What's the best way to memorize the times tables?
Mental math sits on top of the times tables. If you have to compute 7 × 8 every time you meet it, every larger problem stalls. The goal is automaticity — the answer arriving before you've finished reading the question.
You get there with retrieval practice, not re-reading. Test yourself, struggle for the answer, check it, repeat. Spacing those tests over days locks the facts in, and SIXTY surfaces and replays the exact ones you keep missing.
Why does automaticity matter so much?
When a fact is automatic it uses almost no working memory, leaving your attention free for the actual problem. When it isn't, you spend your mental budget rebuilding 6 × 7 instead of solving 6 × 74.
Speed under light time pressure is the test. If you can recall a fact in well under a second, it's automatic; if you're counting or deriving, it still needs reps.
Do I really have to learn every fact?
No — commutativity halves the work. Because a × b = b × a, learning 7 × 8 also gives you 8 × 7. The full 10 × 10 grid has 100 entries, but the unique facts you actually need to memorize are far fewer.
Once you strip out the ×0, ×1, ×2, ×5, ×10 facts (which follow easy rules) and treat each pair once, only a small hard core remains.
Which facts are actually hard, and how do I attack them?
The genuine trouble spots cluster in the 6, 7, 8, and 9 range: 6 × 7, 6 × 8, 7 × 8, 7 × 9, 8 × 9 and their partners. Most people know the rest long before these stick.
Spend your effort where it's needed. Don't re-drill 2 × 5; hammer 7 × 8 = 56 and 6 × 8 = 48. SIXTY's adaptive difficulty does this automatically by feeding you more of what you miss.
Are there patterns that make the 9s and 5s free?
For 9s, the digits of the answer add to 9, and the tens digit is one less than the multiplier: 9 × 6 = 54 (5 + 4 = 9, and 5 is one less than 6). A finger trick works too — fold the nth finger and read tens to its left, ones to its right.
For 5s, the answers end in 0 or 5 and equal half of the ×10 result: 5 × 8 is half of 80 = 40. Skip counting reinforces both: 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 and 9, 18, 27, 36, 45.
What's the most effective way to practice?
Use retrieval and spacing, not staring at a chart. Flashcards or an app that asks you the fact, makes you answer, then confirms it will beat re-reading every time, because the effort of recall is what builds memory.
Space your reviews: a fact you got right today should come back tomorrow, then a few days later. Missed facts should return sooner. This is exactly the missed-fact replay SIXTY runs for you.
- Do one short session a day, around 5 to 10 minutes, rather than one long weekly cram.
- Warm up with a quick mixed set so recall stays fast under light time pressure.
- Spend most of the session on your current hard cluster (the 6, 7, 8, 9 facts).
- Answer from memory first; only check after you've committed to an answer.
- Send correct facts to a longer review interval and missed facts to a short one.
- End while it still feels easy so you come back tomorrow.
How long until the tables stick?
With short daily retrieval practice, the hard cluster usually firms up within a couple of weeks, though individual pace varies. Consistency beats marathon sessions every time.
Treat it like training, not cramming. Five focused minutes a day, repeated, will outlast an hour of one-time effort because spacing is doing the heavy lifting.
Reading is review. Recall is what sticks.
Start a 60-second sprint →