groups plus two groups: 12 × 4 = 40 + 8 = 48.
• Practise little and often. Five minutes a day on the tricky tables does more than one long session.
• Mix the tables. Knowing a fact means recalling it on its own, so practise mixed facts as well as single tables.
• Do a full practice run about once a week to see progress.

To work on one table at a time, or to print a practice sheet with an answer key, use our times tables practice page.

Keeping the worry down: advice for parents

Some children feel anxious about anything timed, even facts they know well. The most useful thing you can do is tell your child plainly what the check is: a few minutes on a screen, no pass mark, and a way for their teacher to know which tables to practise next.

• Build accuracy first, with no timer at all. Add the 6-second pace only once your child is confident.
• Explain that a question which runs out of time is fine. The next one comes along, and one question makes little difference.
• Praise improvement against their own last score. Never compare with siblings or classmates.
• Keep practice light and short, and stop while it is still going well.
• Never use times tables as a punishment, and avoid "You should know this by now."
• If your child has specific needs, ask their teacher which access arrangements might help.

Where the tables fit in the curriculum

England's national curriculum for maths builds the tables up over three years: the 2, 5 and 10 tables in Year 2, the 3, 4 and 8 tables in Year 3, and every table up to 12 × 12 by the end of Year 4. The check comes at the end of that journey, in the summer term of Year 4.