Multiplication in the 11+ — Questions, Worked Answers and Practice Papers

What examiners actually ask

Multiplication appears in 147 of our 338 ready papers (408 tagged questions). It averages 2.8 questions a paper worth about 1.49 marks each. The typical question allows around 39 sec. It appears in 3 CSSE papers we hold.

Multiplication underpins a huge share of 11+ Maths marks — from clean times-table facts to long multiplication and embedded “lots of” wording. Children who are slow on tables lose time even when they know the method; children who know tables but misalign place value lose easy marks on written work. Papers mix pure calculation with money, area and rate contexts, so practise both. Teach checking with a related division or a rough estimate, and watch for the tagging variant “Multipication” in older papers — the skill is the same. Under exam pressure, write the layout clearly before multiplying so carrying errors are visible and fixable.

Common mistakes

• Misaligning place value in long multiplication (especially with zeros).
• Knowing the table fact but applying it to the wrong quantity in a word problem.
• Forgetting to multiply all parts when using a grid or expanded method.
• Skipping an estimate check that would have caught an order-of-magnitude error.

Papers with the most Multiplication questions

Ranked from our tagged catalogue — open a paper to practise the questions that actually test this topic.

Related topics

• Division
• Addition and Subtraction
• Word Problems
• BIDMAS / Order of Operations
• Fractions
• Algebra