Most children breeze through the 2s, 5s and 10s but hit a wall at the middle of the times tables. The 6, 7, 8 and 9 are widely regarded as the trickiest, and it is no coincidence that a fact like seven times eight is one of the most commonly missed of all. The reason is simple: these tables have fewer obvious patterns and share fewer easy relationships. The good news is that a handful of clever strategies can tame even the most stubborn facts. Here is how to help children conquer the tricky tables.
The easy tables have friendly patterns — the 10s end in zero, the 5s in five or zero, the 2s are even. The 6, 7 and 8 lack such immediately visible signposts, so children cannot lean on a pattern to check themselves. They also sit in the middle of the grid, which means larger numbers and more to remember.
Recognising that these tables are genuinely harder, rather than assuming a child is simply not trying, helps you approach them with the extra patience they deserve.
By the time children reach the tricky tables, they usually know far more than they realise. Thanks to the commutative property, seven times three is the same as three times seven, so every fact learned in an earlier table is one fewer to learn now. Point this out explicitly: “you already know six times four from the four times table.”
When you strip away the facts a child already knows from the 2s, 3s, 4s, 5s and 10s, the number of genuinely new facts in the 6, 7 and 8 tables shrinks dramatically.
The 6 times table is double the 3 times table. If a child knows three sevens are twenty-one, they can double to reach six sevens, which are forty-two. The 8 times table is double the 4s, or the 2s doubled twice. These doubling routes turn hard facts into simple two-step calculations.
Practise the doubling itself until it is quick, and these tables become far less intimidating.
The 9 times table is the friendliest of the tricky bunch once you know its secrets. The digits of every answer add up to nine: eighteen (one plus eight), twenty-seven (two plus seven), thirty-six (three plus six). The tens digit also counts up while the units digit counts down.
The finger method delights many children: hold up ten fingers, fold down the one matching the number you are multiplying by nine, and read the fingers to the left as tens and those to the right as units. For nine times four, fold the fourth finger to see three fingers, then six, giving thirty-six.
Seven times eight, which is fifty-six, is famously the hardest fact of all. One memorable trick is the sequence five, six, seven, eight: fifty-six equals seven times eight, so the four digits run in order. Silly mnemonics like this stick precisely because they are memorable.
For any remaining stubborn fact, isolate it and give it dedicated attention. A single fact practised on its own for a few days will eventually settle into memory.
Rather than grinding through whole tables that a child mostly knows, target the specific facts they keep missing. Make a short list of trouble spots and focus on those. This concentrated approach is efficient and prevents wasted effort.
Our Practice Mode lets you drill an individual table, and the Mixed Quiz will quickly reveal which facts still need work so you can focus your energy where it counts.
Research and classroom experience consistently point to seven times eight (fifty-six) as the most commonly missed fact, closely followed by six times seven and six times eight.
No. Tricks like the nines finger method give children a reliable fallback and build confidence. With repeated use, the facts usually become automatic and the trick is no longer needed.
It is best to keep revisiting the tricky facts even as you move on. Regular spaced practice will secure them over time without holding up the rest of a child’s progress.
You can find more articles like this on the Times Table Hero blog.