TabTabTab
TabTabTab helps your child learn their times tables for good, quickly, with little effort and no tears. Times tables are remembered as words, so answering out loud helps: if the answer comes instantly, it's memorised; if not, it needs more practice. A few minutes a day is enough for lasting results, as research confirms.
Download on the App Store10 free sessions. No account required.
The algorithm brings back each fact just before it would be forgotten: not too early, not too late. Tricky facts come back more often, solid ones less and less.
A short session every day is worth more than an hour once a week. Open the app, answer 20 questions, done. Even fewer on off days.
25 questions, 6 seconds each: exactly the format of the real Multiplication Tables Check, covering all 66 unique facts in the check. Your estimated MTC readiness score updates after every session, so you always know where you stand.
When shaky facts pile up, the app suggests a focused review, just on those. No time wasted on what you already know.
The Statistics area shows a colour-coded map of every multiplication fact. Browse the full history and watch the weak spots turn green.
Everyone gets their own profile with separate progress. One purchase, for everyone.
What the research says about how children learn times tables.
TabTabTab trains recall, not understanding. Building the concept of multiplication is classroom work, and it comes first.
The MTC asks 25 facts with 6 seconds each: your child needs to remember, not calculate. Prepare with short daily practice, mixed questions and reviews.
Source: GOV.UK MTC framework, Ophuis-Cox (2023)
Read more →With 3 to 5 minutes a day, most kids improve within days and know their tables well within a few weeks. Consistency matters more than session length.
Source: Mawson & Kang (2025), Rea & Modigliani (1985)
Read more →A little and often beats a lot now and then. Three to five minutes a day is enough, as long as it happens every day or nearly.
Source: Mawson & Kang (2025)
Read more →Both at once. In 6 seconds children have to read, remember and type. Answering out loud trains memory; the keyboard is practised later.
Source: GOV.UK MTC framework
Read more →In a test, time, a different setting and anxiety block working memory. A fact your child knows at home may simply not come to mind under pressure.
Source: Ashcraft & Krause (2007)
Read more →Times tables are memories made of words: without review, they fade. Repeating them won't help. Recall them instead: a little, every day, at the right time.
Source: Dehaene & Cohen (1997), Dehaene et al. (1999), PMC (2019)
Read more →Probably not. One table at a time gives false confidence. Mixing them makes practice harder, but a month later kids remember far more: 61% vs 38%.
Source: Rohrer et al. (2019), Rohrer, Dedrick & Stershic (2015), Agarwal & Agostinelli (AFT)
Read more →Some facts are hard because they look like nearby facts, not because they're complex. Practising the confusing pairs side by side fixes it.
Source: Dotan & Zviran-Ginat (2022), Eaves, Gilmore & Cragg (2026)
Read more →Memory. The brain stores times tables in the language areas, not the calculation ones: they're remembered best in the language they were learned in.
Source: Dehaene & Cohen (1997), Dehaene et al. (1999), Cerda et al. (2024)
Read more →Reciting a table in order is different from answering a fact asked at random. The MTC asks for the second: practise with questions in random order.
Source: Soltanlou et al. (2015), Dehaene & Cohen (1997)
Read more →Cramming it all into one sitting gives the illusion of knowing. Sessions on different days show what your child really knows. Feeling sure isn't knowing.
Source: Emeny, Hartwig & Rohrer (2021)
Read more →Yes, and it surprises many parents. Times tables are memories made of words, so children with strong language skills learn them more easily.
Source: Guy, Cragg & Gilmore (2025), Dotan & Zviran-Ginat (2022)
Read more →Yes, and better than chanting. In a classroom study with Year 2 pupils, flashcards worked better, both straight away and weeks later.
Source: Ophuis-Cox et al. (2023)
Read more →It means reviewing each fact at the right moment, at each child's own pace. It works: studies of more than 3,000 students confirm it.
Source: Mawson & Kang (2025)
Read more →Every day, no question. For times tables, daily practice beats any other schedule, even with the same total time. A little and often beats long and rare.
Source: Mawson & Kang (2025), Rea & Modigliani (1985)
Read more →It's not essential: what matters is practising recall. But out loud you can tell right away whether the answer is automatic: instant means memorised.
Source: Dehaene & Cohen (1997), Dehaene et al. (1999), Cerda et al. (2024)
Read more →Yes, it's crucial. Only immediate correction reduces repeated mistakes: a correction given later works no better than none at all.
Source: The Psychological Record
Read more →Interleaving means mixing questions from different tables. It's harder, but it makes children remember more: a month later, 61% correct answers vs 38%.
Source: Rohrer et al. (2019), Agarwal & Agostinelli (AFT)
Read more →Research says yes, if it uses the right mechanisms: reviews spread over time and immediate correction. What counts is the method, not session length.
Source: Jay et al. (2019)
Read more →Yes. Introducing similar facts together, like 6×7 and 6×8, causes confusion that lasts for months. Start with facts that are different from each other.
Source: Dotan & Zviran-Ginat (2022), Boutros, Müller, Prado & Thevenot (2025)
Read more →It depends on the child. If they're ready, timing helps them get fast. If they have maths anxiety, the timer can block them even when they know the answer.
Source: Ashcraft & Krause (2007), Hechinger Report (2023)
Read more →Anxiety takes up the mental space needed to remember. It hits well-prepared kids hardest: the more they care about getting it right, the more they freeze.
Source: Ashcraft & Krause (2007), Pelegrina et al. (2020)
Read more →For anxious children, it's the timer, not the maths, that blocks them. Practising recall without a visible timer rebuilds confidence; speed comes later.
Source: Ashcraft & Krause (2007), Pelegrina et al. (2020)
Read more →It can: the 6 seconds cover both remembering and typing, so a child who knows the answer but is slow on the keys has less margin.
Source: GOV.UK MTC framework
Read more →Times tables are memories made of words, and anxiety takes up exactly the mental space needed to recall them. Other kinds of maths are less affected.
Source: Ashcraft & Krause (2007), Dehaene & Cohen (1997)
Read more →You don't need to teach, you need to listen. Sit with your child while they practise out loud and notice which answers come fast and which come slowly.
Source: Ophuis-Cox et al. (2023), Jay et al. (2019)
Read more →Short daily sessions, mixed questions, recalling instead of repeating, correcting right away. Chanting and copying help at first, but don't build memory.
Source: Guy, Cragg & Gilmore (2025)
Read more →In England, children learn times tables in Year 3 and 4, aged 7 to 9, and take the MTC in Year 4. Around 8 to 9 they move from counting to remembering.
Source: Soltanlou et al. (2015)
Read more →Speed counts, not just accuracy. If the answer takes 2 to 3 seconds, it's still slow: not memorised yet. Memorised means the answer comes straight away.
Source: GOV.UK MTC framework, Dehaene & Cohen (1997)
Read more →Yes: summer is one of the times kids forget the most. Five minutes every few days is enough to keep months of progress.
Source: Mawson & Kang (2025), Rea & Modigliani (1985)
Read more →No. Knowing them instantly frees up the mind, but on its own it doesn't teach kids to use them in problems. It's a tool, not the whole toolbox.
Source: Guy, Cragg & Gilmore (2025)
Read more →TabTabTab listens and understands. And that makes a huge difference.
| Standard Apps / Games | TabTabTab |
|
|---|---|---|
| Learning Engine | Random quizzes & linear levels | SM-2 Spaced Repetition |
| Cognitive Strategy | Rote memorisation (drilling) | Interleaving & Desirable Difficulty |
| Emotional State | Punishing countdowns & anxiety | Anxiety-Free Pacing |
| The MTC Journey | High-pressure timed mock tests | Phase 1: memorisation Phase 2: MTC Simulator |
| Input Method | Keyboard or touch: recall plus typing | Voice: measures recall on its own |
The voice never leaves the device. Everything is processed on the phone itself: no servers, no cloud.
You don't need hours of practice with tears and arguments. You need a few right things, in the right order, for a few minutes a day.
Read the guide →I'm Dario, a Senior UX Designer from Italy. I've spent 10+ years designing digital products for some of Europe's best-known brands. I built TabTabTab for my son. Today the app is shortlisted for the Teach Primary Awards 2026.
Read more →