Two Minutes Times Tables Challenge

I’ve used the Two Minute Times Table Challenge for a good few years now with years 7 upwards, every Monday. They love the challenge and seeing their upward progress. I time them on my phone, then they swap to mark each others (some of the younger ones love to read out the answers), and I keep a record of their scores. Same questions each week, or as one of my pupils once said when she realised it’s always the same, “So all we have to do is memorise them?”. Yes, I said, that’s all you have to do.

The first score of the year is always pretty poor, but after that I start rewarding credits each time they get to the next multiple of 5 or above. The challenge is then to improve their own score; they’re more keen to know if they’ve beaten their personal best than how their score compares to anyone else’s.

This carries on till about year 9 with higher groups, or year 11 with lower sets, and if they ever manage to score 100 their reward is a bag of sweets the first time they do it. I’m introducing the new challenge - the beast - this year for those that have already reached 100 and want a new challenge. I’m also going to get them to keep their own score on a ready-made graph that they’ll stick in their book at the start of September. All good fun.