memorization

I get students of all ages who are struggling to memorize their times tables, or who didn’t memorize them by the time they finished primary school. I understand it can be a pain to get them memorized, but unfortunately it’s a necessary pain. If you don’t have them well memorized by high school, your maths work will be a lot slower and much more tedious, which means homework will take longer, and tests will take longer (possibly to the point of not having enough time to finish). You may start to feel left behind or lost because you’re stuck on recalling a multiplication or division fact, or wondering where a particular number came from, as your teacher quickly moves on in a problem. With one-on-one tutoring, we can take things a bit slower, but our progress may be hampered by spending too much time on the multiplication and division involved in more complex problems. As such, I emphasize to all of my students the importance of memorizing their times tables, as it will help them not only with multiplication, but with division, fractions, algebra, and more. I’ve written this short article on the importance of memorizing times tables, and a guide to go with it, to give to my students who currently need to memorize them. I’m posting the article and guide here in the hopes that it may help other students, as well!