Great news: you now have access to a free multiplication tables check (MTC). Does your child have a brilliant knowledge of times tables? The Government wants to know. The MTC (Multiplication Tables Check) has been created for the Government to find out the answer to the above question. Every June there will be an online, on-screen assessment (MTC) taken by children in Year 4 (aged 8/9). This check will be hard, make no mistake, and if children are to succeed they really will have to know their times tables, ‘off by heart’. Only 6 seconds to answer each of 25 questions geared towards the harder tables such as 7x and 12x and an expectation of 100% correct, leaves no room for error. Go to Free MTC This June most schools are voluntarily opting in, but from the 2019/20 academic year it will be statutory. Many Year 4 children do not know their times tables well enough, but we can help! Fortunately, we can help by giving children the opportunity to experience a near identical check. More than this we also provide feedback on the results and links to helpful resources. These include both on-screen practice and printable worksheets to ensure that they know tables better before taking the real check. This check and a set of follow up resources are completely free. Just log in or sign up for a 7 day free trial with no commitment. Even better, we now have a completely free App for those using Apple iPads and iPhones with free on-screen check and bonus printable worksheets. What is the MTC? The purpose of the MTC is to see whether children in Year 4 can fluently recall their multiplication tables. The Year 4 Programme of Study states: ‘Pupils should be taught to recall multiplication and division facts for multiplication tables up to 12 × 12’. It will be an on-line, on-screen assessment which will take less than 5 minutes to complete. It will be automatically scored and results will be available to schools. Go to Free MTC When will it be introduced? The Multiplication Tables Check will be introduced for all schools in June 2020, but extensive trials will take place in June 2019. All eligible children will be required to take the check. There will be a 3 week window in which all schools must administer the check. What will the check look like? The check will consist of 25 questions worth one mark each. All questions will follow the same format: n1 x n2 = ? The first number (n1) denotes the table, so 4 x 11 would be considered as part of the 4x table. n2 will be a number between 2 and 12. Children will have 6 seconds to input an answer using one of: • the numbers on a computer keyboard • a mouse (or equivalent) and an on-screen number pad • a touch screen device and an on-screen number pad Once a child has put in an answer they can press ENTER to proceed or wait until the 6 seconds expires. There will be a 3 second pause before the next question is shown. What questions are included in the check? Each question will come from the 2 to 12 multiplication tables. The one multiplication table is not included in the check but may appear in the practice questions. Each set of questions will include questions from all tables but with an emphasis on those tables taught in KS2 (fewer questions on the 2x, 5x and 10x tables). There is an emphasis on the 6x, 7x, 8x, 9x and 12x tables – the hardest ones! A question can only appear once in the check and reversals will not appear. This means that if 4 x 3 appears then 3 x 4 will not appear. At the end of the assessment window, a total score out of 25 will be reported to each school for all of their pupils who took the check. Each pupil will only take the check once. Any resources which may help a child, such as wall displays, calculators etc are not allowed. Go to Free MTC How we can help. Our check follows all the rules of the MTC: 6 seconds to answer, 3 seconds between questions, the on-screen display etc. But, our check gives valuable information after it has been completed, unlike the one-off check that Year 4 children will take in June. Each of the 25 questions is recorded together with the child’s answer. This is shown on the left hand side of the answer page. Correct answers are marked with a tick and a cross shows an incorrect answer. If nothing was entered during the 6 seconds then ‘No answer’ is shown. Further help is provided in order to interpret the answers and to guide parents as to what to do next; what tables need practising etc. Go to Free MTC