If your child is in Year 4, they'll be taking the Multiplication Tables Check - usually called the MTC - in June. It's a short, digital test that checks whether children can recall their times tables up to 12 x 12.
The MTC causes more parental anxiety than it probably should. It's not a pass-or-fail exam. It doesn't appear in school league tables. And with the right preparation, most children approach it with confidence rather than dread.
This guide explains exactly what the MTC involves, when it happens, which times tables are tested most heavily, and - most importantly - practical strategies for helping your child build fluency at home without turning times tables into a daily battle.
What is the Multiplication Tables Check?
The MTC is a statutory assessment for all Year 4 pupils (ages 8-9) in state-funded schools in England. It was introduced as a compulsory check in 2022, following a voluntary pilot in 2018/19.
The purpose is straightforward: to determine whether children can fluently recall their multiplication tables. The national curriculum expects children to know all multiplication facts up to 12 x 12 by the end of Year 4. The MTC checks whether they've got there.
The word "check" rather than "test" is deliberate. The MTC is designed to identify children who may need additional support with times tables as they move into Upper Key Stage 2 (Years 5 and 6), where fluent recall becomes essential for tackling more complex mathematics - fractions, long division, algebra, and ratio.
A few important things to know upfront: there is no pass mark. No child "fails" the MTC. Results are not published in school performance tables, and they don't affect which secondary school your child attends. School-level results are, however, available to Ofsted for benchmarking purposes.
MTC 2026 dates
The 2026 Multiplication Tables Check must be administered by schools in the two-week window beginning Monday 1st June and ending Friday 12th June 2026.
Schools choose which day within that window each child takes the check. If a child is absent during the first two weeks, schools can use the following week (15th-19th June) as a catch-up window.
Schools can access the MTC service through DfE Sign-in from Monday 27th April 2026 to prepare - generating school passwords and individual pupil PINs.
What the check actually looks like
The MTC is a digital, on-screen assessment taken on a computer, laptop, or tablet at school. Here's exactly what your child will experience:
- 25 questions. Each question shows a multiplication fact (for example, "6 x 8 = ?") and your child types the answer.
- 6 seconds per question. This is the time limit for each individual question. If your child doesn't answer within 6 seconds, the check moves to the next question automatically.
- 3-second pause between questions. There's a brief rest between each question.
- 3 practice questions first. Before the real check begins, your child answers three practice questions to get familiar with the format. These don't count towards the score.
- Total duration: under 5 minutes. The entire check - including practice questions and pauses - takes less than five minutes.
- Automatic marking. The check is marked by the software instantly. There's no human marking involved.
Your child will receive a score out of 25. Schools will be able to view results and will report them to parents as part of end-of-year arrangements, typically in the summer term report.
Which times tables are tested - and which appear most
This is one of the most useful things to understand when helping your child prepare.
The MTC tests multiplication facts from 2 x 2 up to 12 x 12. The 1 times table and the 0 times table are not included.
Crucially, not all times tables appear with equal frequency. The MTC framework specifies that questions are weighted towards the harder tables:
More heavily tested: 6, 7, 8, 9, and 12 times tables. These appear more frequently because they're the tables children typically find most challenging. They're also the tables that are the focus of Years 3 and 4 teaching.
Less heavily tested: 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, and 11 times tables. These appear less frequently because they're taught and consolidated in Years 1 and 2.
Another important detail: if a question appears one way (say, 6 x 7), the reverse (7 x 6) will not appear in the same check. This means your child won't be tested on the same fact twice in different orientations.
According to analysis by Learning by Questions, based on data from hundreds of thousands of Year 4 pupils, the single most challenging multiplication fact - for the third year running - is 11 x 12. Other consistently difficult facts include 12 x 7, 12 x 8, 8 x 6, and 9 x 7.
This tells you exactly where to focus practice time if it's limited.
What is a "good" MTC score?
Since there's no official pass mark, parents often wonder what score to aim for. Here's some context based on published national data:
In 2022 (the first compulsory year), the national average score was 19.8 out of 25. The most common score was 25 (full marks), achieved by 27% of pupils. In 2023, the average rose slightly to 20.2, with 29% of pupils achieving full marks.
So a score in the low-to-mid 20s puts your child comfortably above average, and a score of 25 - while excellent - is far from unusual. A score in the mid-teens suggests some gaps that targeted practice can address. A score below 15 signals that your child would benefit from structured support with times tables before moving into Year 5.
But remember: the purpose of the check is diagnostic. A lower score isn't a failure - it's information that helps teachers provide the right support going forward.
How to help your child prepare: what actually works
Times tables fluency is built through consistent, short practice over weeks and months - not through last-minute cramming. Here are the strategies that evidence and experience show work best.
Little and often beats long and rare
Five minutes of times tables practice every day is vastly more effective than 30 minutes once a week. The brain consolidates factual recall through repetition and spacing - the more frequently your child encounters a fact, the more deeply it embeds.
Make it a routine: times tables over breakfast, in the car, or before bed. The predictability of the routine matters as much as the content.
Start with understanding, then build speed
Before drilling for speed, make sure your child actually understands what multiplication means. Using concrete objects (counters, LEGO bricks, pasta shapes) to build arrays - rows and columns representing multiplication facts - helps children see that 3 x 4 means "three groups of four" or "three rows of four." This conceptual foundation makes the facts stick rather than just being memorised in isolation.
Once understanding is secure, then work on speed. The MTC gives 6 seconds per question, which means your child needs to recall the answer rather than calculate it. The shift from calculation to recall is what "fluency" means, and it comes through repeated practice once understanding is in place.
Focus on the hard ones
If your child already knows their 2s, 5s, and 10s confidently, spending practice time on those tables is inefficient. Focus on the tables that appear most frequently in the MTC and that children find hardest: the 6s, 7s, 8s, 9s, and 12s.
A practical approach: test your child on all tables from 2 to 12, identify which facts they hesitate on or get wrong, and build targeted practice around those specific gaps. Even learning just two or three new facts per week adds up quickly over a school term.
Use the format of the check itself
The MTC is digital, timed, and presents questions in a specific format. Practising in that same format - on a screen, with a time limit, typing answers - reduces anxiety on the day because the experience feels familiar.
Several free online tools replicate the MTC format. Bell.Study's free MTC practice tool mirrors the real check with timed questions, instant feedback, and the ability to email results to a parent so you can track progress over time. The DfE also provides a "try it out" area that schools can use to familiarise pupils with the check.
Make it fun (or at least not miserable)
Children who associate times tables with stress and pressure tend to perform worse, not better. Gamification works: apps like Times Tables Rock Stars (which many schools already use), songs, competitions with siblings, or even physical games where children jump to the answer all help make practice feel less like revision and more like play.
Some approaches that parents report working well:
- Speed challenges against themselves (not against siblings or classmates) - beating their own previous time is motivating without being stressful.
- Times tables songs and chants - musical encoding is surprisingly effective for factual recall, particularly for the harder tables.
- Real-world multiplication - "We need 7 bags of apples, and each bag has 8 apples. How many apples is that?" makes abstract facts concrete and purposeful.
- Board games and card games - any game that involves multiplication (or can be adapted to include it) turns practice into family time rather than homework.
Don't panic about the 6-second timer
Six seconds feels short to adults, but for a child who has practised regularly, it's more than enough time to recall a fact and type a one-, two-, or three-digit answer. The timer exists to distinguish between fluent recall (which is instant or near-instant) and calculation (which takes longer). If your child can answer most facts within 3-4 seconds, they'll be comfortably within the time limit.
If the timer is causing anxiety, practise with a slightly longer timer first (say, 10 seconds) and gradually reduce it as confidence grows. The goal is to build fluency gently, not to create clock-watching stress.
What about children who struggle with times tables?
Some children find times table memorisation genuinely difficult, and that's normal. Children with dyscalculia, working memory difficulties, or processing speed differences may need a different approach from pure repetition.
If your child is consistently struggling despite regular practice, speak to their class teacher. Schools can apply access arrangements for the MTC - similar to those available for SATs - and teachers can provide targeted support through the spring and summer terms.
Strategies that often help children who find memorisation hard:
- Reduce the number of facts to learn. Thanks to the commutative property (3 x 4 = 4 x 3), there are actually far fewer unique facts to memorise than the full 11 x 11 grid suggests. Once a child knows 3 x 7, they also know 7 x 3.
- Build from known facts. If a child knows 5 x 8 = 40, they can work out 6 x 8 by adding one more group of 8 (= 48). These derived strategies provide a safety net when recall fails.
- Visual and physical approaches. Some children learn times tables more effectively through visual patterns (hundred squares, arrays, colour-coded grids) or physical movement than through verbal repetition.
The most important thing is to keep the emotional experience positive. A child who feels anxious about times tables will find them harder to learn. A child who feels supported and encouraged - even when they're getting things wrong - will get there in the end.
When tutoring helps with times tables
For most children, consistent practice at home and at school is sufficient to build times table fluency before the MTC. But some children benefit from the structure and accountability that regular lessons with a teacher provide - particularly children who have gaps going back to Year 2 or 3, or who need someone to identify and address specific stumbling blocks.
Group lessons can be particularly effective for times tables practice because the competitive and collaborative dynamics of a small group - answering together, challenging each other, celebrating progress - motivate children in ways that solo practice at home sometimes doesn't.
At Bell.Study, our KS2 maths sessions include dedicated times tables fluency work alongside the broader curriculum. At £5 per lesson with a qualified primary teacher, it's accessible support that complements what your child is doing at school. Join the waitlist
The bigger picture: why times tables matter beyond the MTC
The MTC is a check that happens once, in one week of Year 4. But the times table fluency it's testing matters far beyond that moment.
Fluent multiplication recall is the foundation for almost everything your child will encounter in KS2 and KS3 mathematics: long division, fractions (finding common denominators, simplifying, multiplying and dividing fractions), percentages, ratio, algebra, and area/volume calculations. A child who has to pause and calculate 7 x 8 every time it appears in a problem will find multi-step questions significantly harder and slower than a child for whom the answer is automatic.
In the SATs arithmetic paper (Year 6), speed is critical - and much of that speed comes from times table fluency built in Years 3 and 4. Children who arrive at Year 6 without confident recall of all facts up to 12 x 12 face a compounding disadvantage that grows with each year of mathematics.
So while the MTC itself is low-stakes, the skill it's testing is genuinely high-value. Time invested in times tables now pays dividends for years to come.