--- title: "My Child Is Great at Some Times Tables but Blanks on Others. Is That Normal, and What Actually Fixes It? | XTables Champions" description: "Your child knows their 2s and 5s but falls apart on 7s and 8s. Miles explains why this happens and what parents can do at home to help." lang: en json-ld: | [ { "name": "XTables Champions", "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "WebSite", "url": "https://xtableschampions.com" }, { "name": "XTables Champions", "logo": "https://qtrypzzcjebvfcihiynt.supabase.co/storage/v1/object/public/base44-prod/public/68cac2c61c34894625d63273/cae3abbca_logo.png", "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Organization", "url": "https://xtableschampions.com" }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://math-magicians-academy-25d63273.base44.app/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "child blanks on certain times tables why and what helps", "item": "https://math-magicians-academy-25d63273.base44.app/child-blanks-on-certain-times-tables-why-and-what-helps" } ] }, { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [ { "@type": "Question", "name": "Why does my child know their 2s and 5s but keep forgetting their 7s and 8s?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "The 2s, 5s and 10s have natural rhythm and appear constantly in everyday life, so children absorb them almost without trying. The 6s, 7s, 8s and 9s have no such hook, which means they rely on deliberate, repeated practice to move into long-term memory. Without that calm repetition, they stay fragile and drift." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Is it a sign of dyscalculia if my child has specific times table gaps?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Not necessarily. Patchy times table knowledge, where some tables are solid and others are not, is very common in children without any specific learning difference. If you are also noticing your child struggles to understand what multiplication means, has real difficulty with number sense more broadly or forgets facts they seemed to know overnight, those are signs worth discussing with their school. But gaps in the harder tables on their own are usually just a practice and anxiety issue." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Should I push my child to do more practice if they are struggling with certain tables?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "More of the same is rarely the answer. If the current approach is not working, doing it more intensively usually increases anxiety rather than improving recall. Try narrowing the focus to just one or two facts, dropping any timed element and changing the setting so it feels less like a test." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Why does my child seem to know the answer one day but not the next?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "This is one of the most frustrating things about maths anxiety and fragile memory. When a fact is not yet properly stored in long-term memory, whether it comes back depends partly on the child's emotional state at the time. Stress, tiredness and a sense of being tested all block retrieval. On a relaxed day the answer surfaces; on an anxious day it disappears. This is why reducing pressure matters as much as increasing practice." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "What is a fact family and how does it help?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "A fact family is the group of four related calculations that share the same three numbers. For example, 7×8=56, 8×7=56, 56÷7=8 and 56÷8=7 are all one fact family. Showing children that they are learning one family of facts rather than four separate ones makes the harder tables feel less overwhelming, and it builds a much stronger understanding of how multiplication and division connect." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "My child is anxious about the Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check. What can I do at home to help?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "The most helpful thing is to keep home practice as low-pressure as possible. Avoid timers, avoid testing in ways that feel formal and focus on building confidence with the facts they do know before tackling the ones they do not. The MTC is not meant to be a high-stakes event, but for children with maths anxiety it can feel like one. A calm, game-based approach at home can help them arrive at the check feeling more settled." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "Can a maths app really help with specific times table gaps, or is it just more drill?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "It depends entirely on how the app is designed. Most traditional apps use timers, leaderboards and speed pressure, which can deepen anxiety around weak facts rather than fix them. An app that is built around game formats children already enjoy, with scaffolded practice and no punishing countdown clock, works very differently and tends to produce better results for children with specific gaps." } } ] } ] --- [ XTables Champions Part of the ESSTA Kids family ](/Welcome) [About Us](/About)[Rewards ](/OurRewards) Tips & Tricks [Games](/Games)Login [ XTables Champions Part of the ESSTA Kids family ](/Welcome) [Learn](/levels-and-progression) [Games](/GamesOverview) [All Games](/GamesOverview)[Connect Four](/connect-four)[Guess Who?](/guess-who)[Times Tables Bingo](/times-tables-bingo)[Snap!](/snap)[Play with Friends](/games/play-with-friends)[Play against Champion](/games/play-against-champion) [Every Learner](/times-tables-for-every-learner) [Adaptive Learning](/adaptive-times-tables-learning) [Schools](/ForSchools) [Lunchtime Clubs](/LunchtimeClubs)[SENCO Support](/SchoolSencoInfo)[Homework Setting](/SchoolHomeworkSetting)[Whole-Class Games](/SchoolWholeClassGames)[Level Matching](/SchoolLevelMatching) [Wellbeing](/wellbeing-and-safeguarding) [Pricing](/pricing) Log In / Sign Up [Back to all articles](/Blog) # My Child Is Great at Some Times Tables but Blanks on Others. Is That Normal, and What Actually Fixes It? 18 June 2026 If your child breezes through their 2s, 5s and 10s but completely freezes the moment you ask them 7×8, you are not alone. This is one of the most common patterns I see parents describing, and the good news is that it is entirely normal and there are straightforward reasons why it happens. The better news is that once you understand why, the fix becomes a lot less mysterious. ## Why some times tables stick and others simply do not The 2s, 5s and 10s have a built-in rhythm. Children pick them up almost accidentally, through counting in twos at PE, through telling the time, through counting change. The pattern is obvious and the repetition in daily life is constant. The 6s, 7s, 8s and 9s are a different story. There is no natural hook in everyday life. A child has to build those facts from scratch, which means they are stored differently in memory. They are less like remembered facts and more like recently learned phone numbers. Without regular revisiting in a low-pressure context, they drift. **The single biggest reason children blank on the harder tables is not laziness or lack of effort. It is that those particular facts never got enough calm, spaced repetition to move from short-term working memory into long-term memory.** And if every practice session involved a ticking timer or a sense of being tested, the anxiety alone can block retrieval, even when the child genuinely knows the answer. When I looked at what parents are searching for this week, the phrase "times tables practice alternatives" kept coming up alongside searches for "how to help child with maths anxiety." Those two searches are more connected than they might seem. ## The anxiety loop that makes it worse Here is something worth understanding. A child who has been drilled on 7×8 under pressure, and has got it wrong in front of others or frozen on a timer, starts to associate that particular fact with a feeling of dread. The next time 7×8 appears, the dread arrives before the answer can. This is not a maths problem. It is a memory and emotional response problem. From the parents and teachers we speak to at XTables Champions, this pattern comes up constantly. The child knows certain tables confidently and then hits a wall at one or two specific facts that became loaded with a sense of failure at some point. Trying to drill those same facts harder and faster almost always makes it worse. As our founder Gal Darrash puts it, "We built XTables Champions specifically for the child sitting at the kitchen table who knows they know the answer, but something in the way the question was asked just shut their brain down." ## What actually helps at home The approach that works is not more drilling. It is different drilling. Here is what I would suggest trying. First, narrow the focus. Rather than running through all the tables, pick just two or three facts your child consistently blanks on and only work on those for a week or two. Seven multiplied by eight. Six multiplied by seven. Whatever their personal sticking points are. Trying to fix everything at once spreads their attention too thin and maintains the sense of being overwhelmed. Second, ditch the timer entirely for now. Even an informal one. No counting how long it takes. No "quick, say it fast." Just the question, a comfortable pause and a relaxed answer. Speed comes later, once the fact is genuinely lodged. Rushing a wobbly fact in with pressure is one of the most reliable ways to cement the anxiety around it rather than the answer. Third, use a fact family approach rather than isolated recall. Instead of just asking 7×8=?, try showing your child that 7×8, 8×7, 56÷7 and 56÷8 are all the same fact wearing different clothes. Children who see multiplication and division as a connected family of four rather than four separate things to memorise find the harder tables much less daunting. It feels like learning one thing, not four. Fourth, change the context. Kitchen table drill feels like a test. The same question asked in the car, while cooking, during a walk or as part of a game feels completely different to a child's brain. The absence of a formal setting lowers the emotional stakes, and lower stakes means better retrieval. ## The multiplayer angle (and why it matters more than you might think) One thing I keep seeing come up in parent conversations is the guilt around screen time. Parents of children with ADHD or maths anxiety in particular are caught between knowing their child needs practice and watching them switch off or melt down the moment practice starts. What is increasingly clear is that the format of the practice matters as much as the content. Children who play multiplayer games with friends are in a completely different emotional state to children doing a solo worksheet. They are engaged, competitive in a social way and far more likely to try again after a wrong answer because the stakes feel low and the fun feels real. That insight is central to how XTables Champions is designed: using the formats and styles of games children already want to play, so maths practice does not announce itself as maths practice. For the harder tables specifically, repeated low-pressure exposure through gameplay can quietly fill in the gaps that drilling never managed to fix. The 7×8 that caused tears at the kitchen table becomes just another moment in a game your child is genuinely enjoying. ## A word on scaffolding If your child is still genuinely stuck after a few weeks of low-pressure practice, it is worth thinking about whether they have a solid foundation under those harder facts. Sometimes a child who blanks on 7×8 is not just missing that fact. They may not have a clear mental model of what multiplication actually means, or they may be skipping from 7×5 to 7×8 without knowing the steps in between. Scaffolding, starting from what they do know and building up one step at a time, tends to close those gaps far more reliably than going straight back to the answer they cannot remember. This scaffolded, understanding-first approach is something XTables Champions puts at the centre of how it works. Rather than expecting a child to recall facts they have not yet properly learned, the platform builds up through what they already know. ## What to do next If your child is stuck on the harder times tables, start small this week. Pick their two worst facts. Drop the timer. Try the fact family approach. And see whether a change of context, away from the kitchen table, shifts anything. If you want to go further, XTables Champions is built for exactly this kind of child: the one who is not struggling with maths overall but has a handful of facts that anxiety has made into monsters. Have a look at [xtableschampions.com](https://www.xtableschampions.com) to see how it works, or get in touch and we will be happy to talk through whether it is the right fit for your child. ## Frequently Asked Questions Why does my child know their 2s and 5s but keep forgetting their 7s and 8s? Is it a sign of dyscalculia if my child has specific times table gaps? Should I push my child to do more practice if they are struggling with certain tables? Why does my child seem to know the answer one day but not the next? What is a fact family and how does it help? My child is anxious about the Year 4 Multiplication Tables Check. What can I do at home to help? Can a maths app really help with specific times table gaps, or is it just more drill? ## Ready to help your child? Join thousands of families using XTables Champions to make multiplication click. Get Started Free XTables Champions Game-based times tables for children aged 6 to 11. No timers, no tears. For parents, schools and tutors. Part of ESSTA Kids. #### Platform - [Schools](/ForSchools) - [Levels & Progression](/levels-and-progression) - [Our Programme](/Programme) - [Rewards](/OurRewards) - [Pricing](/pricing) - [About Us](/About) - [Learning Philosophy](/LearningPhilosophy) - [Contact](/Contact) #### Community - [Insights](/Insights) - [For Parents Blog](/Blog) - [Tips & Tricks](/TipsTricks) - [Success Stories](/SuccessStories) - [Events & Competitions](/Events) - [Live Results](/Results) - [Lunchtime Clubs](/LunchtimeClubs) #### ESSTA Kids Expert learning programmes for children who need extra support. [Visit esstakids.com →](https://esstakids.com) © 2026 XTables Champions, An ESSTA Kids Programme. All rights reserved. [Privacy Policy](/PrivacyPolicy)• [Terms & Conditions](/TermsConditions)• [Sitemap](/sitemap.xml) XTables Champions Game-based times tables for children aged 6 to 11. No timers, no tears. For parents, schools and tutors. Part of ESSTA Kids. #### Platform - [Schools](/ForSchools) - [Levels & Progression](/levels-and-progression) - [Our Programme](/Programme) - [Rewards](/OurRewards) - [Pricing](/pricing) - [About Us](/About) - [Learning Philosophy](/LearningPhilosophy) - [Contact](/Contact) #### Community - [Insights](/Insights) - [For Parents Blog](/Blog) - [Tips & Tricks](/TipsTricks) - [Success Stories](/SuccessStories) - [Events & Competitions](/Events) - [Live Results](/Results) - [Lunchtime Clubs](/LunchtimeClubs) #### ESSTA Kids Expert learning programmes for children who need extra support. [Visit esstakids.com →](https://esstakids.com) © 2026 XTables Champions, An ESSTA Kids Programme. All rights reserved. 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