Multiplication tables check practice

What the multiplication tables check is

The multiplication tables check (MTC) is an on-screen test of times tables recall for children in Year 4 in England. The Department for Education (DfE) and its Standards and Testing Agency (STA) run it, and it has been statutory since 2021/22, so every eligible Year 4 pupil in a maintained school, special school or academy takes it. Its stated purpose: "The purpose of the MTC is to determine whether year 4 pupils can fluently recall their multiplication tables."

Each pupil answers 3 practice questions, then 25 real ones, each written like 7 × 8 = with a box for the answer. There are 6 seconds from the moment a question appears, and a 3-second pause after an answer before the next question. The DfE says the check takes no longer than 5 minutes on average. It is not a diagnosis of anything: "Although the check will help schools to identify pupils who require additional support, it is not intended as a diagnostic tool."

When the check happens

Schools run it in June, at the end of Year 4. The DfE has published these windows:

• June 2026: Monday 1 June to Friday 12 June, with Monday 15 June to Friday 19 June for pupils who were absent or where technical problems caused a delay (administration guidance, 2026).
• June 2027: the 2-week period from Monday 7 June 2027 (primary assessments: future dates).
• June 2028: the 2-week period from Monday 5 June 2028 (primary assessments: future dates).

A child who is in Year 4 in the 2026 to 2027 school year takes it in the window that begins on Monday 7 June 2027. Inside its window each school chooses its own days, and can run the check for one pupil, a small group or a whole class. Results are not shown on the day: schools can see them once the window has closed (in 2026, from Monday 22 June).

How the check is scored

• Each question is worth one mark, so a score runs from 0 to 25. The check is marked automatically.
• Only numbers register. Whatever is on the screen when the pupil presses Enter, or when the 6 seconds run out, is taken as the answer. It cannot be changed afterwards.
• There is no pass mark. The DfE's information for parents says: "There is no pass mark for the check." The framework goes further: "there is no standard for the MTC beyond the number and percentage of pupils who achieve full marks." The DfE does report, every year, how many pupils got full marks (see the national results below).
• Pupils do not see their own score when they finish. The school receives a total out of 25 for each pupil, and the teacher shares it with parents.

Access arrangements

Schools can turn on access arrangements for pupils who need them. The guidance says they may suit pupils with an education, health and care (EHC) plan; pupils with special educational needs or disabilities who have related support in school; pupils whose learning difficulty or disability significantly affects their access to the check; pupils with behavioural, emotional or social difficulties; and pupils with English as an additional language and limited fluency in English. A school does not need to ask permission, but the support must be based on normal classroom practice and must never give a pupil an advantage. The arrangements are:

• Colour contrast. The standard check is black text on white. With this arrangement a pupil can change the text and background to yellow on black, black on blue, black on peach or blue on cream.
• Font size. The pupil can make the text and the number pad bigger or smaller at the start.
• A Next button between questions. In place of the 3-second pause, the pupil presses Next when ready. The whole check must then be finished within 30 minutes, and each question still allows 6 seconds.
• No on-screen number pad. For a pupil who is distracted by the pad or will not use it. Only the question and the answer box show, so the pupil types on a keyboard.
• Input assistance. A person types the answers the pupil says aloud, for a pupil who cannot enter answers, would find it physically uncomfortable, can do so only very slowly, or finds it very difficult. The assistant enters their name at the start and must not be another pupil, or a relative, carer or guardian of the pupil.
• Audio version. Reads aloud everything on the screen, including the question and each key pressed. The guidance recommends Chrome or Safari, and a separate room or headphones so other pupils are not disturbed.
• Audible time alert. For a pupil who cannot see the on-screen timer: a beep 2 seconds before the end of each question, and a different beep when the question ends.

Extra time to answer is not one of them: "Therefore, pupils cannot be given additional time to complete the MTC questions, as this would remove the fluent recall element of the check." Pupils can try their arrangements beforehand in the school's "try it out" version of the check.

Some pupils do not take the check. The headteacher records a reason, and the guidance says the decision is final. It names three cases: a pupil who cannot take part even with access arrangements; a pupil who cannot answer the easiest questions or is working below the national curriculum expectation for Year 2 in multiplication tables; and a pupil who has just arrived in school with too little time to find out what they can do.

One limit matters for this page: "The MTC does not support commercial screen readers, because they are not compatible with the timed element of the check." That is why the practice above has a no-timer setting.

How the results are used

• By the school. Each pupil's total goes to the school so it can give extra help where it is needed. The framework says the check helps schools identify pupils who need support but is not a diagnostic tool.
• By the DfE and Ofsted. The framework says school-level results are available to selected users, including Ofsted, through the DfE's Analyse School Performance system, and are not published in performance tables. The 2026 guidance adds: "DfE will not publish school-level results for the MTC, but there will be a statistical publication at national and local authority level."
• For comparison. Schools can compare their own average with the national and local-authority averages the DfE publishes. A school can see its own average but not another school's.
• For standards. The DfE reports national results to track standards over time.

National results, 2022 to 2025

The DfE publishes the national results every November. These are its figures for the four years so far. The average is for pupils who took the check. The full-marks share is out of all eligible pupils, including those who did not take it.

Full marks was the most common score in every year, and both figures have risen every year. In 2025, 96% of eligible pupils took the check, the same as in earlier years, and most of the pupils who did not (3% of all eligible pupils) were working below the level of the check. An average of 21.0 is a description of 2025, not a target: there is no pass mark.

There is no figure for June 2026 here because the DfE has not published one. On 29 September 2026 its release page listed the next release for November 2026.

How to practise

The check measures recall, so practise recall. The STA trialled three time limits with 1,124 pupils and chose six seconds because it "Six seconds was deemed the most appropriate time to allow children to recall and input their responses without allowing enough time to work out the answer." A fact a child works out each time, by counting up or doubling, is not yet known at the speed of the check. Finding those facts is what this practice is for.

1. Run the practice with no timer first. Right answers come before fast ones. The results list every missed fact under its table.
2. Open the page for each table with a miss. Each has the patterns, the facts children most often get wrong and a printable sheet: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. Every check has 2 to 4 of its 25 questions from each of the 6, 7, 8, 9 and 12 tables, against 0 to 2 from the 2s and 10s, so those five give the most chances to lose marks. The facts children miss most are listed on the times tables page.
3. Print a worksheet for just those tables, with an answer key: the 6, 7, 8, 9 and 12 tables, or pick your own.
4. Then turn the timer on, on the kind of device the child will use at school. The DfE guidance says: "Research suggests that, in this type of timed assessment, year 4 pupils may find a small benefit from using a keyboard or touchscreen rather than a mouse."
5. Keep it light. The DfE tells parents: "No, you do not need to do anything additional to prepare your child for the check." A timed round here takes at most 25 × 9 seconds, under four minutes.

To practise one table at a time, with instant feedback and no pressure of time, use the times tables practice quiz.

What matches the specification, and what does not

The rules come from the STA's assessment framework, section 5, and the 2026 administration guidance. The questions themselves are not published, so these are the differences.

Frequently asked questions

By Rai Ansar · Updated 29 September 2026. How pages are made