Praise the right thing
Speed of recall matters more than difficulty. A child who answers 4×3 in one second has the retrieval path teachers want. A child who works out 4×3 by counting on fingers, and gets it right in ten seconds, doesn't. Praise the speed, not just the correct answer. This one shift — from 'well done, that's right' to 'brilliant, that was so fast' — reorients children toward the fluency the MTC and every later maths topic actually rewards.
Keep sessions short — really short
The evidence on retrieval practice is emphatic: short, frequent, spaced sessions beat long marathon ones. Ten minutes a day, five days a week, will do more than an hour on a Sunday. If ten minutes feels like a battle, try five. If five minutes still feels like a battle, try three. The consistency is the lever, not the duration.
What to do when they hit a wall
Every child hits 7× or 8×. Both are pattern-poor and lean on facts the child has to memorise rather than derive. When it happens:
- Back off timing for a week. Untimed practice for five days rebuilds confidence.
- Use a physical grid. Print a 12×12 grid and let the child spot patterns — 8× is double 4×, 7×6 is 7×5 add 7.
- Return to timed practice slowly. Start at 10 seconds per question and shrink over a fortnight to 6 seconds.
- Celebrate small wins. Every fact that moves from 'guess' to 'automatic' is worth marking.
How to help without hovering
Sit next to your child for the first minute of a session, then move away. Check the results screen at the end, not every question. Constant over-the-shoulder supervision teaches children that maths is something you do while being watched — which becomes a problem in every future test.
What to say when they get it wrong
- Do: "Which one did you find tricky? Let's have another go at that one." Neutral, curious, forward-looking.
- Don't: "You should know that by now." Doesn't help — and children who feel judged practise less.
- Do: Model your own mistakes when you can. "I always find 8×7 tricky. Let me think… 56." Normalises the effort.
Signs it's working
- Your child answers 4×3 without moving their fingers.
- They can switch between tables mid-session without a gear-change.
- They ask to play — even if it's really about the reward system, that's a win.
- Their teacher mentions they've moved up a group.
Signs something's off
- Same facts still slow after three weeks of daily practice — worth mentioning to the class teacher.
- Sessions consistently end in tears — take a week off and come back with a lighter format.
- Answers are guesses rather than derived — slow down, drop the timer, go back to a grid.