How do I know if my child has really memorised a times table?

Knowing whether a fact is memorised or calculated isn't always obvious — children can produce correct answers either way. The difference matters, though, because only one of those is reliable under MTC conditions.

What the research says

The government’s own MTC framework implies a benchmark: a child needs to retrieve a fact and input the answer within 6 seconds total. Brain research on automaticity — the state where a times table fact is genuinely memorised rather than calculated — suggests that true recall happens within approximately 1 second. Anything slower involves some degree of calculation or reconstruction.

Dehaene & Cohen’s work on verbal memory retrieval supports this: automatic recall of a verbal memory (including times table facts) happens without conscious processing. The subjective experience is “I just know it” rather than “I worked it out.”

What this means in practice

Speed is the honest test. A child who takes 3 seconds to produce the right answer knows how to work it out — but hasn’t memorised it. Both are valuable, but only one will serve them in the MTC.

Try this

• Ask a random fact and watch the response. Under a second: memorised. 1–3 seconds: nearly there. More than 3 seconds: still calculating.
• Don’t test in sequence — sequential recitation can mask the absence of individual fact recall.
• Use this test periodically on “learned” tables. Recall that has faded will show up as slower responses.

Last reviewed: 2026-08-01